From: Erik Westwig (ewestwig@palisade.com)
Date: Wed Nov 14 2001 - 14:04:30 EST
Here's another beginner question for you concerning 1st declension
nouns.
My introductory grammer (Basics of Biblical Greek by William D.
Mounce) says on p.61 : "If a 1st declension word has a stem ending in alpha
where the preceding letter is epsilon, iota, or rho, it will form the
genitive and dative with an alpha. Otherwise, the alpha will shift to eta."
And the example noun Mounce gives for this shift from alpha to eta is the
1st declension noun hH QALASSA (sea or lake), which in the genitive is THS
QALASSHS.
So I learned this rule and thought everything was fine, until I ran
accross the word hH MACAIPA (sword), for which my lexicon has the genitive
form THS MACAIPHS. Now MACAIPA is a first declension word which ends in
alpha and has a preceding letter of rho. So the rule I quoted above makes
me expect the genitive to be THS MACAIPAS. My first reaction was perhaps
this was a misprint in the lexicon, but I found Luke 21:24 and 22:49, and
Acts 12:2, which agree with the lexicon.
So now I ask, is this an isolated exception to this rule, or is the
rule I learned only partially correct?
Thanks for your help.
Erik Westwig
westwig@palisade.com
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