[B-Greek] Adverbs
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Mar 30 11:26:56 EDT 2011
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "=)" <p1234567891 at gmail.com>
Cc: "B-Greek List" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 30. marts 2011 11:53
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Adverbs
>>>
>>>> As for the adjectives, are "euriskei outos prwtos" and "prwton euriskei
>>>> outos" equivalent then?
>>>
>>> Well, yes -- except that Greek idiom prefers the former. That is to say,
>>> it tends to use the adjectival form of an ordinal in the nominative rather
>>> than an ordinal adverb with a verb of action.
>>>
>>> Hmm I see. Is there a slight difference in emphasis then, or is it
>> completely identical?
>
>
> They might be identical in meaning, but the Greek author would
> ordinarily write hEURISKEI hOUTOS PRWTOS, not PRWTON hEURISKEI
> hOUTOS. That is to say, the latter is not what a Greek would ordinarily
> say, although he might conceivably write PRWTON MEN hEURISKEI
> hOUTOS ... EPEITA DE (ALLO TI PRATTEI).
>
This question originally related to John 1:41 which in the NA reads:
εὑρίσκει οὗτος πρῶτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τὸν ἴδιον Σίμωνα
hEURISKEI hOUTOS PRWTON TON ADELFON TON IDION SIMWNA
This one (he) first finds his (own/real) brother, Simon.
The original hand of Aleph wrote πρῶτος PTWTOS. It was corrected later in the
Aleph ms, and it has very little mss support.
Looking at all the examples of PRWTOS and PRWTON in the NT, PRWTOS seems to
refer to "first in position." It occurs with implicit or explicit stative verbs
(Mat 10:2, 20:27, Mrk 9:35, 10:44, John 1:15, 30, Rom 10:19, 1 Tim 1:15, 2:13).
In connection with a verb of action, PRWTON is used in the sense of this action
being the first or happening before another action. (Too many examples to list.)
If PRWTOS occurs with a verb of action, it refers to a position as in John 20:4
(John came before Peter. John did not do the action of coming before doing
another action.) In Acts 26:23, Christ was the first one to resurrect. He did
not resurrect before doing another action.
PRWTOS is often used substantively with the article to mean "the first one." A
reasonably close parallel to John 1:41 is found in 1 John 4:19:
ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς.
hOTI AUTOS PRWTOS HGAPHSEN hHMAS
Since he loved us first.
It does not mean that God loved us before doing another action, but he was the
first to love us. After that, we can then love him.
Coming back to John 1:41, it does not mean that Andrew was the first to find
Peter, but rather that the first thing Andrew did before doing anything else was
to find Peter. That is why PRWTON fits here better than PRWTOS, a scribal
accident in Aleph*.
Iver Larsen
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