[B-Greek] A Perfect Imperfect (Was Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5
Richard Lindeman
oblchurch at msn.com
Thu Mar 11 08:24:35 EST 2010
What sort of "perfective" sense are we supposing that the verb EIMI should
ever have?
That is a difficult question. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense to me
that when a verb form is defective in the perfect tense that it will
therefore naturally compensate for that through other tense forms that it is
not defective in. But on the other hand it also seems to me that it would be
especially difficult for an author to compensate for a perfect form with an
imperfect.
But then again, I also see that Dr. Conrad is correct in observing how
difficult it might be to imagine HMHN + a noun of performance functioning
together as an iterative.
Rich Lindeman
On 3/10/10 2:55 PM, "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:
> On Mar 10, 2010, at 2:46 PM, Richard Lindeman wrote:
>> Let's take out the perfective sense for a moment...
>> "I was never a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I was always a herdsman
>> and a dresser of pigs."
>>
>> I don't think it says one way or the other whether he is now a prophet. It
>> just seems to be a comment on a past state of affairs.
>
> And what sort of "perfective" sense are we supposing that the verb EIMI should
> ever have?
>
> CWC
>
>> From: Mark Lightman
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:23 PM
>> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org ; Richard Lindeman
>> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] A Perfect Imperfect (Was Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5
>>
>>
>> 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?
>>
>> Mark L
>>
>>
>> FWSFOROS MARKOS
>>
>> --- On Wed, 3/10/10, Richard Lindeman <oblchurch at msn.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Richard Lindeman <oblchurch at msn.com>
>> Subject: [B-Greek] A Perfect Imperfect (Was Hebrews 1:6 and 2:5
>> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 12:14 PM
>>
>>
>> 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."
>>
>> Rich Lindeman
>>
>>> 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."
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
>
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