[B-Greek] Question concerning syntax

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Jan 28 07:09:16 EST 2009


On Jan 27, 2009, at 8:30 PM, learngreek at aol.com wrote:

> Hi all on the B-Greek list, if I may, B-Greekers : )
>
>    I'm trying to get through intermediate NTG and I'm  stumbling on  
> nouns.
>
> I'm using D & M's book, so my answers should from the  categorizes  
> they give,
> if possible.
>
>> From 2 Thess 2:7 TO GAR MUSTHRION HDH ENERGEITAI THS ANOMIAS
> What category would, the mystery of  lawlessness be under, that is,  
> what type
> of genitive?
>
> Considering I must do this for my project, what's the best why to  
> get the
> correct answers here, I'm just starting, so I'll just go through  
> each category,
> genitive of inscription, genitive of possession & so on.
> I really have no way to check, even if I get the correct answer,  
> unless  this
> was a test, which it isn't, I'm just translating 2 Thessalonians.

If it's a matter of understanding the difference between two  
categories or subcategories of genitive usage, we might be able to  
help you, but from what you have told us, it appears that you have not  
the first idea of how the categories of genitive usage differ from  
each other and you are, in effect, asking list-members to do your  
homework for you when you have no idea how to begin doing it. My first  
inclination upon reading your message was to suggest: If you can  
translate MUSTHRION THS ANOMIAS as "mystery of lawlessness," and  
understand what that phrase means, you really don't need to go any  
further: it is an adnominal (= adjectival) genitive wherein the noun  
in the genitive indicates something pertaining to the noun on which it  
depends. Some grammars call that "possessive"; I've learned to call it  
"pertinentive"; most grammars tend to subdivide the "possessive" or  
"pertinentive" into a slew of subcategories never dreamed of by Greek  
speakers or writers. I don't know what Dana & Mantey's subcategories  
might be nor even what their preferred term for an adnominal genitive  
is. If you really don't understand D&M's account of genitive  
constructions, then you probably need to go back to your first-year  
textbook and review everything said about genitive constructions  
there. Again, my own sense of MUSTHRION THS ANOMIAS is that if you can  
English it as "mystery of lawlessness" or as "lawlessness mystery",  
then you don't really need to go any farther than that. But I would  
guess that's not the sort of solution that your homework assignment  
envisions.

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






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