I read with interest the attempt to define the Greek sentence and was struck by the fact that everyone seemed to think that the definition of an English sentence was all that clear. Is it? Why do we need punctuation marks: period, semicolon, colon, exclamation point, question mark. Go! is clearly a sentence. "Go" is not--or is it, without the exclamation point. Since no one has yet cited a Greek grammarian on the sentence, let me do so. I cite Dionyius Thrax, _Ars Grammatica_ (to use the Latin translation of the title) 11, the section entitle PERI LEXEWS, according to the edition of Gustav Uhlig, _Grammatici Graeci_ I,1 (Leipzig: Teubner 1883), p. 23. Dionysius says the following: LEXIS ESTI MEROS ELACISTWN TOU KATA SUNTAXIN LOGOU. LOGOS DE ESTI PEZHS LEXEWS SUNQESIS DIANOIAN AUTOTELH DHLOUSA. How would you translate this? Here is my simple rough and ready version: "Lexis is the smallest part of logos that is put together. Logos (= a sentence) is the synthesis of lexis that makes clear a thought that is complete in itself." Note that I did not translate PEZHS, since I am not at the moment sure how to do so. An ancient commentator on Dionysius Thrax defined it as follows: PEZHS LEXEWS THS KATALOGADHN, TOUTESTI THS ME hUPO METRON, i.e. as prose. A scholiast calls this a PERIOhODOS, pace Carl. He then goes on to enumerate the eight parts of LOGOS: ONOMA, hRHMA, METOCH, ARQRON, ANTWNUMIA, PROQESIS (what an interesting term for preposition; think on the definition of both the Greek and the Latin terms for the understanding of the function of the preposition as described by grammarian of the early Roman empire!), EPIRRHMA, SUNDESMOS. How did ancients mark such things off? In part by the use of clausulae, proper rhythm at the end, aided most likely by the cadence of the speaker. {Think of how clergy end prayers with a cadence.) Since there has been questions about paragraphing in ancient manuscripts, consult the introduction to Aland's _Novum Testamentum Graece_, ed. 27. Aland reproduces the ancient Eusebian canons for the four gospels in his margins, thus indicating one form of ancient paragraphing in early MSS; he also gives the paragraphing, if my memory is right, of codex Vaticanus. Paragraphs were indicate by extending the first word of a paragraph slightly into the margin in some MSS. This does not go back to the first century, of course, but is some Greek scribes way of doing things. The very word paragraph is a Greek term, PARAGRAFOS. It is the term for a simple device. One left a slight space in the text and placed a short horizontal stroke (PARAGRAFOS) below the beginning of the line in which the break occurs. Aristotle already refers to this; it is found among the earliest extant literary papyri. See F. G. Kenyon, _The Paleography of Greek Papyri_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899) 27 [This work was recently reprinted. E. Maunde Thompson, _An Introduction to Greek and Latin Paleography_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912) 58-59, says the same, adding that other sings were sometimes used: the wedge > (DIPLH) or the KORONIS. Another device was to enlarge the first letter of a paragraph or extend it out into the margin. You should also consult p. 60 in Thompson for the early introduction of punctuation as an aid to non-native speakers of Greek. If you cannot find the above two older books in a nearby library, look for B. A. van Groningen, _Short Manual of Greek Palaeography_, 2nd ed. (Leiden: A. W, Sijthoff, 1955) 52-53. He credits Aristophanes of Byzantium with the invention of the a system equivalent to our period, comma, and colon (all dots place at varying heights in the text.) Finally, if you read French, spend time with Robert Devresse, _ Introduction a l'etude des Manuscrits Grecs (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale; Librarie C. Klincksieck, 1954); it is a gold mine of information, with helpful plates. All of these volumes have excellent plate--including some biblical texts that illustrate the above phenomena. As do Metzger and Aland in their works on NT text criticism. I wonder whether the concern with determing precisely conceptual or linguistic marks of a sentence is not a modern concern arising from modern linguistic interests. Sometimes I get the impressing that we are a bit too spitzfindig, immer wieder nach Genauigkeit dringend suchen, was wirklich die Schoenheit und Kunst der Sprache vorbei geht! At times some of our grammatical questions remind me of analyzing jokes or puns; the very act of doing it loses the meaning. Clearly it's late at night. I, like Carl Conrad, am amazed by the shimmering variety of language and terminology in modern linguistics, often discovering that the new term seems to be a nelogism for something older, known both to ancients and earlier moderns. Aber doch ...; ALL' hOMWS, as Euripides loved to end lines. I await the slings and arrows of outraged linguists. EIRHNH hUMION PLHQUNQEIH. Edgar Krentz, Prof. of New Testament Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago 1100 East 55th Street CHICAGO IL 60615 TEL.: 773-256-0752 FAX: 773-256-0782 Office: ekrentz@lstc.edu OR HOME: emkrentz@mcs.com