From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 12 1999 - 19:37:44 EDT
At 7:19 PM -0500 10/12/99, Dmitriy Reznik wrote:
>Dear friends,
>
>In Jude 2 (ELEOS hUMIN KAI EIRHNH KAI AGAPH PLHQUNQEIH - Mercy unto you and
>peace and love be multiplied) "be multiplied" is used in sing. Does it
>refer to all three nouns or only to AGAPH?
All three, I think; it's quite common, even when a verb must be understood
with several subjects, for it to be construed only with the nearest one.
But I would suggest that this not be considered so much a singular verb
with a plural subject as an instance of ellipsis, where the singular verb
actually expressed with the third subject is to be understood with each of
the other two subjects, so that we are to understand: ELEOS hUMIN
PLHQUNQEIH KAI EIRHNH PLHQUNQEIH KAI AGAPH PLHQUNQEIH. But that would look
awkward in Greek as in English; it needs to be stated only once to be
understood with each of the other subjects.
Alternatively one could understand an ESTW or ESTWSAN with ELEOS and EIRHNH
as implicitly present, but I think it's easier to understand PLHQUNQEIH as
referring to all three subjects.
An alternative that i think ought NOT to be taken seriously is that
PLHQUNQEIH is understood as a singular verb governing a neuter plural
constituted collectively by ELEOS KAI EIRHNH KAI AGAPH. I really think
ellipsis is what's involved here.
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
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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