ὃς ἐὰν and ὃς ἂν
Posted: July 1st, 2015, 7:35 am
I'm posting publicly a question that was put to me on the mistaken assumption that I might know the answer:
My own thought is that there's not an ounce of difference in meaning between ὃς ἐὰν and ὃς ἂν in these two expressions introducing a generalizing conditional construction. But if there's a choice to be made between them in particular cases, what governs the preference? My guess is that it has something to do with the prosodic sequence of ὃς ἐὰν δέξηται in the first instance and ὃς ἂν ἐμὲ δέξηται in the other -- but I don't have much confidence in my guess. Would someone (who knows) enlighten Wes and me?Wes Wood wrote: Luke 9:48 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ὃς ἐὰν δέξηται τοῦτο τὸ παιδίον ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται· καὶ ὃς ἂν ἐμὲ δέξηται, δέχεται τὸν ἀποστείλαντά με· ὁ γὰρ μικρότερος ἐν πᾶσιν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχων οὗτός ἐστιν μέγας.
What is the difference between ὃς ἐὰν and ὃς ἂν here? Is the εἰ 'embedded' in ἐὰν affecting the clauses on both sides of καί, or is something else being expressed? I am trying to understand why it is written the way it is.