[B-Greek] Adverbs

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Mar 28 09:38:34 EDT 2011


For three days (biblical accounting) this message has lain unanswered in my
inbox. Perhaps my own tentative response will stir the dust a bit and 
evoke some alternative views on the question. General questions like this
tend to simmer or fester or whatever a while before being taken off the
burner or treated or whatever. It's different with specific texts about 
which specific questions are raised: everybody knows what he/she
thinks about the question -- almost without thinking at all!

On Mar 26, 2011, at 2:43 AM, =) <p1234567891 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> Can I ask if there is any way to tell what an adverb modifies? It seems to
> me that it can modify one or more of:
> a complete clause, a verb clause, another adverb (including adjectival or
> prepositional or dative clause), and even a noun clause.

The dead grammarians (myself included?) used to say (as I still do) that
an adverb can and does modify an adjective, a noun, or another adverb --
or any phrase or clause that functions adjectivally, nominally, or
adverbially. One live grammarian I know likes to speak -- and I think
he's right -- of adverbs functioning as sentence modifiers.

> If so, how do I differentiate between the various possibilities when the
> adverb can be used in more than one way?
> Or is my concept of adverbs inaccurate?
> For example I wanted to classify the following:
> 
> "prwteron" = "firstly / initially" (adv.) / "former" (adj.)
> "prwton" = "first" (adv.) / "first" (adj.)
> "prwtos" = "first / foremost" (adj.) / "first" (adv.)

I might add TO PRWTON, perhaps even TA PRWTA to
that list.

But then,  I would quickly go on (before somebody beats me to it
(you know who you are!): 

(1) whether any of the forms you have listed functions
adverbially can be answered only when it appears within a 
context. They don't function at all adverbially or adjectivally
in isolation from a context.

(2) I personally would not consider how to English any
particular word or expression until I have understood it
in its Greek context; that's why I tend to think that glossaries
are of little real help.

> So I considered these to have the following meanings:
> 
> [John 6:62] "ean oun qewrhte ton uion tou anqrwpou anabainonta opou hn to
> proteron"
> = "therefore { if { you behold { the son ( of man ) ( going up ( where {
> [he] was ( initially ) } ) ) } } ? }"
> (where "initially" modifies the verb "[he] was")

I'd be more inclined to say that TO PROTERON as an adverbial phrase
modifies the whole adverbial clause hOPOU HN, but you could perhaps
as well say it modifies simply HN. Of course hOPOU HN TO PROTERON
is a relative adverbial clause modifying an implicit EKEI.

> [Heb 7:27] "... proteron uper twn idiwn amartiwn qusias anaferein epeita twn
> tou laou ..."
> = "... to offer up { sacrifices } ( firstly ) ( for ( [their] ) ( own )
> sins ) ( subsequently ) ( [for] the [sins] ( of the people ) ) ..."
> (where "firstly" modifies the adverbial prepositional clause "for [their]
> own sins" and also "subsequently" similarly)

I'd take PROTERON to modify hUPER TWIN IDIWN hAMARTIWN
and EPEITA to modify (hUPER) TWN TOU LAOU (hAMARTIWN).

> [Rom 1:16] "... dunamis gar qeou estin eis swthrian panti tw pisteuonti
> ioudaiw te prwton kai ellhni"
> = "... for { [it] is { power ( of God ) ( for salvation ) } ( to ( all )
> the [ones] ( who believe ) ) ( both ( to Jew ) ( first ) and ( to Greek ) )
> }"
> (where "first" modifies the adverbial dative clause "to Jew")

Yes. But again, it seems to me you're putting the cart before the
horse, talking about what the English translated word modifies. I'd
prefer to talk wholly in terms of the Greek.

> But I do not quite understand the following:
> 
> [Rom 1:8] "prwton men eucaristw tw qew mou dia ihsou cristou uper pantwn
> umwn ..."
> ?= "( first ) ( indeed ) I thank { ( my ) God } ( through Jesus Christ ) (
> for you ( all ) ) ..."
> (where "first" and "indeed" both modify the complete clause "I thank my God
> ...")

