The more precise answer to the question of why ESTIN is present tense in
John 2:9 is that it is an indirect question, which retains the tense of
the direct question. "He did not know (the answer to this question):
`Where is it from?'" ("From whence," BTW, is redundant. Whence means
"from where.")
Again, there are many examples of this phenomenon, as I just turned the
page back to John 13:22: EBLEPON EIS ALLHLOUS OI MAQHTAI APOROYMENOI
PERI TINOS LEGEI.
Burt
Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>
> At 10:26 PM -0400 6/02/98, Jim West wrote:
> >At 10:11 PM 6/2/98 -0400, you wrote:
> >>John 2:9 - KAI OUK HDEI POQEN ESTIN - I am thinking this means, "and not
> >>knowing from whence it was," but ESTIN is present tense. Would that be
> >>,"and
> >>not knowing from whence it is?" That sounds awkward to me. Why present tense
> >>instead of past?
> >>
> >>William Boyd
> >>
> >
> >I would call this the narrative present. I.e., in order to make a story
> >more enthralling, the present tense is used so that "you are there". See?
>
> I would agree that "narrative present" would be a better term, but
> traditionally this is called the "historical present" in most grammars.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University
> Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
> WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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