[B-Greek] John 12:27 TI EIPW

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Oct 20 07:58:18 EDT 2008


On Oct 20, 2008, at 1:58 AM, Kenneth Litwak wrote:

> I'm looking at the question, TI EIPW, PATER SWSON ME EK THS (WRAS  
> TAUTHS?  As a subjunctive I can think of several ways that one could  
> translate this:  what can I say?  What should I say?  What shall I  
> say?  I read one book that said this has to mean "What can I say/"  
> but I don't think the Greek subjunctive is that narrow. What do  
> y'all ((UMEIS) think?

Ken, any one of your suggested versions will do; you could even use  
"What do I say?" or "How to response?" The construction is the so- 
called "deliberative" subjunctive in an independent clause. The  
meaning is not in question; English it however you think best  
expresses the sense of hesitancy or momentary uncertainty.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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