[B-Greek] PNEUMATIKAIS
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Oct 24 10:33:30 EDT 2008
On Oct 23, 2008, at 10:18 PM, +Fr Patrick B O'Grady wrote:
> PNEUMATIKAIS modifies only WDAIS, and none of the others. This
> exegesis
> is based on long tradition within Orthodox Christian interpretation of
> the New Testament. The exact same Greek word order is found in
> Ephesians
> 5:18.
> In H KAINH DIAQHKH: META SUNTOMOU hERMHNAIAS, a parallel koine and
> modern Greek New Testament by the venerable Greek scholar, Panagiotis
> Trembelas, we find this modern Greek parallel for the Colossians
> passage
> in view:
> ...ME PSALMOUS KAI hUMNOUS KAI PNEUMATIKAS QDAS... So here, we can
> see
> how the Greeks themselves read the text. Even though the adjective
> follows the noun in the received text, it is meant to go only with
> WDAIS. BTW, it seems to me that if the adjective had to go with the
> other nouns, it would be worded something like this:
> ...PSALMOIS KAI hUMNOIS KAI WDAIS TOIS PNEUMATIKOIS
> Fr Patrick
Here we go again. I think it may very well be that PNEUMATIKAIS should
be construed with WDAIS only, but:
(a) I don't think that a tradition of interpretation proves the case;
(b) However likely (and I happen to think it more likely than not)
that the phrasing of Col 3:16 ψαλμοῖς ὕμνοις
ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς ἐν [τῇ] χάριτι
ᾄδοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν τῷ
θεῷ [YALMOIS hUMNOIS WiDAIS PNEUMATIKAIS EN {THi} CARITI AiDONTES
EN TAIS KARDIAIS hUMWN TWi QEWi] is similar and probably cognate in
some way to Eph 5:18 λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς [ἐν]
ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς
πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες
τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν τῷ κυρίῳ [LALOUNTES hEAUTOIS
{EN} YALMOIS KAI hUMNOIS KAI WiDAIS PNEUMATIKAIS, AiDONTES KAI
YALLONTES THi KARDIAi hUMWN TWi KURIWi], they are not quite identical;
(c) The proposed hypothetical alternative phrasing is in fact only one
of several plausible alternative phrasings; as has been said, it's
common enough for an adjective in agreement with several preceding
nouns may take its gender from the last one only.
In sum, I don't dispute the likelihood that PNEUMATIKAIS refers to
WDAIS only rather than to all three of the preceding dative nouns, but
I do not think that the arguments presented above are conclusive.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:03:12 -0400, "Fridolin Janzen"
> <fjanzen at gmx.net>
> said:
>> In Colossians 3:16, does the adjective PNEUMATIKAIS modify only the
>> noun
>> before it, WDAIS, or does it modify all three preceding nouns?
>>
>> Does the text say: ".teaching and admonishing one another in
>> spiritual
>> psalms and spiritual hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
>> your
>> hearts to the Lord.", or does it simply say: ".teaching and
>> admonishing
>> one
>> another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace
>> in
>> your
>> hearts to the Lord.", the way we usually understand it?
>>
>> If it is the case that the adjective modifies all three nouns, the
>> order
>> of
>> the words would have to switched around in my Portuguese translation.
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Pastor
>> Fridolin Janzen
>> Presidente da Sociedade Origem & Destino
>> Rua Dom Aquino, 1354, sala 41
>> Campo Grande, MS
>> Brasil
>> 0055-67-3321-4288
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