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Re: Use of Comparative in 3John 4

At 4:58 PM -0400 6/9/97, Stevens, Charles C wrote:
>This verse begins with the word "MEIZO/TERAN", which appears to be a
>regularly-formed comparative of an adjective.  The problem I'm having
>with the semantics of this word is that the adjective on which it is
>based is itself an irregular comparitive form.  Thus, there is a "double
>comparitive" sense to this word.  I don't know offhand if this form is
>elsewhere used in the NT.  What is the semantic difference between
>"MEI/ZON" and "MEIZO/TEROS"?   Are their other examples of irregular
>comparitives being used as bases in which a comparitive infix is also
>used?

Shakespeare has, among other double comparatives, "This was the most
unkindest cut of all." While held in contempt by prescriptive grammarians,
I think it is a not uncommon colloquialism in several languages; Greek is
not an exception--and I think there are others in the NT, pehaps also in
the LXX.

(I'm curious to see if this comes back to me; I'm reading from burst
digests, having gotten no mail from BG for the last two days. I suspect
majordomo@virginia.edu is trying to tell me something.)



Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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