I'd understand PRWTON here as governing everything from verse 8 through
verse 12. Verse 13 with its DE answers the PRWTON MEN of verse 8.
And here I'd say that PRWTON governs the whole sequence. It could be
Englished, "First of all ... " or "In the first place ... " or "(1) ... " 

> [1 Cor 15:46] "all ou prwton to pneumatikon alla to yucikon epeita to
> pneumatikon"
> ?= "but { [it] [is] not ( first ) { the spiritual } but { the soulish } } {
> [it] [is] ( subsequently ) { the spiritual } }"
> (where "first" modifies "[it] [is]")
> ?= "but { { first } [is] not { the spiritual } but { the soulish } } (
> subsequently ) [it] [is] { the spiritual }"
> (where "first" is an adjective)

There's a problem here of ellipsis. I'd say that OU PRWTON probably
modifies an understood GINETAI or EGENETO, and that EPEITA
works the same way.

I must say, this whole business of word-for-word translation is
disturbing. As your initial question seems to indicate, you do readily
understand that words do not signify by themselves but only in a
context. First understand the Greek words as a sequential unit; if
you want to translate, wait until after you clearly understand what
the Greek says. Translation, I submit, is NOT a method of coming
to understand what the Greek says.


> [2 Pet 1:20] "touto prwton ginwskontes oti pasa profhteia grafhs idias
> epilusews ou ginetai"
> ?= "knowing { this } ( first ) { that { { ( every ) prophecy } does not
> come to be ( of ( [one's] ) ( own ) explanation ) } }"
> (where "first" modifies "knowing")
> ?= "knowing { ( first ) this } { that { { ( every ) prophecy } does not
> come to be ( of ( [one's] ) ( own ) explanation ) } }"
> (where "first" modifies "this")

Here again, I really think that adding these English glosses only
obfuscates the problem under consideration.

I'd think that PRWTON governs TOUTO (words like this and MONON
that restrict the preceding word often are used postpositively), but 
it could perhaps as well or better be said that MONON governs the
whole participial phrase, TOUTO GINWSKONTES.

> And I cannot figure out what "prwtos" means when it is declined as an
> adjective but used as an adverb...
> 
> [John 1:41] "euriskei outos prwtos ton adelfon ton idion simwna ..."
> ?= "{ this [one] ( first ) } finds { ( [his] ) ( own ) brother } { Simon }
> ..."
> (it does not mean "this first [one]", does it?)
> (but what then is the difference between "euriskei outos prwtos" and "prwton
> euriskei outos"?)

No, it doesn't mean "this first one." It means "he finds, before doing anything else"
This is an idiomatic way that ordinal adjectives work in Greek -- one must get
used to it; they agree with the subject but function like adverbs. For example,
hOUTOS ESCATOS HLQEN = "He got there last" or "He was the last one
to arrive." When you've read enough Greek, you won't ask questions like this;
you will see this sort of thing over and over.

> [Luke 2:2] "auth h apografh prwth egeneto hgemoneuontos ths surias kurhniou"
> ?= "{ this enrollment ( first ) } came to be ( when { { Cyrenius } governed
> { Syria } } )"
> (if it means "this first enrollment", as ASV interprets it, why is John 1:41
> interpreted differently?)
> 
> Is the difference between "prwton" as an adverb and "prwtos" declined as an
> adjective not semantic but purely grammatical?

This PRWTH has commonly been understood as an adverbial usage construed
with EGENETO, "This registration first took place when Qurinius was
governing Syria ... " That would be another instance of the adverbial usage
of an ordinal adjective.

HOWEVER, this particular verse was the subect of a now celebrated blog
entry by list-member Stephen Carlson, an eminent lawyer who is now teaching
beginning Greek at Duke. Stephen has understood this verse in a different 
way and probably should, when he can find the time, either give the URL of
his blog entry from two or three years back or briefly outline his understanding 
of this text. It is a very problematic text, and the URL of his blog entry would
probably be very helpful. I don't have it ready to hand.

One last thing (is that an adverb?): I would seriously urge you to drop the
whole procedure of interposing English glosses between the Greek text under
consideration and your effort to analyze the construction. The construction 
should be analyzed in the Greek text first; Englishing it can only make sense 
after the Greek text has come to make good sense to you.

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






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