[B-Greek] Mark 4:9 and 4:23 - both subject clauses?
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Sep 13 07:29:42 EDT 2010
On Sep 13, 2010, at 6:52 AM, Morten Hørning Jensen wrote:
> Dear Carl
> Thanks for your speedy reply!
> Just to clarify: When you say, "in terms of traditional grammar", does it then imply that you can take the HOS-clause as a subject clause (as Leedy seems to do)? Is it also possible with the EI-clause?
>
> Or should we really discard that option altogether and reduce the use of subject clauses to clauses beginning with HOTI, HOS or HINA (in koine) and mostly with impersonal phrases?
>
> Not a lot is written on this topic in the regular grammars. Wallace hardly touches upon it (p. 453f and 677f).
A quick response, as I'm on my way out. I really think that these two clauses are variants of a present general conditional clause, "Who ever, If anyone ever, He who ... " (I think Luke has an equivalent hO WTA ECWN or the like; in such cases, the subject of the result clause is elliptical and is the referent of the pronominal subjects in any form of the conditional subject. Academic linguistics probably has a simpler way to account for this very common formulation; certainly the traditional grammatical accounting is rather awkward, even if intelligible.
Carl W. Conrad
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: Carl Conrad [mailto:cwconrad2 at mac.com]
> Sendt: 13. september 2010 11:36
> Til: Morten Hørning Jensen
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Emne: Re: [B-Greek] Mark 4:9 and 4:23 - both subject clauses?
>
>
> On Sep 13, 2010, at 3:19 AM, Morten Hørning Jensen wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> How would you understand the difference between Mark 4:9 and 4:23 in
>> regards to what is the subject of AKOUETO. The Leedy diagram in
>> Bibleworks interprets them differently, with the HOS-clause of 4:9 as
>> subject of AKOUETO, where as the EI-clause of 4:23 is listed as a
>> regular conditional clause. Can 4:23 not be understood in the same
>> manner as 4:9 (ie. as a subject clause)?
>
> Mark 4:9 καὶ ἔλεγεν· ὃς ἔχει ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω.
> Mark 4:9 KAI ELEGEN· hOS ECEI WTA AKOUEIN AKOUETW.
>
> Mark 4:23 εἴ τις ἔχει ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω.
> Mark 4:23 EI TIS ECEI WTA AKOUEIN AKOUETW.
>
> In terms of traditional grammar, the subject isn't expressed in either of these two instances but is implicit; in both clauses it is the referent of the pronoun (of hOS, of TIS): if it were spelled out, one might expect a hOUTOS, or EKEINOS. In common English versions, that implicit subject is spelled out as "he"; actually, however, hOS ECEI and EI TIS ECEI are alternative phrasings of the very same notion: the person with the capacity to hear.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
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