Re: επι - Matt 14:14, 15:32; 4:6, 14:11
Posted: August 3rd, 2012, 1:29 am
I just found a book to which I have access, "Greek Prepositions: From Antiquity to the Present" by Pietro Bortone in 2010 (I note that it was mentioned at http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-gr ... 53896.html), that says:
5.4.5 wrote:This applies to most other prepositions too. Similar semantic equivalences can be seen (cf. Blass and Debrunner 1979: 185) in
διά + accusative / διά + genitive (the dative not being a possibility altogether)
ὑπό + accusative / ὑπό + genitive (the dative not being a possibility altogether)
The results are equivalences such as
(5.28) ἐπί + accusative:
ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον καθήμενος (Rev. 4:2)
‘sitting on the throne’
(5.29) ἐπί + genitive:
καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου (Isa. 6:1)
‘sitting on the throne’
(5.30) ἐπί + dative:
καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῳ̑ θρόνῳ (Rev. 21:5)
‘sitting on the throne’
So I try to distinguish between the uses of different cases as far as possible, but I see no reason to assume that there must always be a difference, given the widespread occurrence of apparently equivalent formulations, even as others such as Pietro mentioned. I would be interested to see what BDF says that Pietro quoted, since I don't have access to it. In particular I think "δια + acc." / "because of" is clearly distinct from "δια + gen." / "through (direction / channel)" in the NT.5.5 wrote:In summary, in post‐classical usage we see the tendencies detected in Classical and pre‐Classical Greek strengthened:
• cases have a long history of syncretism, and the dative now looks particularly weak;
• at earlier stages, plain cases sufficed to express spatial meanings, but now spatial meanings are expressed by prepositions (added to cases);
• however, cases appear to be losing their individual significance; this is also happening when they are inside a prepositional phrase;
• there are very many prepositions (of different date), including many synonyms;
• prepositions fall into two groups, and the “improper” type (ex‐adverbs), which is the newer group, is being used more and more frequently (at times even compounding the “improper” prepositions with a “proper” one); their inventory is also expanding, thanks to new creations;
• “proper” prepositions are, to some extent, ousting one another (i.e. a number are becoming obsolete), but are mainly replaced by “improper” prepositions;
• most importantly, the “improper” prepositions tend to have a spatial sense, while the “proper” ones that are replaced by “improper” ones in spatial uses are increasingly confined to non‐spatial uses.