[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






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