From: Michael Haggett (michaelhaggett@lineone.net)
Date: Sun May 06 2001 - 05:57:17 EDT
Eric Weiss wrote (6 May):
>While reading Matthew, in 8:23 and 9:27 I noticed what appears to be a
dative absolute functioning like the genitive absolute:
KAI EMBANTI AUTWi EIS TO PLOION,
HKOLOUQHSAN AUTWi hOI MAQHTAI AUTOU
KAI PARAGONTI EKEIQEN TWi IHSOU,
HKOLOUQHSAN [AUTWi] DUO TUFLOI
KRAZONTES KAI LEGONTES ELEHSON hHMAS, hUIOS DAUID
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MH: I think the difficulty here is in the use of the term "absolute". In
grammatical terms absolute means "separated" (Latin: absolutus) and refers
to a phrase that has no direct grammatical (as distinct from logical) link
to the rest of the sentence.
Greek tends to use the genitive as a "default case" so, if there is no
grammatical link to the main clause to determine which case the participle
should be, the genitive is used by default. Therefore you can have a
genitive absolute, but a dative absolute is (strictly speaking) a
contradiction in terms. It is dative, but not absolute.
In the examples you gave, the sentences DO have a grammatical link. The
initial phrases of these verses are in the dative case because AUTW is
dative in the main clause of the sentence which follows. This is the
"correct" case to use (at least in accordance with classical standards).
Similarly the initial phrase can also be accusative if it refers to
something which is accusative in the main sentence, such as Matthew 26:71
EXELQONTA DE EIS TON PULWNA,
EIDEN AUTON ALLH KAI LEGEI TOIS EKEI ...
The trouble is that Hellenistic Greek developed the tendency to GENERALLY
put such participial phrases in the genitive case, even when there WAS a
link. So that we get sentences like Matthew 8:1
KATABANTOS DE AUTOU APO TOU OROUS,
HKOLOUQHSAN AUTW OCLOI POLLOI
... which is "technically" incorrect (although interestingly by the same
author in the same chapter as the 8:23 example you gave). I think this is
probably an illustration of the tide of popular usage changing the
grammatical rule.
Michael Haggett
www.ntgreek.com
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