Re: Acts 2:6, is LALOUNTWN AUTWN absolute genitive?

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Sun, 3 Nov 1996 20:25:46 -0600

At 11:43 PM -0600 11/1/96, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>In Acts 2:6, is LALOUNTWN AUTWN another absolute genitive? It fits the form,
>but I'm not sure if it fits the meaning.
>
>Acts 2:6 (GNT) GENOMENHS DE THS FWNHS TAUTHS SUNHLQEN TO PLHQOS KAI
>SUNECUQH, OTI HKOUON EIS EKASTOS TH IDIA DIALEKTW LALOUNTWN AUTWN.
>Acts 2:6 (NASU) And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and
>were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own
>language.

No; AKOUW regularly takes a genitive (probably partitive with verbs of perception) object, so here LALOUNTWN is here simply complementary to AUTWN.

However, the initial phrase, GENOMENHS DE THS FWNHS TAUTHS, is a splendid genitive absolute! You didn't miss IT, did you? I have to say that one petty annoyance I find with editors of Greek and Latin texts is that they don't set off genitive absolutes by comma, as I really think they should do.

On to the next communique--regarding web sites, I think from the subject header--unless, like some people, including Edward Hobbs, you use the most recent post just as a simple device to start a new post headed toward the right recipient!

c