From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sun Jan 14 2001 - 10:15:29 EST
At 8:13 PM -0600 1/13/01, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:
>Dear Moon-Ryul,
>
>You write:
>
>>> 1 Pet. 1:1-2
>>> PETROS APOSTOLOS IHSOU CRISTOU EKLEKTOIS PAREPIDHMOIS DIASPORAS PONTOU,
>>> GALATIAS, KAPPADOKIAS, ASIAS KAI BIQUNIAS, KATA PROGNWSIN QEOU PATROS EN
>>> hAGIASMWi PNEUMATOS EIS hUPAKOHN KAI hRANTISMON hAIMATOS IHSOU CRISTOU,
>>> CARIS hUMIN KAI EIRHNE PLHQUNQEIH.
>
>>You assume that noun EKLEKTOIS PAREPIDHMOIS (chosen sojourners)
>>is attributively modified by three adverbials:
>>KATA KATA PROGNWSIN QEOU,
>>EN hAGIASMWi PNEUMATOS,
>>EIS hUPAKOHN KAI hRANTISMON hAIMATOS IHSOU CRISTOU.
>
>I was taught that prepositional phrases can function as adjectives or
>adverbs. In English prepositional phrases can serve in adverbial,
>adjectival, or substantival relations to another word.
Were you taught this about English or about Greek? My own sense is that the
distinction between predicate and attributive positions of the article
delimits possibilities of attributive adverbial, adjectival or substantival
relations to another word; the one common exception is a possessive
genitive which quite commonly follows (but sometimes precedes) a noun
which it qualifies without a repeated article in the same case.
Nevertheless my sense of NT Greek usage is that older Greek usage is
less-carefully or less-commonly observed. An example that I've called
attention to several times on this list is Paul's citation from the OT
prophet in Rom 1:17 KAQWS GEGRAPTAI: hO DIKAIOS EK PISTEWS ZHSETAI. In the
LXX text this apparently meant (and this appears to differ from what the MT
offers also) "The righteous [man] will live as a consequence of
faith"--whereas Paul seems to want to understand as "The one who by faith
is righteous will live [in the age-to-come]." I think such an understanding
of the text would have been questionable to a reader of an earlier era.
>>As Carl often stated, adverbials do not modify nouns in an attributive
>>manner without the article in front of them.
>
>In English adverbs can also modify adjectives. Prepositional phrases seem
>to be able to modify nouns without the article, too. We can say:
>
>A book on the counter was in my way."
>
>"On the counter" is a prepositional phrase modifying book, telling where it
>was.
There's no question that this is legitimate in English, but it was not
legitimate in older Greek and I don't really think it's all that common in
Koine.
>>Moreover it seems quite
>>unreasonable to assume that a noun can be attributively modified by
>>such a long list of adverbials without any linking verb.
>
>What makes the verses less normal is that they are part of a formulaic
>opening to a letter, an opening giving the addresses of the letter, along
>with salutations. Perhaps we cannot expect completely standard phraseology
>here.
>
>It may be that there is an understood repetition of the key term of the
>opening address: "elect."
>
>Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ [writes]
>to elect sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
>and Bithynia
>([elect] according to God the Father's foreknowledge, in the Spirit's
>sanctification, for obedience and sprinkling of Jesus Christ's blood):
>grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Of course, if we really believe that Peter himself wrote this letter, we
could suppose that Greek is not his native language in any case and allow
for greater license. My impression generally, however, is that the Greek of
1 Peter is relatively "good" (using that term, let it be well-understood)
in the sense of "the Greek taught in schools" and not in any way to suggest
that "this couldn't possibly be 'bad' Greek because God doesn't write 'bad'
Greek.")
For what it's worth, I'd be more inclined to understand the prepositional
phrases in question with the implicit predicate of this relatively standard
salutation with its form X (nom.) Y (dat.) XAIREIN/ERRWSQAI LEGEI/KELEUEI.
Paul regularly uses Nom. + Dat., then adds a clause XARIS hUMIN KAI EIRHNH
APO QEOU PATROS hHMWN KAI KURIOU IHSOU CRISTOU.
It's also conceivable that the prepositional phrases should be construed
with APOSTOLOS, although it's rather far removed. Paul characterizes his
own apostleship in salutations carefully according to his addressees. It
could be argued that they are quite distant from APOSTOLOS, but there are
instances of that in NT Greek, none more egregious than in the Johannine
prologue 1:14 KAI hO LOGOS SARX EGENETO ... PLHRHS CARITOS KAI ALHQEIAS
(where PLHRHS can only be nominative and properly can only refer back to hO
LOGOS.
--
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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