[B-Greek] Hendiadys: Does it always involve a conjunction?
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu May 8 12:22:59 EDT 2008
On May 8, 2008, at 12:18 PM, Scott Stocking wrote:
> I've been trying to find out some information on hendiadys in Greek.
> BDF has
> a limited discussion of it, but it centers around the use of KAI.
> Wallace's
> grammar doesn't use the term. Merriam-Webster says the construction
> uses
> "and" in English, but it's not clear if this applies to other
> languages. Is
> it possible to have a hendiadytic (sp???) construction in Greek
> without KAI
> or another conjunction? I am thinking of TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU in
> Luke
> 1.47 as an example. The phrase could certainly be understood as an
> appositive, but I'm wondering if SWTHRI could be understood
> adjectivally
> (through hendiadys) as well, translating the phrase "My Savior God,"
> because
> the syntax is attributive (article-noun-article-(noun as) adjective).
For my part, I don't know of any phrase that's been termed a
"hendiadys" (hEN DIA DUOIN, "one (sense) by means of two
(expressions)"). Where a second word functions as a gloss or
equivalent of the first -- without any intervening conjunction -- I
think we would normally call it an "appositive" or a case of
"apposition." Surely TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU is an instance of
apposition.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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