[B-Greek] TI in 1 Cor 3:5

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Thu Jan 31 16:53:59 EST 2008


On Jan 31, 2008, at 12:28 PM, Ian Scott wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> I'm working through 1 Cor 3 with a class and it occurred to me that  
> there is an ambiguity in the opening TI of 3:5 that is not usually  
> recognized (at least not in the literature I'm familiar with). It's  
> usually translated (and accented) as an interrogative pronoun,  
> "what?" But could it be a simple indefinite pronoun, "something?"  
> In that case we would take TI as the predicate of the clause,  
> rather than the interrogative subject. The resulting translation  
> would be "Is Paul, then, something (i.e., significant)?" I suspect  
> that this is not usually entertained because TI at the opening of a  
> question is usually interrogative, but is there any reason it could  
> not simply be indefinite? In favor of that reading I notice that  
> Paul's statement in 3:7 seems like a direct answer to the question  
> of 3:5 - - "neither the planter nor the waterer is anything (ESTIN  
> TI) . . ."
>
>

TI OUN ESTIN appears to be a fixed expression:

n. 16: Philo Judaeus Phil., Legum allegoriarum libri i-iii, Book 2,  
section 36, line 2,

TI OUN  ESTIN hO BOULETAI PARASTHSAI;

n. 8: Aristoteles et Corpus Aristotelicum Phil., Metaphysica, Bekker  
page 1045a, line 14

TI OUN ESTIN hO POIEI hEN TON ANQRWPON ...

n. 4: Plato Phil., Amatores [Sp.], Stephanus page 133, section c,  
line 3,

TI OUN ESTIN; EFHN EGW

n. 5: Plato Phil., Spuria, Stephanus page 372, section a,bis, line 3,

TI OUN ESTIN; - TI GAR ALLO GE H TA NOMIZOMENA DIKIA;

These are just a few examples.

Elizabeth Kline







More information about the B-Greek mailing list