[B-Greek] Word Emphasis in Matthew 9:32

Mark Lightman lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 31 22:40:45 EDT 2011


Kevin wrote:

<Relatedly, I've been thinking lately that alternate word order in  exemplars of 
a given passage may be related not so much to nuance as to  euphony, a quality 
of a writing that was (and is) particularly important  to Greeks.  Those texts 
written without euphony in mind may have been  altered in various ways in order 
to adapt them toward such.  I wonder  whether much of the word order alteration 
in various NT manuscripts may  likely be related to this rather than anything 
else.>

Hi, Kevin,

As a semantic minimalist, I've had the same thought, and this seems to me the 
most likely explanation of why a scribe would make minor changes but not major 
ones.  If meaning were the issue, we would see more meaningful changes.  I think 
euphony also explains the variances in other things, like the tenses, which 
particles/connectives are used, the absence or presence of the article, PRWTOS 
versus PRWTON, etc.

Mark L
Φωσφορος


FWSFOROS MARKOS




________________________________
From: Kevin P. Edgecomb <kevin at bombaxo.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Thu, March 31, 2011 5:30:10 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Word Emphasis in Matthew 9:32

Mark Lightman wrote:
You bet, but the nuances are so nuanced that they cannot be demonstrated or 
falsified. [snip]

I write:
Yet Euripides was writing in iambic trimeter.  Metrical writing cannot be used 
as evidence for nuance-laden word ordering without taking into account the 
meter.

Relatedly, I've been thinking lately that alternate word order in exemplars of a 
given passage may be related not so much to nuance as to euphony, a quality of a 
writing that was (and is) particularly important to Greeks.  Those texts written 
without euphony in mind may have been altered in various ways in order to adapt 
them toward such.  I wonder whether much of the word order alteration in various 
NT manuscripts may likely be related to this rather than anything else.

Regards,
Kevin Edgecomb
Berkeley, California

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