[B-Greek] Xenophon's Anabasis 1:4:6 ref: John 1:1c

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Mar 17 10:29:31 EDT 2010


On Mar 17, 2010, at 9:13 AM, Womble Singer wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am not looking for a theological debate here but purely some
> information on the similarity or not in the grammar between Xenophon's
> Anabasis 1:4:6 and John 1:1c
> 
> Here is the text from Xenophon in context:
> 
> Anabasis 1:4:6,7
> Εντενθεν εξελαυνει δια Συριαϛ σταθμον ενα παρασαγγας πεντε εις
> Μυριανδρον, πολιν οικουμενην υπο Φοινικων επι τη θαλαττη εμποριον δ ην
> το χωριον, και ωρμουν αυτοθι ολκαδες πολλαι.

Transliteration (see FAQ http://ibiblio.org/bgreek/bgtransliteration.html):
ENTENQEN EXELAUNEI DIA SURIAS STAQMON ENA PARASAGGAS PENTE EIS
MURIANDRON, POLIN OIKOUMENHN UPO FOINIKWN EPI TH QALATTH EMPORION D HN
TO CWRION, KAI WRMOUN AUTOQI OLKADES POLLAI.

> And here is the relevant section as compared with John 1:1c
> 
> == Xenophon's Anabasis 1:4:6 ==
> 
> N-GSN? V-IAI-3S T-ASN N-ASN
> 
> εμποριον δ ην το χωριον
> 
EMPORION D HN TO CWRION
> 
> market was the place
> 
> == John 1:1c ==
> 
> N-NSM V-IAI-3S T-NSM N-NSM
> 
> θεος ην ο λογος
QEOS HN hO LOGOS
> 
> god was the word
> 
> ==
> 
> Is this truly a fair comparison? I notice that the logos is nominative
> whereas the 'place' is accusative.
> 
> Like I said I just really want to know if the grammar's are comparable
> rather than going into the knotty issue of doctrine.

The grammars are certainly comparable in a formal sense:
Xenophon: The place was a market.
John 1:1c: The word was a god.

But many will claim that John 1:1c is different because of the kind of noun that QEOS is: qualitative, a count word. You can check our archives for the many, many times that we have discussed how QEOS is related to hO LOGOS in John 1:1c.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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