From: Ken Smith (kens@180solutions.com)
Date: Tue Feb 06 2001 - 16:24:23 EST
<x-html>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.0.4417.0">
<TITLE>RE: [b-greek] Noun Accenting</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Other folks here on the list may have different opinions, but I've never found memorizing the accenting rules all that helpful. Unless you're actually wanting to write something original in Koine (not sure why you'd ever want to), the accenting rules tend to be far more confusing than they're actually worth. There are occasionally times when they're useful for figuring out which particular form of a word you're dealing with, but even then, I find the context and/or general reading experience a lot more helpful than the accent rules. (And remember, of course, that accents are a modern projection back onto the GNT: none of the earliest manuscripts have them.)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>My first-year Greek prof made us memorize the accent rules for the quiz, then basically told us we could forget them -- and I've taken his advice. (And forget about "moving on to anything more difficult". The accent rules were the most confusing and least helpful bit of Greek I ever learned. Compared to those, participles were a breeze.)</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Ken Smith</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>> I am beginning to study the New Testament Greek language and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> have a question about a word that is used in a book that I am </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> using as a guide. </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The book is entitled, "New Testament Greek For Beginners" by </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> J. Gresham Mahen.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> My question is this...in the case of a noun, is the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ultima..."pi, omicron, sigma" ( pos) long or short? He says </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> that the ultima is long, but this confuses me drastically. </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Can anyone help? I'm just trying to grasp the accenting </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> rules before I attempt to move on to any more difficult.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Matthew Ooten</FONT>
</P>
---<BR>
B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
>
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com]<BR>
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu<BR>
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu<BR>
<BR>
</BODY>
</HTML>
</x-html>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Feb 11 2002 - 18:40:18 EST