[B-Greek] Force of KAI in 1 Cor 11:23?

John Sanders john.franklin.sanders at gmail.com
Sat Feb 19 04:18:03 EST 2011


There are a lot of heavy weights in on this issue, and I hesitate to add my
puny voice to the lot, but I will do so if you will permit me.

As Dr. Conrad has written, EGO is emphatic to begin with.  But, I would also
venture that GAR (and any post positive particle or conjunction) gives
emphasis to the word that precedes it.  That does not mean the EGO is doubly
emphasized, but that it is emphasized by two different means.  Likewise, GAR
will also put an emphasis on the following phrase.  There is energy in this
phrase; it is not a simple inventory of fact.  Likewise, the following
phrase is parallel in structure.  KAI does not need to be postpositive, but
it is here.  I would say that it deliberately put emphasis on the relative
pronoun, hO.  Also, since KAI coordinates, I would think that implies the
following PAREDWKA hUMIN is equally emphasized.  Again, this has energy.



To come to the question posed originally.  I would think that parenthetical
comments are for commentary or clarity-a kind of inventory description.  My
thoughts are that these clauses come from the spleen, not the mind.  I would
be more forceful in saying them, not putting the second as a parenthetical
to the first.



My humble thoughts, and I apologize for interrupting the learned.



John Sanders

Suzhou, China


On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:57 PM, Stephen Carlson <stemmatic at gmail.com>wrote:

> A famous passage in Paul, 1 Cor 11:23 reads:
>
> Ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς
> ...
>
> EGO GAR PARELABON APO TOU KURIOU, hO KAI PAREDWKA hUMIN, hOTI hO
> KURIOS IHSOUS ...
>
> It is usually rendered as "For I received from the Lord, which I also
> handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus ..."
>
> Curious about the force of the καί KAI, I looked up the entry in BDAG
> p. 496, s.v. καί, 2f, and saw this explanation: "used w[ith] a
> relative, it oft[en] gives greater independence to the foll[owing]
> relative clause," citing 1 Cor 11:23 among other passages.
>
> What does BDAG mean by "greater independence"? Unfortunately BDAG does
> not cite any secondary literature on this point.
>
> For what it's worth, Denniston on Particles, pp.294-295, treats KAI
> with the relative pronoun as follows:
>
> "In general καί emphasize the fact that the relative clause contains
> an addition to the information contained in the main clause: whereas
> δή stresses the importance of the antecedent, and γε usually marks the
> relative clause as having a limiting force. . . . The emphasis which
> καί gives to a relative clause can often be best brought out in
> English by the insertion of a new (pronominal) antecedent."
>
> Applying Denniston's proposed translations of some Attic examples to 1
> Cor 11:23 may mean that the following translation gives the feel of
> the construction: "For I received from the Lord (and that is what I
> handed on to you) that the Lord Jesus ..."
>
> Turning back to BDAG's notion of "greater independence," would that
> mean that the relative clause with KAI almost becomes a parenthetical?
>
> Stephen Carlson
> --
> Stephen C. Carlson
> Graduate Program in Religion
> Duke University
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-- 
John Sanders
Suzhou, China



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