Re: IDE hO TOPOS vs. IDETE TON TOPON

From: Stephen C. Carlson (scarlson@mindspring.com)
Date: Fri Apr 24 1998 - 01:33:19 EDT


At 10:03 4/22/98 -0500, Benjamin Raymond wrote:
>I've a question if anyone is interested. In Mark 16:6 we find the
>NEANISKOS saying IDE hO TOPOS to the women. All the other imperatives here
>are in the plural, yet this is singular. On top of that, the following
>object(?) is nominative.

>1. Why does the object (if it is indeed an object proper) take the
>nominative in Mark? I understand this is not unknown in the NT (e.g., Mark
>3:34), but it still seems rather strange to me.
>
>2. Why does Mark use the singular imperative?

These answers are related. IDE here is an example of a frozen imperative,
like AGE and FERE, in which it acts more like a particle like IDOU than a
true imperative. This explains both why IDE does not agree in number with
the women (it is no longer a declinable imperative) and why the hO TOPOS
is in a parenthetical nominative. See BDF $ 144, p. 80 (Funk's notes).

>Matthew seems to have altered this with the smoother IDETE TON TOPON, but
>Mark's account remains nevertheless.

Whether Matthew "altered" Mark's IDE would be a good topic for the new
Synoptic-L list, but I note that Matthew is not adverse to using IDE with
the plural at 26:65 IDE NUN HKOUSATE THN BLASPFHMIAN (Mk14:64 omits IDE
NUN).

Stephen Carlson

--
Stephen C. Carlson                   : Poetry speaks of aspirations,
scarlson@mindspring.com              : and songs chant the words.
http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/ :               -- Shujing 2.35


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