From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Wed Nov 01 2000 - 11:56:17 EST
At 10:58 AM -0500 11/1/00, Tom Conry wrote:
>Hi. I was wondering if anyone might shed some light on why ARXAMENOS is
>nominative in Acts 1:22 (the first word). I see the impersonal DEI in
>1:21, and expect and get an infinitive GENESQHAI and its accusative
>subject MARTURA. Shouldn't we expect ARXAMENOS to be in the accusative,
>modifying MARTURA? Or is it somehow modifying the impersonal subject of
>DEI? Does the fact that GENESQAI is a linking verb have anything to do
>with it? Is it attraction with the immediately preceding expression hO
>KURIOS IHSOUS? Can we have participles or adjectives modifying impersonal
>subjects in any event?
Text: (21) DEI OUN TWN SUNELQONTWN hHMIN ANDRWN EN PANTI CRONWi hWi
EISHLQEN KAI EXHLQEN EF' hHMAS hO KURIOS IHSOUS, (22) ARXAMENOS APO TOU
BAPTISMATOS IWANNOU hEWS THS hHMERAS hHS ANELHMFQH AF' hHMWN, MARTURA THS
ANASTASEWS AUTOU SUN hHMIN GENESQAI hENA TOUTWN.
You're quite right that the subject of the infinitive GENESQAI must be
accusative, and in this instance, I'd say that the subject of GENESQAI is
hENA TOUTWN at the very end of this sequence, and that MARTURA THS
ANASTASEWS AUTOU SUN hHMIN is a predicate nominative linked to hENA TOUTWN
by GENESQAI. Of course hENA TOUTWN refers back to the entire genitive
substantival participle that begins after DEI OUN: TWN SUNELQONTWN HHMIN
ANDRWN EN PANTI CRONWi ...
Now, ARXAMENOS doesn't construe with hENA TOUTWN or MARTURA but rather it
refers to Jesus in the relative clause introduced by hWi; that clause
depends upon the locative temporal dative EN PANTI CRONWi, but the clause
has its own nominative subject, hO KURIOS IHSOUS, and verb EISHLQEN KAI
EXHLQEN--and also a participial modifier ARXAMENOS APO TOU BAPTISMATOS
IWANNOU. So ARXAMENOS refers to Jesus, and the verbs meaning something like
"entered and left the stage of history" are defined more precisely by the
ARXAMENOS phrase, which is itself followed and completed by the relative
adverbial clause hHS ANELHMFQH AF' hHMWN; it is Jesus whose career begins
(acc. Luke) with his baptism and concludes with his ascension.
>I'm sure I'm overlooking something but it's one of those cases where the
>more I stare, the stranger it looks. There's no such thing as a
>nominative absolute in Koine, is there???
Not really, but you'll find some grammarians trying to peddle it anyway. I
think every instance of what gets called a nominative absolute can be
explained as some sort of "constructio ad sensum." But we've been over that
ground before and I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere and can be dug up
if there's need.
--
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
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