[b-greek] Re: Gal 3:8 ( the dangling subject)

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 13 2001 - 09:34:48 EST


At 7:30 AM +0100 2/13/01, Iver Larsen wrote:
>> >> > >> >In Gal 3:8 we have:
>> >> > >> >
>> >> > >> >PROIDOUSA DE hH GRAFH hOTI EK PISTEWS DIKAIOI TA EQNH hO QEOS,
>> >> > >> >PROEUANGGELISATO TWi ABRAHAM hOTI ENEULOGHQHSONTAI EN SOI
>> >> > >> >PANTA TA EQNH.
>
>Carl said:
>> Well, I'd say we don't HAVE a participial clause here; rather we have a
>> subject, hH GRAFH and a circumstantial participle explaining WHY "scripture
>> fore-evangelized to Abraham."
>
>When N-A and the UBS Greek texts put a comma after QEOS I interpreted this to
>mean that the first line above was considered by these editors to be a
>participial clause. How do you interpret that comma? How do they decide
>where to
>put commas?
>I can see that there could just be one main clause with hH GRAFH as
>subject and
>the complex participial construction could modify the subject as part of an NP
>(S). Are there particular grammatical reasons that lead you to opt for not
>interpreting this as a participial dependant clause? Would you then not put a
>comma after QEOS? I don't think it makes any difference to the meaning,
>but I am
>interested in the grammatical reasons for one analysis rather than the other.
>The connector DE was left out originally, so I have put it back in. Does this
>word make any difference to the grammatical analysis?
>Or are we referring to the same thing with different grammatical terms? I
>am not
>familiar with all the traditional English terms used in describing Greek
>grammar.
>
>Would, say, Mat 2:22 then also have a circumstantial participle rather than a
>participial clause?
>AKOUSAS DE hOTI ARCELAOS BASILEUEI THS IOUDAIAS ANTI TOU PATROS AUTOU hHRWIDOU
>EFOBHQH EKEI APELQEIN.

Yes, I would. I think that part of our problem, Iver, and I saw it in
Moon's last post with subject-header "Eph 1.17-18: Sentence of the form S V
IO DO Pred?" as well, is that we're using our grammatical terminology in
different way, to mean different things. You are apparently using the term
"PARTICIPIAL CLAUSE" to refer to a unit of discourse that includes a noun
and a participle agreeing with it, whereas I would call that a "PARTICIPIAL
PHRASE." I can understand how a linguist might equate AKOUSAS .. . ANTI TOU
PATROS AUTOU hHRWiDOU with a clause, since it would be most commonly
converted in English (and presumably in several other languages) as a
clause, "When he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea instead of
his father Herod," although beginning students are more likely to start out
converting it as "Having heard that ...". Personally I don't call such a
unit a CLAUSE unless it has a finite verb in it. If I WERE going to talk
about participial clauses, I'd limit that term to genitive absolutes and
accusative absolutes (and although I've seen plenty of genitive absolutes
in the GNT, I'm not sure that I've ever seen an accusative absolute
(usually a neuter sg. participle representing an impersonal verb, such as
EXON for EXESTI or DEON for DEI).

As for punctuation of Greek, I've NEVER felt comfortable with the
punctuation I've found in either NA27 or the UBS texts of the GNT because I
simply have not observed any consistent practice. I would have set off the
preceding participial phrase ending in hHRWiDOU with a comma from EFOBHQH
EKEIN APELQEIN--I think it would make it easier for the reader to
understand the structure of the sentence. Clearly the editors of NA27 and
the UBS texts have been concerned with how their understanding of the
structure of the text relates to the punctuation and thereby the
understanding of textual structure adopted in major translations. BUT, it
seems to me that there really is no consistent standard of punctuation of
ancient Greek texts that commands a consensus. If I'm wrong about that, I
really would like to learn about any reference work that resolves the
question.
--

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
cwconrad@ioa.com
http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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