[B-Greek] commas and periods in the original text

JMonte2000 at aol.com JMonte2000 at aol.com
Mon Mar 9 16:27:20 EDT 2009


Thanks for the replies, second thing, I didn't want to raise the  question of 
infallibility to the list, I stated this only so you'll know where  the 
question came from and why. I should have not stated it this way, I could  have 
asked the question without putting that in.
Again thanks for every answer I really appreciate it.
Jim Montesano 
 
 
In a message dated 3/9/2009 4:10:25 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
iscott at tyndale.ca writes:

You're  right, Jim, that there would have been little if any punctuation 
in the  manuscripts for the early centuries. If you find a photograph of 
codex  sinaiticus online (there's one on commons.wikimedia.org if you 
search)  you'll see no periods or commas, and that's in the fourth 
century or so.  I've been working recently with some Greek manuscripts 
from the 12th  century and even then there was often no distinction 
between commas,  periods, or semicolons. All three are marked in my ms 
with a dot that is  raised slightly above the line. So even into the 
medieval period it would  be difficult to tell, for example, whether we 
are dealing with a  co-ordinate clause starting with KAI (within one 
sentence) or with a new  sentence that is introduced with KAI. In fact, 
prior to the modern  standardization of punctuation it doesn't really 
make that much sense to  talk about sentences. It makes more sense to 
talk about "main clauses" or  "periods" in the sense of one independent 
subject-predicate sequence,  along with its dependent  clauses.

Cheers,

Ian

JMonte2000 at aol.com wrote:
>  Greetings all
> Were commas and periods and things like this in the  original Greek  text 
from 
> the bible or added as time went on? I  was told in my second year  class, 
that 
> they were added. For  those who believe in the infallibility of  the 
original 
> text,  are the commas and periods infallible? I'd think if they  weren't in 
the  
> original's you'd say no. I'm asking because we are studying Eph   Ch 1 and 
> particularly, Ch 1:3 -14 and I have heard from many, that  this is  the 
longest 
> sentence in the Greek text, true?   
>  
> Jim Montesano
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