[B-Greek] Punctuation of John 9:3-4
Daniel, Robert S
rob.daniel at hp.com
Fri Sep 25 11:58:23 EDT 2009
Wow, that was a quick response! Thanks! So this gives me permission to question the location of the punctuation in the editions BUT I still have a question as to whether the place I have suggested for the period is an improvement over where the editions place it, on the basis of grammar and style?
Rob
From: Sarah Madden [mailto:sarah.r.madden at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 9:55 AM
To: Daniel, Robert S
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Punctuation of John 9:3-4
Rob --
Not only did the original Greek autographs not have punctuation, they did not distinguish uppercase from lowercase letters because they were written in all caps, and with no spaces between the words (kind of like this: THEYWEREWRITTENINALLCAPS). So, as you surmised, the punctuation was a later addition.
Sarah ><>
Maryland
On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Daniel, Robert S <rob.daniel at hp.com<mailto:rob.daniel at hp.com>> wrote:
APEKRIQH hO IHSOUS OUTE hOUTOS hHMARTEN OUTE hOI GONEIS AUTOU ALL' hINA FANERWQH TA ERGA TOU QEOU EN AUTW EME/hHMEIS DEI ERGAZESQAI TA ERGA TOU PEMYANTOS ME hEWS hHEMERA ESTIN ERCETAI NUX hOTE OUDEIS DUNATAI ERGAZESQAI
All of the Greek editions and translations I've looked at put the first period after AUTW and before EME/hHMEIS (19th and 20th word above). Is that really the right place for it? Does the phrase ALL' hINA FANERWQH TA ERGA TOU QEOU EN AUTW belong with the sentence before or the sentence after? Translating it as literally as possible into English it seems awkward or even ungrammatical when it is included as part of the preceding sentence but smoother when attached to the following sentence. Is it really an awkward construction in the original Greek? Also, the word ERGA seems to connect it to the following sentence with its repetition of ERGA and then its verb ERGAZESQAI.
So on the basis of grammar and/or style can a case be made for punctuating it as I have suggested rather than as the Greek editions and translations do?
I'm assuming that the manuscripts do not include punctuation, so that the punctuation is a later addition. Is that a safe assumption?
Thanks, Rob
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