[B-Greek] Tranlsating the Imperative: John 4:7
Barry H.
nebarry at verizon.net
Wed Apr 6 23:58:41 EDT 2011
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Baldwin" <stbaldwi at hotmail.com>
To: "B- Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 11:03 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Tranlsating the Imperative: John 4:7
>Ladies and Gentlemen:
Sir... :) Commentaria vide infra:
>e.g.
>NASB: 7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her,
>"Give Me a drink."
>NIV: 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will
>you give me a drink?”
>Greek: DOS MOI PEIN
>Whilst the essence of the sentence remains the same, [Jesus asks for a
>drink], the way in which Jesus asks, transmits quite a different tone
>between the translations, at least to the English reader. The text is the
>same -- there appear to be no variants. It is a straightforward aorist
>imperative.
>None of my commentaries deal with this point.
>BDF (SS387) says that the imperative is not confined to commands but also
>requests/concessions
Smyth (SS1835a) says something similar.
>Both fail to help me [much] in identifying the different flavours.
>AT Robertson [yes Mr. FWS -- he was promoted to Greek work due to the lack
>of tornados, and another desperate attempt to get my money's worth from my
>purchase ;-)] page 947[c] is slightly more helpful but not a lot.
>I almost forgot Wallace (until about to SEND this email) who is the most
>useful and who acknowledges the problem. Page 488 he says how difficult it
>is to communicate tone in a written language. He gives the impression of
>trying to categorise ever so neatly the different uses -- but I'm not sure
>he succeeds entirely.
>So the question is, how does one identify correctly, the tone of an
>occurrence of the imperative? Indeed: Is it even possible?
>Does the verb form [aorist in this case] play a role? Is it simply a
>question of context? I got to wonder whether the response of the woman
>gives a clue. She uses AITEW [PWS...EMOU...AITEIS] but this can take a soft
>[ask] or a stern [demand] meaning...the context of the conversation as a
>whole implies a request rather than a somewhat brusque command...
>What would be the "normal" polite way of asking for something? I believe
>that in several modern European languages, a simple imperative carries with
>it no negative tonal connotations when asking for something...same for NT
>Greek?
>I'd be interested in your views...
In a word, Stephen, context. The grammars are right -- the imperative may
be used literal commands from a superior to an inferior, of requests between
equals for a an inferior to a superior, including prayer. The precise same
form is used in the Lord's Prayer, DOS from DIDWMI, if that fact helps you
make a determination.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, semper melius Latine sonat...
Classics and Bible Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
(2010 Salvatori 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