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Re: Logos
On Mon, 21 Nov 1994 gnat@metronet.com wrote:
> Not to sound offhand or anything...but If John has wanted to say "wisdom"
> then he probably would have used the word "sophas" instead of logos.
There is no such word as "sophas" in Greek; there's an adjective,
"sophos" and there's a noun, "sophia." Perhaps you mean the latter?
> I am probably very MUCH oversimplifing this, but one reason theos does
> not have the article is then there would be two subjects in the clause,
> this would allow for polytheism. If I have misunderstood this, please,
> correct my thinking!! :)
While it is normal for the subject to have the article in a copulative
statement, there's no absolute necessity that a predicate noun could not
have an article. You need look no further than verse 4 of this same text
(John 1): "kai hE zwE En to phws twn anthrwpwn" where both nouns, zwE and
phws, have the article, and one is hard-put to say which of these nouns
is the subject and which the predicate noun, although in this instance
most would say that "hE zwE" probably ought to be viewed as the subject
because of the staircase pattern in these verses.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
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