Re: Particle with the Vocative

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Thu, 02 Oct 1997 10:24:31 -0400

At 08:41 AM 10/2/97 -0500, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>I saw this when you first posted it, Mike, and scratched my head. It may be
>true that there's a difference between vocative with and without the W, but
>I really am rather skeptical. I'd like to see some real evidence, and I am
>inclined to think this is only a conjecture. Which is to say, of course,
>that I really don't know!

I notice that my Gramcord notes, the wonderful grammatical commentary
associated with the Gramcord program, has the following comment:

<start quote>

Special Notes:

I. The reader of the English Bible will notice that sometimes the word "O"
(transliterating
the Greek w\ ) precedes the person being addressed (e.g.,) # Matt 15:28 This
is the Hellenistic and Koine Greek way of indicating Emphatic Address. Thus
the Vocative without "O" preceding it is Simple Address. This rule is
followed everywhere in the New Testament except Acts, where Luke follows the
Classical rules for Vocative, which are exactly the opposite from the Koine
rules. Thus in Acts "O" precedes Simple Address
# Acts 1:1; cf., Luke 1:3 but is lacking in front of Emphatic Address.

<end quote>

Jonathan

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