[B-Greek] the antecedent of relative pronoun
John Sanders
john.franklin.sanders at gmail.com
Thu Oct 7 04:42:21 EDT 2010
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Just a few comments.
HH asked about the antecedent of hAI in REV 5:8
Και ὅτε ἔλαβεν το βιβλιὀν, τα τἐσσαρα ζῷα και οἱ εἵκοσι τἐσσαρες πρεσβὐτεροι
ἔπεσαν ἐνὠπιον τοῦ ἀρνἰου ἔχοντες ἔκαστος κιθἀραν και φιἀλας χρυσᾶς γεμοὐσας
θυμιαμἀτων, αἵ εἰσιν αἱ προσευχαι τῶν ἁγἰων.
KAI hOTE ELABEN TO BIBLION, TA TESSARA ZWA KAI hOI EIKOSI TESSARES
PRESBUTEROI EPESAN ENWPION TOU ARNIOU EXONTES EKASTOS KIQARAN KAI FIALAS
XRUSAS GEMOUSAS QUMIAMATWN, hAI EISIN hAI PROSEUXAI TWN hAGIWN.
Magister Barrius is accurate in identifying FIALAS as the antecedent of hAI.
But Sometimes as we move from the forest to the tree to the limb to the
branch to the twig to the leaf, we forget the relationship that exists among
them all.
Whereas the FIALH is the hAI PROSEUXAI TWN hAGIWN, it is not just any old
FIALH; it is not a FIALH MOLUBDOXALKOS. Rather, it is a FIALH XRUSA
GEMOUSAS QUMAMATWN. The whole family comes along!
I should think we can even go further, there quite often is baggage that
comes along also. In this case, these are not shopkeepers putting their
incense on the shelf for resale. I expect the incense to be lit, that is
smoldering and the smoke going up to heaven. I think that is a reasonable
expectation without attempting to brings some form of interpretation into
the mix.
Also, HH asked about the antecedent of hO in Ephesians 6:17.
Και την περικεφαλαἰαν τοῦ σωτηρἰου δἐξασθε και την μἀχαιραν τοῦ πνεὐματος, ὅ
ἐστιν ῥῆμα θεοῦ.
KAI THN PERIKEFALAIAN TOU SWTHRIOU DEJASUE KAI THN MAXAIRAN TOU PNEUMATOS,
hO ESTIN hRMA QEOU.
There are two ways of looking at this phrase. The first is as Magister
Barrius has suggested, that PNEUMATOS is the hRMA QEOU.
But, as he also hinted at in his last posting, one can refer to Smyth,
#2501a:
“If the main clause as a whole is regarded as the antecedent, the relative
stands in the neuter singular with or without a demonstrative.”
In which case it is both the PERIKEFALAIAN and the MAXAIRAN that, together
is the hRMA QEOU.
But again, it is not just any helmet and sword, it is the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the spirit that would be the word of God.
I thought Latin had a similar construction, and perhaps Jerome was writing
decent Latin after all. He was just construing the relationship as the
latter of our two options.
--
John Sanders
Suzhou, China
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