[B-Greek] AUTOU in Jo 9:6
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Mar 19 08:32:08 EDT 2011
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vasile Stancu" <stancu.c.vasile at gmail.com>
To: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 19. marts 2011 09:14
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] AUTOU in Jo 9:6
>I understand this, only I have tried to understand also the principle
> that might stand behind the fact that sometimes the subject of certain
> verbs may be in the genitive (AKOUW), or dative (AKOLOUW, PISTEUW),
> instead of the accusative, as in most of the other cases. The image
> that I have of such occurencies is that this construction indicates
> some kind of indirectness of the action: I do not really hear you, but
> I hear what you produce which my ears can receive (e.g., voice), or my
> brains can process (e.g., words), therefore I hear 'something of you';
> I do not really follow you, or believe you, but I follow perhaps, or
> believe, the teachings that I get from you.
>
> Why not the same in the case of EPEXRISEN? Not enough evidence? I
> would not be sursprised to find out that this is a kind of
> construction which was mostly used in colloquial communication, which
> explains why it is not found in philosophers' work or other kinds of
> elevated literature.
>
> Vasile Stancu
Although the verb EPICRIW is not common, the underlying verb CRIW is very
common. The person or thing being anointed is always in the accusative. The
substance (oil, fat, mud) used for the anointing may be in the dative, often but
not necessarily with an EN. (E.g. Acts 10:38 and several in the LXX.) The same
applies to EPICRIW.
When you add a preposition to the verb, the combined verb normally (always?)
governs the same case as the preposition. EPI can potentially govern three
cases, but the text we have here uses an accusative:
EPECRISEN AUTOU TON PHLON EPI TOUS OFQALMOUS.
So, we might have expected (EN) TWi PHLWi, but it also makes good sense to think
of PHLOS as the direct object for the smearing or putting on. The mud undergoes
the action of smearing, while the eyes are the destination where the mud ends
up.
EPI (upon) with accusative is used when the substance actually arrives on and
touches the destination as here. I don't see that AUTOU can mean anything than
"his" (eyes). It cannot grammatically mean "he smeared mud on him, i.e. upon the
eyes," even though the meaning comes out more or less the same in the end as "he
smeared mud upon his eyes."
The fronting of the pronoun makes it relatively more prominent, but I doubt that
there is agreement on how best to describe the pragmatic function of the
fronting.
Iver Larsen
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