[B-Greek] Regarding hWS

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Jan 18 06:56:08 EST 2008


On Jan 18, 2008, at 6:14 AM, RHutchin at aol.com wrote:

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> On Jan 17, 2008, at 5:58 AM, RHutchin at aol.com wrote:
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>> I was looking at the use of hWS in the NT.? It seems always to be  
>> paired with a noun to complete the thought.
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>> 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.
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>> 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?
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> 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.
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> Carl W. Conrad
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> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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> I have only Thayer's and should probably spring for BGAD or LS.
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> 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.
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> 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?

Certainly. I just cited one above, Mt 1:24 ἐποίησεν ὡς  
προσέταξεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος (EPOIHSEN hWS  
PROSETAXEN AUTWi hO AGGELOS)

I just did a search in Accordance for ὡς (hWS) <FOLLOWED BY> <WITHIN  
1 Words> [VERB]. I got 158 hits; here's a few of them:
Mt 15:28  ὡς θέλεις "as you wish"
Mt 27.65 ὡς οἴδατε "as you know"
Mk 7:6 ὡς γέγραπται "as it stands written"
Lk 1:23 ὡς ἐπλήσθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι "when the  
days reached full term"
Lk 11:6 ὡς ἐπαύσατο "when he stopped (praying)"
1 Cor 7:25 γνώμην δὲ δίδωμι ὡς ἠλεημένος  
ὑπὸ κυρίου πιστὸς εἶναι "I give my opinion as  
one favored by the Lord to be trustworthy"

The rule you are suggesting won't work because it is based upon  
inadequate data and inadequate observation of the actual usage of hWS  
in Greek NT texts. Of course hWS is used with a noun in the sense of  
"like a" -- but it is used commonly with other parts of speech too. If  
you try to straitjacket the usage of a word like hWS with a  
translator's rule such as you are proposing, you will continue to run  
into texts that don't conform to your rule.

The reason why we need fuller lexica such as BDAG and LSJ is to  
protect us from oversimplified equivalences, just as we need fuller  
grammars to protect us from oversimplified syntactical assumptions.  
And it is true, of course, that the lexica and grammars are only as  
helpful -- not more than -- as the data and judgment of their  
compilers. In dealing with ancient Greek texts in their original form  
it is perilous to look for a "quick fix" answer to questions of  
meaning, whether the "quick fix" is a simple one-word definition in  
one's own language or a simple grammatical rule meant to explain all  
instances of a syntactic grouping.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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