[B-Greek] English "postscriptives"

Murray Hogg muzhogg at netspace.net.au
Sat Jan 17 17:11:09 EST 2009


Hi all,

Apologies for a rather off-topic question - although it has some connection with the teaching of Greek, if not the language itself.

In an effort to explain the use of postscriptives in Greek (DE, GAR, AN, etc) I've been drawing analogy with the way in which English can show a related sort of syntax. For example the simple sentence "It's a sunny day therefore I am going to the beach" can be rendered as a postscriptive after the Greek manner;

"It's a sunny day. I, therefore, am going to the beach." (or: "I am going, therefore, to the beach")

But this got me musing as to the origins of this later syntax in English and hence the question, from whence does it come? 

This question really doesn't require answering, but I'm curious nevertheless.

So does anybody know how this syntax came into the English language? Is it recent or of longstanding? Perhaps typical of Norman French, or older Germanic languages? Perhaps it even arises directly or indirectly from the learning of Greek (or Latin?) itself?

As I say, a bit off topic, and really just a matter of lingustic curiosity - but does anybody have any real idea as to an answer?

Blessings,
Murray Hogg
Pastor, East Camberwell Baptist Church, Victoria, Australia
Chairman, Executive Committee, ISCAST Vic <www.iscast.org>
Post-Grad Student (MTh), Australian College of Theology
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