I think there's a middle ground here.
Let's compare
what Carl wrote to my description of
phrasing a Greek text. Both use the same verse as an example, which makes comparison fairly easy.
cwconrad wrote:I once had a notion of a computer program that would display Greek
paragraphs with accretions of each new word/phrase that adds meaning
to the opening of sentences. For example, the opening of 1 John 1:
Ὃ ἦν [hO HN]
ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς, [AP᾿ ARCHS,[
ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν, [hO AKHKOAMEN,]
ὃ ἑωράκαμεν [hO hEWRAKAMEN]
τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, [TOIS OFQALMOIS hHMWN,]
ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα [hO EQEASAMEQA]
καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν [KAI hAI CEIRES hHMWN]
ἐψηλάφησαν [EYHLAFHSAN]
περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς _ [PERI TOU LOGOU THS ZWHS _]
My description uses a few "decoding" techniques to phrase the text out:
- Put each sentence on one line, ignoring verse boundaries.
- Start a new line for each comma, question mark, dash, or period.
- Place each independent verb on its own line, together with any verbs that are dependent on it.
- If a line remains complex, consider placing the objects of a verb on separate lines, if they occur after the verb. Keep the subject on the same line as the verb, and only do this if the result is easier to grasp. It often makes more sense to put direct objects or prepositional objects on a separate line than to put indirect objects on a separate line.
- ... a few more rules for breaking down complex lines.
I think this does something similar to Carl's method, using cues that are perhaps more available to a beginner. The result of applying the first three steps to 1 John:1-3 - is very similar to Carl's example:
1 ὃ ἦν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς,
ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν,
ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν,
ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα
καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν,
περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς
— 2 καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη,
καὶ ἑωράκαμεν
καὶ μαρτυροῦμεν
καὶ ἀπαγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον
ἥτις ἦν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα
καὶ ἐφανερώθη ἡμῖν
— 3 ὃ ἑωράκαμεν
καὶ ἀκηκόαμεν
ἀπαγγέλλομεν καὶ ὑμῖν,
ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνίαν ἔχητε μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν.
καὶ ἡ κοινωνία δὲ ἡ ἡμετέρα μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ.
The first three steps are the most helpful. The other steps allow you to break down some of the longer lines that remain.
Doing this in a text editor has helped me get to the point that I no longer have to do this very often. I can recognize the structures more intuitively.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/