Re: How to recognize hendiadys?

From: Mike Sangrey (mike@sojurn.lns.pa.us)
Date: Sun Jun 20 1999 - 05:57:11 EDT


dpreznik@usa.net said:
> I am interested how to recognize hendiadys. For example, Ja 5:10:
> hUPODEIGMA ... THS KAKOPAQIAS KAI MAKROQUMIAS, "example... of
> suffering and patience". BDB grammer says it to be an example of
> hendiadys, and transates as: "perseverance in suffering". How can we
> know whether it is hendiadys, or just listing?

> Dmitriy Reznik

I would be very interested in this discussion, too.

Another text which illustrates one possible answer to your question is
Luke 2:47--EPI TH SUNESEI KAI TAIS APOKRINSESIN. Here the components of
the list are not strictly parallel. If it would be "questions and answers"
or "wisdom and understanding", then we've got a list. However, here we
have "intelligence and answers." How could the teachers intuit Jesus's
intelligence if it wasn't by his answers? Thus we have hendiadys--"the
teachers were amazed at his intelligent answers"; or at least that is my
thought. (Another possibility is that Greek did not have an adjective
for intelligence. Does it?)

The problems with this understanding of Luke 2:47, as I see them, are:
   1. Each noun has the article. Why would the author make each word
       definite if he is trying to so closely link them?
   2. I don't consistently make the components of my lists in parallel
       Obviously, I'm not inspired, but neither was the GNT computer
       generated by some complex formula--it is koine.

It seems to me that hendiadys could very easily be over-applied, so to my
Little Greek understanding, this is a very good question. Where's some
lines, even fuzzy ones?

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