[B-Greek] John 12:27 TI EIPW

Vasile Stancu stancu at mail.dnttm.ro
Tue Oct 21 22:42:33 EDT 2008


I propose that some nuance be added to the term "deliberative subjunctive".
If my understanding is correct, simply "deliberative" would imply something
like, "What do I say: this or that?" or "How to respond: thus or the other
way round?", whereas in this case, the very alternative which is worded is
already denied before any judgement. It is like when a mother is rebuking
her child after having discovered that he had caught a cat and attached old
cans to its tail and then released it so as to watch the cat running away
scared by the noise, and says, "Now, shall I do to you the same as you did
to the poor cat?" Of course the mother has no intention at all of doing
that. The subjunctive used here is very much like the one in question, I
believe. Let me propose something: "deliberative subjunctive by
elimination".

Vasile STANCU

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Carl Conrad
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 8:58 PM
To: javajedi2 at yahoo.com
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] John 12:27 TI EIPW


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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