[B-Greek] Regarding hWS

rhutchin at aol.com rhutchin at aol.com
Fri Jan 18 06:14:52 EST 2008


 




On Jan 17, 2008, at 5:58 AM, RHutchin at aol.com wrote: 
 

> I was looking at the use of hWS in the NT.? It seems always to be paired with a noun to complete the thought. 

> 

> Is there a grammatical rule that tells us that? hWS + NOUN? is the proper usage?? If a noun were absent, it would be implied.? I skimmed through some verses that I found and it always seemed that hWS was linked to a noun. 

> 

> Does anyone recall instances in the NT where hWS is not linked with a noun to complete the thought and thus would be exceptions to this?? If there are such cases, is a noun implicit and clearly understood? 
 

While hWS is often used as a particle of comparison with a noun, it is by no means always so used -- and even where it is followed immediately by a noun or noun phrase, the hWS may introduce an entire clause, e.g., ἐποίησεν ὡς προσέταξεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος (EPOIHSEN hWS PROSETAXEN AUTWi hO AGGELOS) Mt 1:24. This question could have been addressed most readily by consulting a good lexicon, BDAG or LSJ. I won't cite a lexicon article because it's just too long. Suffice it to say that hWS, originally the relative adverb derived from the relative pronoun hOS/hH/hO, has a fairly broad range of usage. 
 

Carl W. Conrad 

Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired) 


I have only Thayer's and should probably spring for BGAD or LS.

However, the lexicon seems to take the translated NT (and other translated Greek works) and identify the various ways in which a word is used.  I am starting with the Greek text and looking for guidance on translating that text.

My question is whether there might be a grammatical rule to guide the translator that might say, "The word hWS is to be linked with a following NOUN to modify/explain the immediately preceding subject."  Would a Greek author ever use hWS other than in the hWS + NOUN combination?
 
Roger Hutchinson



 


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