Matthew 26:53

πλειω in Matt 26:53 Jean-Francois Racine Jean-Francois_Racine at uqac.uquebec.ca
Thu May 20 20:46:13 εδτ 1999

 

Keeping up with ντ Greek after class Philippians 1.10 In Matt 26:53, one finds the clause πλειω [η] δωδεκα λεγιωνασ αγγελων.1. Is πλειω a comparative here? If it is the case, what is the point ofcomparison?2. What is the grammatical explanation of the presence of [η] in severalMSS such as ξ ε ω Delta Pi Omega fam1 fam13 33 565?3. Blass/Debrunner/Funk par. 185 speaks of genitive of comparison, butstill, ι have difficulty to see what is the point of comparison.Could someone shed some light on this point?Jean-Francois Racine

Keeping up with ντ Greek after classPhilippians 1.10

πλειω in Matt 26:53 Carl ω. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri May 21 06:56:00 εδτ 1999

Philippians 1.10 Philippians 1.10 At 8:46 πμ -0400 5/20/99, Jean-Francois Racine wrote:>In Matt 26:53, one finds the clause πλειω [η] δωδεκα λεγιωνασ αγγελων.> >1. Is πλειω a comparative here? If it is the case, what is the point of>comparison?> >2. What is the grammatical explanation of the presence of [η] in several>μσσ such as ξ ε ω Delta Pi Omega fam1 fam13 33 565?> >3. Blass/Debrunner/Funk par. 185 speaks of genitive of comparison, but>still, ι have difficulty to see what is the point of comparison.> >Could someone shed some light on this point?> >Jean-Francois Racine(1) Yes: πλειω is indeed comparative–neuter plural accusative, ι think(contracted from πλειοσα after loss of intervocalic sigma, –ιοσ– being thealternative comparative infix equivalent to what we are taught–wrongly–isthe more common comparative infix –ιον-, which would have yielded the formPLEIONA for neuter plural nom./acc. One of my peeves about the standardteaching of Greek grammar is that these alternative forms of comparativesin –ιοσ– are alluded to in footnotes in the grammars as poor relations,when in fact the –ιοσ– forms are really more common in Attic and Ionic thanthe –ιον– forms–and Koine, it should be remembered, is essentially Ionicdialect with a somewhat lax Attic grammar.(2/3) The phrase has to mean, does it not, “more θαν twelve legions ofangels”? Then “twelve legions of angels” is the element of comparison; thestandard grammatical construction for comparison is to put η (originallyand literally “or”, but used as a disjunctive conjunction in comparisonalso) if both items in the comparison are in the same case, or to put thesecond item of comparison into an ablatival genitive “of comparison.”There remains a question here about why the comparison doesn’t need the η;here’s what Smyth (1920) at the Perseus site says:1074. In statements of number and measure ê may be omitted after theadverbial comparatives pleon (plein) more, ela_tton (meion) less, which donot alter their case and number: pempei ouk ela_tton deka pherontas pur hesends not less than ten men carrying fire Xen. Hell. 4.5.4, polis pleonpentakischi_liôn andrôn a city of more than 5000 men 5. 3. 16. Even when êis kept, pleon (plein), etc., remains unchanged: en plein ( = pleiosin) êdia_kosiois etesin in more than 200 years Dem. 24.141, toxota_s plein êeikosi mu_riadas more bowmen than 20 myriads Xen. Cyrop. 2.1.6.Carl ω. ConradDepartment of Classics, Washington UniversitySummer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, νξ 28714/(828) 675-4243cwconrad at artsci.wustl.eduWWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/————– next part ————–α non-text attachment was scrubbed…Name: not availableType: text/enrichedSize: 2674 bytesDesc: not availableUrl : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail//attachments/19990521/e19a1bf2/attachment.bin

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