[B-Greek] A Perfect Imperfect (Was Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5

Richard Lindeman oblchurch at msn.com
Wed Mar 10 16:23:14 EST 2010


Carl:

As far as Greek matters go I am certainly far more inclined to trust your
judgment above  my own. However, before throwing out my suggestion of an
iterative imperfect entirely... Let me ask this question:

If one were to translate it into Greek, what might be the proper way of
saying:  "I was never a prophet or the son of a prophet but I was always a
herdsman and a dresser of figs." ?

Thanks!

Rich Lindeman


On 3/10/10 2:51 PM, "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:

> On Mar 10, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Richard Lindeman wrote:
>> Perhaps HMHN + a noun designating position of office gives to us the
>> effective equivalent of a performance verb?
> 
> I doubt it; I think one might then rather expect the typical
> Greek nominal verbs such as PROFHTEUW -- EPROFHTEUON.
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:39 PM
>> To: "Mark Lightman" <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>; "Richard Lindeman" <oblchurch at msn.com>
>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] A Perfect Imperfect (Was Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5
>> 
>>> On Mar 10, 2010, at 2:23 PM, Mark Lightman wrote:
>>>> Richard wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> <How about an iterative imperfect?
>>>> 
>>>> "I have never been a prophet or the son of a prophet,
>>>> but I have always been
>>>> a herdsman and a dresser of figs.">
>>>> 
>>>> Hi, Richard,
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, that sounds good to me.  My only question would
>>>> be, do you think the text means to indicate one way or
>>>> the other whether he is NOW a prophet?
>>> 
>>> 
>>>>> OUK HMHN PROFHTHS EGW OUDE hUIOS PROFHTOU,
>>>>> ALL? H AIPOLOS HMHN KAI KNIZWN SUKAMINA
>>>>> ?
>>>>> "I didn't used to be a prophet, nor the son of a prophet.
>>>>> Rather I was wont to be a herdsman and dresser of figs."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Just as a matter of definition, can a stative be iterative? I would have
>>> thought that an iterative would be a verb of performance of some sort.
>>> 
>>> Carl W. Conrad
>>> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 





More information about the B-Greek mailing list