[B-Greek] "On the classifying of Genitives there is no end ... "

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Mar 3 15:42:08 EST 2008


On Mar 3, 2008, at 3:16 PM, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:

> Dear Carl,
>
> Regarding Dan Wallace's use of "aporetic" genitive.
>
> Before one gets too serious about criticizing Dan Wallace for  
> including
> "Aporetic" as a "classification" for the genitive, one should read  
> his footnote,
> note 21, page 79, "That is, the 'I am at a loss' gen. (from the  
> Greek word,
> ́απορέω, 'I am at a loss,' a tongue-in-cheek title suggested  
> to me by J. Will
> Johnston)."
>
> Regarding the "adnominal" genitive.
>
> BDF, sections 162-168 lists seven specific uses of the adnominal  
> genitive,
> included among these is the partitive genitive (sec. 164).

My criticism of the endless classification and subclassification of  
adnominal genitives was in play long before I ever heard of an  
"aporetic" genitive. As for that terminology applied to a  
classification of the adnominal genitive, I'm only surprised that it  
took so long to get stumped for a descriptive name. As for BDF, the  
partititive usage falls questionably within adnominal usage; I'm not  
convinced that the others are needed either.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> To: "B-Greek B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Cc: "Rick Brannan" <textgeek at gmail.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 4:51 AM
> Subject: [B-Greek] "On the classifying of Genitives there is no  
> end ... "
>
>
>> If for no other reason (which I would not claim), the title (aye, the
>> very rubric of this message) of Rick Brannan's blog of yesterday  
>> makes
>> it worth pointing a finger at:
>>
>>
> http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/2008/03/02/OnTheClassifyingOfGenitivesThereIsNoEnd.aspx
>> = http://tinyurl.com/32s5yx
>>
>> Some are aware that I have made "ad nauseam" complaints about this
>> practice, especially in Dan Wallace's GGBB. I was surprised and
>> appalled to learn from George Somsel's message on Titus 2:13
>> yesterday, that Wallace actually does have a subclassification of  
>> this
>> elusive and slippery Proteus of Greek nominal morphology and syntax  
>> --
>> a subclassification named "aporetic genitive." Now that is truly a
>> wonderful term; we have the so-called "aporetic" Socratic dialogues  
>> of
>> Plato that end without conclusion in a puzzlement that is preferable
>> to the initial state of puzzlement in that one knows where the blind
>> alleys of argumentation are; we have the Aristotelian discursive
>> procedure that he terms APORHSAI ἀπορῆσαι ("work through  
>> the
>> difficulties/problems") which he deems a necessary first step toward
>> solution of a major question. The English adjective derives  
>> ultimately
>> from the Greek verb APOREW (ἀπορέω), which is a denominative
>> verb from the alpha privative (ἀ-) and POROS (πόρος) "way,"
>> "means," "resource. An ἀπορία APORIA is a state of  
>> helplessness
>> in the face of a problem, a "no go" situation. To reach and confess
>> that one has arrived at an APORIA means, to paraphrase the lyric from
>> "Oklahoma," we've "gone about as fur as we can go!" (and we still
>> ain't got there).
>>
>> I persist in thinking that the adnominal genitive (as opposed to
>> partitive and ablatival usages) is strictly a structural case, not a
>> semantic one, and that most of the proposed classifications and
>> subclassifications of the adnominal genitive have been created as an
>> aid (crutch?) to translation into a target language rather than as a
>> key to understanding usage. Ultimately one really has to figure out
>> the instances of adnominal genitive -- if one doesn't grasp their
>> meaning more or less intuitively at first sight -- by thinking them
>> through in their context. I'm not so sure that a grammarian is a  
>> great
>> resource toward this end.
>>
>> Carl W. Conrad
>> Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
>>
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>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)




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