[B-Greek] Semantic Range of Prepositions

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Mar 21 09:01:36 EDT 2010


On Mar 21, 2010, at 8:15 AM, Richard Lindeman wrote:
> After thinking about it I believe that I have come up with an answer to my own questions concerning my frustrations with interpreting prepositions.  Carl's earlier comments about "count" words helped.
> 
> Prepositions are not "count" words.  They are sort of the "God" words in human language.  They have no substance and cannot be counted and cannot be seen.  Prepositions are simply pointers of space/time.  They are very much like noun case endings which are also simply pointers of space/time. This makes them to be much more rich in meaning and also much more volatile in meaning than other words that are count words.  For we live in a world of space and time and all of the actions and events of our existence and all of our communications concerning such actions and events occur within that space/time world.  And when the preposition pointers intersect with the other pointers of case endings and then when they intersect with people and places and events in the real world that is when meaning is given to all our count words, the words that we really think have meaning and substance. 
> 
> So yes, context is key in determining the meaning of prepositions. But I am also coming to understand that prepositions by their very nature are more flexible and volatile in meaning than all other words.  And one more thing.  I am learning that language itself is an imprecise thing. And communication is therefore an imprecise thing.  It really doesn't matter so much whether I view prepositions spatially/temporally themselves or if I happen to view them only interpretively in respect to the words and case endings they happen to intersect.  Being scripture I want the koine to be incredibly precise in its communication of God's word. But being God, He chooses to speak to us in our human and very imprecise language. 

I would be very wary of any attempt to bring theology into the discussion of Greek prepositions. -- and in fact, whether or not one holds with a theological conception of the prepositions, discussion of that notion lies outside the parameters of B-Greek discussion.  But prepositions are surely no more "God" words than any are other kinds of words. They are most essentially adverbs that qualify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They have come to have standard functions especially in relation to verbs where they qualify adverbially the sense of the verb and in relation to nouns in distinct cases, where they clarify the inherent semantic force of the nominal cases. They are ordinarily very helpful, but there are occasional instances where they are about as precise as an inarticulate teenager's "like" -- as in "It's like, you know ... " In Greek ISWS may mean "just as much" or it may mean "possibly" or "like as not."

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






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