[B-Greek] the antecedent of relative pronoun
Barry H.
nebarry at verizon.net
Wed Oct 6 06:58:23 EDT 2010
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wong Hung Huen" <hwhhwong at gmail.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 11:25 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] the antecedent of relative pronoun
> Hi,
> Which noun does the relative pronoun hai refer to in Rev 5:8,
> phialas(bowls)
> or thumaimatoon(incenses)? Another verse is Eph 6:17, the relative pronoun
> ho refers to the sword or the spirit?
>
> what is the principle behind when we have to determine which word is being
> referred to by the relative pronoun?
> thanks
> hh
Greetings, HH:
The relative pronoun gets its number and gender from its antecedant (the
noun it replaces), it's case from how it is used in its clause. With that,
if there are two nouns of the same number and gender, it refers to the
nearest noun to it physically in the sentence, unless context indicates
otherwise. The latter part of that rule does not apply in either verse:
In Revelation 5:8, the antecedent must be FIALAS, because hAI is feminine
plural, not QUMIAMATWN, which is neuter plural.
In Eph 6:17, hO is neuter singular, and therefore must refer to the neuter
singular PNEUMATOS. Sword (MACAIRAN) is feminine.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, semper melius Latine sonat...
Classics and Bible Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
(2010 Savatori Excellence in Education Winner)
V-P of Academic Affairs, TNARS
bhofstetter at tnars.net
http://www.tnars.net
http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list