[B-Greek] A question on hWS

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 24 09:30:37 EST 2008


It has been noted on numerous occasions here that word order in Greek is somewhat flexible.  This is true to a certain extent -- perhaps more so than in English though there are definite limits to this freedom.  BDAG notes that the conj ὡς [hWS] has one use in particular which seems to invite its being placed in an initial position which is found from time to time in the NT which is the temporal use (#8).

Lk 12.58
ὡς γὰρ ὑπάγεις μετὰ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου σου ἐπʼ ἄρχοντα, ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ δὸς ἐργασίαν ἀπηλλάχθαι ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ, μήποτε κατασύρῃ σε πρὸς τὸν κριτήν, καὶ ὁ κριτής σε παραδώσει τῷ πράκτορι, καὶ ὁ πράκτωρ σε βαλεῖ εἰς φυλακήν.

hWS GAR hUPAGEIS META TOU ANTIDIKOU SOU EP' ARXONTA, EN THi hODWi DOS ERGASIAN APHLLAXQAI AP' AUTOU, MHPOTE KATASURHi SE PROS TON KRITHN, KAI hO KRITHS SE PARADIDWSEI TWi PRAKTORI, KAI hO PRAKTWR SE BALEI EIS FULAKHN.
 




If I were to search for other examples, I am sure they are there to be found (e.g. Jn 7.10 offhand). 
 
george
gfsomsel 
… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.
 
 - Jan Hus
_________

----- Original Message ----
From: "rhutchin at aol.com" <rhutchin at aol.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:33:02 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] A question on hWS


At the end of 1 Corinthians 14:33 and before 14:34, we find the phrase,
 hWS EN PASAIS TAIS EKKLHSIAIA TWN hAGIWN.

One translation (an older one, KJV) will have this phrase ending verse
 33 while another (a newer one, ESV) will have it opening v34.

It seems, in my casual review of the use of hWS in the NT, that a hWs
 phrase always follows immediately after that which it modifies but most
 cases are pretty straightforward.? I did not see an exception (and
 there may be more) until I ran across the ESV treatment of the hWS phrase
 here, although ESV seems to be the way many people thought KJV should
 have been translated.

It may be that this is the only place in the NT where a situation like
 this comes up.? However, is there any basis for a rule for the
 translator to use that says that a phrase beginning with hWS should be taken to
 modify that which it immediately follows?? Is there a grammatical
 argument for the translator to look at the phrase, hWS EN PASAIS TAIS
 EKKLHSIAIS TWN hAGIWN, as belonging with 14:33 and not 14:34?? In English,
 either translation sounds good, so I wonder how the Greek reader would
 react to this phrase in reading this text without the aid of
 punctuation.

Roger Hutchinson



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