Re: Verb Sequence in NT Greek

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 28 2000 - 16:03:19 EST


At 11:56 AM -0800 3/28/00, clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:
>This is a question for those who have read R.E. Longacre* on media-final
>chaining structures and have some understanding of how this applies or does
>not apply to NT Greek.
>
>In the Greek NT we find on occasion two fully inflected verbs in the same
>clause and at the same level of the clause structure. Longacre points out
>that in medial-final chaining languages this will not take place. The
>pattern in these languages is for all the pre-positive** verbs (medial
>verbs) to have reduced inflection (e.g., participles and infinitives) and
>full inflection is reserved for the final verb.
>
>NT Greek does not fit this pattern. So what is my question? When we see two
>fully inflected verbs in the same clause how are we to understand the
>relationship between these verbs? Does one of the verbs function as if it
>had reduced inflection? For example, can a fully inflected verb function
>adverbially to limit the scope of the main verb?

Well, since I don't really know anything about the subject, I can't say
anything about the real question. Nevertheless, I think I can say something
about these examples:

>Here are some examples found with imperatives:
>
>Mk 2:11 EGEIRE ARON
>Mk 6:38 hUPAGETE IDETE
>Mk 16:7 hUPAGETE EIPATE

I think each of these (and I think there are lots of similar combinations)
is actually an instance of an initial imperative whose function is little
more than to 'rouse' the addressee into action or readiness to act prior to
the key imperative expression to be spoken. Thus:

Mk 2:11 SOI LEGW: EGEIRE ARON TON KRABATTON SOU KAI hUPAGE EIS TON OIKON
SOU: Note that there's not even a conjunction between EGEIRE and ARON. The
force of this is "Up! Pick up your pallet and go home."

The others are actually very similar:

Mk 6:38 hUPAGETE IDETE is "Go see ... " and in Mk 16:7 hUPAGETE EIPATE is
"Go tell ..." These initial verbs are nothing but attention-getters to
prepare for the real imperative. Older Greek tended to use AGE or AGE DH
the same way to start an imperative phrase or a hortatory suggestion; it's
like a "Hey, let's ..." or "Hey, you tell so-and-so ..."

Somewhat like this is a phrase that occurs very frequently in Homer to
initiate a narrative sequence of walking or going somewhere; it is a phrase
that resists literal translation but it is not one in which either verb is
really otiose:

        BH D'IMEN ...

Literally this is something like "He strode to go" (BH is the unaugmented
aorist 3d sg. of BAINW and IMEN is the infinitive of EIMI "go"--I remember
how quaint we used to think this phrase was back in second-year Greek, when
we used to translate it: "He went to go" -- but this formula actually
describes the "launching," if you will, of a walking action.

And I don't think those examples or what I'm talking about bears any
relationship to what Longacre is apparently describing.

>This pattern seems to crop up a lot with verbs of saying. This pattern is
>very common and looks like frozen pattern. For example:
>
>Mk 12:34 APEKRIQH EIPEN

I think your search engine has found two adjacent 3d sg. verbs that don't
belong to each other. It's KAI hO IHSOUS IDWN hOTI NOUNECWS APEKRIQH EIPEN
AUTWi ... Here APEKRIQH ends one clause and EIPEN belongs to the next: "And
when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him ..."

>There is nothing difficult about any of these examples. They make perfectly
>good sense. My question is about the function of the first fully inflected
>verb in each of these examples. Does it function like a "medial" verb as
>defined by Longacre?

I don't think so. But you have roused my curiosity.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics/Washington University One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018 Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu

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