[B-Greek] AUTOS in Predicate Position in Luke 13:31
Stephen Carlson
stemmatic at gmail.com
Thu Sep 30 09:49:38 EDT 2010
It is amazing what issues crop up when teaching Greek!
AUTOS (αὐτός) is usually taught that if it occurs in attributive
position it means "same" (identifying or identical function) but if it
occurs in predicate position it means self (intensive function). See
e.g. Smyth § 1173; Wallace pp 349-350. In some places, however,
particularly in Luke, there is more is going on than this simple rule
would suggest. For example:
Luke 13:31 Ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ προσῆλθάν τινες Φαρισαῖοι
Luke 13:31 EN AUTHi THi hWRAi PROSHLQAN TINES FARISAIOI
Luke 13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came (NRSV)
The resources I've consulted seem to be all over the place in
analyzing this use of AUTOS.
Mounce says that verses like Luke 13:31 show that the distinction
based on attributive/predicate position is not valid. He prefers to
solely analyze AUTOS by function and considers Luke 13:31 to be an
instance of the identifying function of AUTOS even though it is in
predicate position.
BDAG p. 153 classifies the use in Luke 13:31 as a species of the
intensive function, specifically under (1)(g) "w. attention directed
to a certain pers. of thing to the exclusion of other lexical units,
so that αὐ. can almost take on demonstrative sense"
BDF § 288(2) states: "Simple αὐτός in Lk stands for αὐτὸς οὗτος
(ἐκεῖνος) in several places." Though the ultimate analysis of the
meaning is similar to that of BDAG, the way BDF puts it suggests that
this usage is sui generis.
The NRSV's translation agrees with the idea that there's a
demonstrative sense by using "that" and its rendering of "very" is a
nice exploitation of this English word's ambiguity because "very" can
do either function.
As far as I can tell, Wallace's grammar doesn't address this
particular nuance of AUTOS in Luke 13:1, 31 etc.
What's the current thinking about this distinction based on AUTOS's
position? I found myself teaching the traditional, basic distinction
but telling the class there may be places, such as these time
expressions in Luke, where the two functions may seem to merge.
Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson
Graduate Program in Religion
Duke University
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