Michael Tyler
Thanks
On Wed, 12 Mar 1997 19:06:36 -0600 "Carl W. Conrad"
<cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:
> At 12:21 PM -0600 3/12/97, lakr wrote:
> >> Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
> >> Mon, 10 Mar 1997 08:33:41 -0600
> >> In reply to: Martin A. Childs: "John 3:18 and English article "of""
> >>
> >> >Similarly, the relationship between "only begotten" and "Son". The Greek
> >> >article before "Son" is suppressed in translation. Does Koine ever use the
> >> >appositive?
> >>
> >> Certainly; moreover, although it isn't usually explained this way by
> >> grammarians, I've always believed that the particular device of using the
> >> article before an adjective to indicate that it is attributive is in fact a
> >> means of substantitivizing the adjective and making it an appositive:
> >>
> >> TON ANQRWPON TON AGAQON = "the man, i.e., the good (one)"
> >>
> >> However, when the adjective appears in the Greek BETWEEN the article and
> >> the noun, I think it would be more appropriate to say this is a
> >> straightforward attributive adjective. And that is what we have in John 3:18
> >>
> >> EIS TO ONOMA TOU MONOGENOUS hUIOU TOU QEOU
> >
> >I have been looking at alternitive translations to those commonly
> >provided in the major English translations and wonder if this example
> >fits the criteria of substantivizing of the adjective
> >
> >Could the 'TON MONON' in 'TON MONON ALHQINON QEON' (John 17:3) be
> >translated as "the only (one) who is truly God", considering the
> >lack of the article before QEON ?
>
> No, because here we have two adjectives BETWEEN the article and the
> noun;the substantivization of the adjective in this instance would require
>
> TON QEON TON MONON ALHQINON (assuming that MONON is adverbial)
> "God, the only true one"
>
> But the phrasing of the extant reading TON MONON ALHQINON QEON is just as
> surely attributive: "the only true God."
>
> >Or, perhaps given the definition in Thayers of alethinos as
> >
> > ["alethinos ... that which has not only the name and semblance,
> > but the real nature corresponding to the name ... in every
> > respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real
> > and genuine .. a. opp (oposed) to what is fictitious, counterfeit,
> > imaginary, ... Jn xvii. 3 ... it contrasts realities with
> > their semblances ... Heb viii. 2; the sanctuary, Heb ix. 24."
> > Thayer's lexicon, page 27.],
> >
> > "the only (one) who is by nature God". ?
>
> You are reading MONON as a second adjective; but (I think) the Johannine
> phrase for the notion you've just expressed is, in fact: hO MONOGENHS QEOS,
> the conjunction that appears (albeit without the article) in John 1:18.
>
> 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/
>
>
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Tyler, Cheryl Anne
Vanderbilt University
Email: cheryl.a.tyler@Vanderbilt.Edu