Re: Cohortative Subjunctive and verbal aspect
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Fri, 14 Feb 1997 12:50:02 -0600
At 12:27 PM -0600 2/14/97, CWestf5155@aol.com wrote:
>Carl,
>
>You are right, "hortatory subjunctive" is synonomous with "cohortative
>subjunctive". You also confirmed a nagging suspicion--"hortatory" is by far
>the prefered description. You have helped me realize that "cohortative" does
>not communicate.
>Neither is it found in any of the grammars on my shelves.
>
>However, James Efrid refers to this usage of the 1st person plural
>subjunctive as "cothortative" in A Grammar for NT Greek (Abingdon, 1990), p.
>51. Also Voelz in Fundamental Greek Grammar (Concordia, 1986), p. 188.
> Nigel Turner's Grammar of NT Greek in 1963 refers to it as the "Hortative"
>and Winer in the 19th century refers to it as the "adhortative." A. T.
>Robertson labeled it "volitive."
>
>I consulted with my supervisor at Denver Seminary, Dr. Craig Blomberg. As
>far as we can figure, I "caught it" from him. He also traced the usage to
>Doug Moo in his Trinity class notes.
>
>I think it stuck with me as a preference because the "co" expresses the 1st
>person plural, and I liked the alliteration.
Yeah, I like the alliteration too. And I like to think of John Wayne
bringing his cavalry cohort up to the top of the hill and looking down upon
the foe, and saying, "Okay, guys, let's go get 'em!" That's real
cohortation!
Thanks very much, Cindy. I'm much relieved. And now I'll make a confession;
I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd seen that word before somewhere. This
morning I checked Greek grammars, but now I realize that it's the HEBREW
grammatical term; I just checked Weinberg and also Greenberg and there's
the "cohortative" as big as life. So it's an infection carried over from
Hebrew grammar to NT Greek grammar.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/