Re: Hebrews 2:11 and hO
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Thu, 11 Sep 1997 05:57:00 -0500
At 11:36 PM -0500 9/10/97, Eric Weiss wrote:
>(Note correction to last paragraph)
>
>Is the first word of Hebrews 2:11 "hO", the masculine definite article
>(nom. sing.) - or "hO" (with accent), the neuter relative pronoun
>(nom./acc. sing.)? NA-20, 25, 26, and 27, and UBS3 (corrected) and UBS4
>(both first and second printing) show the relative pronoun, as does the
>Scrivener Textus Receptus. Perschbacher's REFRESH YOUR GREEK (using UBS3
>(corrected)) has changed it to the definite article (no accent) and so
>does Friberg's ANALYTICAL GREEK NEW TESTAMENT (using UBS 3). My
>inclination would side with the definite article - a neuter relative
>pronoun used in conjunction with a masculine participle seems unusual,
>and the second participle has the (plural) definite article (hO ...
>hAGIAZWN KAI hOI hAGIAZOMENOI ...), not a relative pronoun, in all these
>Greek texts.
>
>However, the Greek text editors seem to favor the neuter RELATIVE
>PRONOUN. So what am I missing or misunderstanding about how the neuter
>relative pronoun functions here - if indeed it is the relative pronoun?
I'm looking at UBS4 and it reads the m. nom. sg. article. I think that what
may possibly be bothering you is the acute accent on it: hO/; it is still
the article; the acute accent is there because of the enclitic TE
immediately following it; I think that the n. nom/acc sg. pronoun hO\ would
in most instances have a grave accent, although it too could take an acute
if followed immediately by an enclitic: a relatively frequent combination
of the relative pronoun + enclitic would be hO/ ESTIN ("which is ..."). In
Heb 2:11, however, the hO/ cannot possibly be anything other than the
masculine nom. sg. article--and if you see it anywhere unaccented and
followed by a TE, it's a misprint.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/