[B-Greek] Subject and object in a nominal sentence
Blanco,Charles
Charles.Blanco at cune.edu
Thu Oct 2 17:15:13 EDT 2008
In "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics" (1996 ed.) Dan Wallace discusses
this issue on pp. 40-46. Concerning "God is love," see also his
material on "Anarthrous Pre-Verbal Predicate Nominatives" on pp.
256-270, with 1 John 4:8 referenced specifically on p. 264. The Lord be
with you all.
Chuck Blanco
Concordia University, Nebraska
-----Original Message-----
From: +Fr Patrick B O'Grady [mailto:fatherpatrick at fastmail.fm]
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 6:55 PM
To: javajedi2 at yahoo.com; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Subject and object in a nominal sentence
this is of special interest to me, as well, but especially in the
occurances where the nominal sentences have no article. My Greek
Sprachgefuehl tells me that the following:
QEOS KURIOS KAI EPEFANEN hHMIN... means *The LORD is God and He has
revealed Himself to us*
This is the refrain in Orthodox service of Matins, drawn from Psalm 117
(LXX).
The position of the nouns in this sentence, both anarthrous, indicates
for me KURIOS as subject and QEOS as predicate. However, in your
example, O QEOS AGAPH (even if no ESTIN), the subject is indicated by
the article. But where such a discussion could be found, I do not know.
Fr Patrick B. O'Grady
On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 15:39:06 -0700 (PDT), "Kenneth Litwak"
<javajedi2 at yahoo.com> said:
> Where can I find a detailed discussion of the principles for
deciding
> in a sentence, where there is a subject in the nominative and a
> predicate noun in the nominative, which of the two nouns is the
> subject? I gather that if there is one with a definite article, that
> that is the subject, but I'm not sure that this is always the case,
> given that some nouns simply have the article even if we would not
use
> it in English, so that might not be any basis for deciding. So, for
> example, how do we know that in 1 John 4:8, (O QEOS AGAPH ESTIN is
"God
> is love," rather than "love is God"? Thanks.
>
>
> Ken
>
>
>
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"Repentance is the returning from the unnatural into the natural state,
from the devil to God, through discipline and effort." -- St. John of
Damascus (8th century)
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