From: Daniel L Christiansen (dlc@multnomah.edu)
Date: Sun Mar 05 2000 - 21:49:36 EST
Kimmo Huovila wrote [snipped]:
>
> "Carl W. Conrad" wrote:
>
> > I would like first of all to be sure that there are any instances "of the
> > type hO ANHR AGAQOS" where the adjective is NOT predicative, i.e. "The man
> > is competent."
>
> Robertson's grammar says that in such cases it can be either predicate
> (=predicative) or attributive (eg. p. 782, 784). According to him, only
> the context can decide. He gives as examples of attributive use (p. 782,
> 783) Luke 16:10 hO PISTOS EN ELACISTW, 1 Tim 6:17 TOIS PLOUSIOIS EN TWi
> NUN AIWNI, Eph 2:11 TA EQNH EN SARKI, and a whole lot of other examples
> with a prepositional phrase. (In my question I included adjectives,
> prepositional phrases and adverbs.)
I think, Kimmo, that a very important point is being missed in your
reference to Robertson. You mention that he gives a lot of examples
"with a prepositional phrase"; indeed, that is Robertson's point in the
section which you reference. pp 782-784 discuss only such phrases as
use what Robertson terms "adjuncts"--either prepositions or
prepositional phrases. It is not appropriate, then, to take Robertson's
statements and attempt applying them to phrases of the pattern hO ANHR
AGAQOS, which includes no preposition.
Of course, the question of support aside, the question still remains as
to whether hO ANHR AGAQOS is clearly predicative, clearly attributive,
or subjective as to force. By my count, there are approximately 170
such constructions in the GNT; I have listed just those 19 which are
found in Matthew, below:
Those which include a proper noun. Of course, the "normal"
considerations of article use do not apply here. The Matt 1 units are
also "event noun"/"verbal noun" phrases, which makes it difficult to
identify clear attributive qualities. However, the remaining 6 in this
category are almost certainly attributive.Matt 1:11; 1:17 (2x); 2:3;
3:6; 9:35; 10:25; 12:24; 21:11;
Those which are clearly attributive are as follows: Matt 12:4; 16:26;
24:36; 26:56; 26:59
Those units which require closer inspection are as follows:
Matt 6:16 MH GINESQE hWS hOI hUPOKRITAI SKUQRWPOI AFANIZOUSIN GAR TA
PROSWPA.... Of course, it is not entirely clear whether SKUQRWPOI is
attributive to hUPOKRITAI, or whether these are two substantives in
apposition. However, this is certainly not a predicative construction.
Matt 10:13 EAN MEN Hi hH OIKIA AXIA ELQATW hH EIRHNH.... Here, AXIA is
clearly a predicate nominative; however, the copulative verb is
explicit. Thus, this is not a matter of attributive/predicative
constructions, but a question of Colwell's Rule, etc.
Matt 12:33 H POIHSATE TO DENDRON KALON...H POISATE TO DENDRON SAPRON.
I would prefer to treat the KALON and SAPRON as complement objects in a
double-accusative construction. However, I could also see the rationale
for calling these predicative "make the tree *to become* healthy/rotten."
Matt 12:33 KAI TON KARPON AUTOU KALON... KAI TON KARPON AUTOU SAPRON.
The same considerations apply here, as in the other phrases. These
adjectives could be object complements, with the implied repetition of
the POISATE; or, they could be predicates,, as in "and the fruit *will
be" healthy/rotten."
Matt 14:30 BLEPWN DE TON ANEMON [ISCURON] EFOBHQH. Assuming the
genuineness of the variant, I think that this is the most subjective of
all the occurances in Matthew. We could read this as "When he saw the
strong wind, he became afraid" (attributive); or, "When he saw that the
wind *was* strong, he became afraid." (predicative).
A quick glance at Paul's writings impresses me as being much the same as
Matthew: those passages with proper names and "verbal nouns" are
difficult to pin down; those with proper names don't "follow the same
rules"; apart from those with explicit copulatives, the remaining
passages are either attributive or in need of contextual determination.
Of course, Carl has questioned whether any such construction would ever
be attributive, so it makes me wonder whether we are understanding the
question in the same manner?
-- Daniel L. Christiansen Department of Bible Multnomah Bible College 8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220 (Also Portland Bible College, Prof of Biblical Languages) e-mail: dlc@multnomah.edu--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
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