[B-Greek] PNEUMATIKAIS

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Fri Oct 24 00:37:42 EDT 2008


On Oct 23, 2008, at 8:27 PM, Barry wrote:

>>
>>
>> PSALMOS and HUMNOS are masculine, so they cannot be modified by
>> PNEUMATIKAIS
>> which is feminine.
>
> With a series of nouns, it is not uncommon for a final adjective to  
> be taken
> with the entire series.


COL. 3:16 hO LOGOS TOU CRISTOU ENOIKEITW EN hUMIN PLOUSIWS, EN PASHi  
SOFIAi DIDASKONTES KAI NOUQETOUNTES hEAUTOUS, YALMOIS hUMNOIS WiDAIS  
PNEUMATIKAIS EN [THi] CARITI AiDONTES EN TAIS KARDIAIS hUMWN TWi QEWi

RE: concord/agreement

"An attributive adjective belonging to more than one substantive  
agrees with the nearest."
H.W.Smyth #1030

Thus YALMOIS hUMNOIS WiDAIS PNEUMATIKAIS, where PNEUMATIKAIS agrees in  
gender with WiDAIS but may apply to all three.


> There is no real grammatical principle which
> definitively decides this -- it's more a function of the context.   
> Lightfoot
> thought that hWdAIS was summative the previous two, which would  
> suggest that
> the adjective is to be taken with all three.  Others have argued the  
> YALMOIS
> and hUMNOIS refer to canonical productions, while hWDAIS refers to
> specifically Christian compositions written under the inspiration of  
> the
> Spirit, and so PNEUMATIKAIS would only refer to hWDAIS, since the
> "spiritual" nature of the Psalms and Hymns would be understood.

Another way of saying this. YALMOIS KAI hUMNOIS both imply a sacred  
context, whereas WiDAIS do not. Thus PNEUMATIKAIS could apply to all  
three but is required to define WiDAIS, which without PNEUMATIKAIS  
could refer to Led Zeppelin. James Dunn (Col.NINGTC) suggests that  
PNEUMATIKAIS might refer to songs performed under the immedate  
influence of the Spirit.

The answer to the original question is either/or.

Elizabeth Kline







More information about the B-Greek mailing list