[B-Greek] Could I have some help

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Sep 9 07:17:24 EDT 2009


On Sep 8, 2009, at 12:25 PM, jlitteral5 at roadrunner.com wrote:

> I am working on translating this, could someone take a shot at this  
> for me?
>
> ει γαρ συμβαινει γυναικα πιστην  
> απιστω συνοικουσαν, μη ειναι  
> εναρετον, η βλασφημια επι τον θεον  
> διαβαινειν ειωθεν.

Do you really intend this translation endeavor to be an interactive  
collaborative effort by discussion list? It would appear that if  
that's the case, you'll encounter a lot of guess-work.

Εἰ γὰρ συμβαίνει γυναῖκα πιστὴν  
ἀπιίστῳ συνοικοῦσαν, μὴ εἶναι  
ἐνάρετον, ἡ βλασφημία ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν  
διαβαίνειν εἴωθεν.

[EI GAR SUMBAINEI GUNAIKA PISTHN APIISTWi SUNOIKOUSAN, MH EINAI  
ENARETON, hH BLASFHMIA EPI TON QEON DIABAINEIN EIWQEN.]

If a believing woman living with an unbeliever is not actually  
virtuous, the sacrilegeMor ordinarily becomes an offense against God.

More literally: "For if a woman believer living with (a man who is) an  
unbeliever happens not to be virtuous, the sacrilege (of this  
cohabitation) ordinarily carries over to (an offense) against God."

  The construction turns on a couple irregular impersonal verbs, both  
of which are fairly common in expository prose. SUMBAINEI is a third- 
person impersonal verb indicating a contingency and construed with an  
accusative + infinitive complement. EIWQEN is the third-person  
singular of an irregular (second) perfect-tense verb EIWQA construed  
with a complementary infinitive and having the sense “be accustomed  
(to do X)” or “habitually do” – it works like Latin “solet”  
with an infinitive.


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






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