From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 10 1999 - 06:09:24 EDT
<x-rich>At 11:05 AM +0200 9/10/99, Kevin Smith wrote:
<excerpt>Greetings,
Could someone help this Little Greek with the syntax of this
expression:
hOTI PISTON ME hHGHSATO QEMENOS EIS DIAKONIAN
My question pertains to the verb hHGHSATO and the participle QEMENOS.
The meaning is clearly something like, "because he considered me
faithful and appointed me to the ministry." But I would have expected
hHGEOMAI to be a participle and TIQHMI an indicative.
</excerpt>
Greek often (often enough, at any rate) reverses what to us seems the
"natural" order of subordination, putting into the participle what we
would put in the main verb and vice versa. I wouldn't object to the
above translation, but if I wanted to convey the linkage of the
participle and main verb as it stands in the original, I'd write:
"because he considered me faithful when he appointed me to his
service."
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
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
</x-rich>
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