Re: The two-fold and structured moieties of Koine Greek.
Posted: April 4th, 2017, 2:43 pm
In your framework, is moiety lexically determined? Do all words have moeity, or do you see this as a property of verbs?
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I think that it is worth investigating and if necessary categorising words acurately into either or both of the moieties, to help both readers and translators. Let's see where this goes.
At first, following the model of English (and Greek textbooks) I thought that abstractness and concreteness was a property of nouns. Pretty soon, it became clear that it was lexically determined, and it crossed boundaries between word classes and displayed an abstract and concrete differentiation pattern in a way that English doesn't. Unlike word like ἀρχή word beJonathan Robie wrote: ↑April 4th, 2017, 2:43 pm In your framework, is moiety lexically determined? Do all words have moeity, or do you see this as a property of verbs?
The most suitable name would be something based on "speech styles". The word "moiety" could refer to the abstract and specific groups of words in the lexicon. It is not really a law, I think, but an observable phenomenon. Because there are two, a word like "two-fold", "double" or "binary" might fit, and because of the way that they follow each other in turn, then "alternating" might be good too.
Some general information about crowsΚλαυδίου Αἰλιανοῦ, Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος 7.7 wrote:κόραξ δὲ ἐπιτρόχως φθεγγόμενος καὶ κρούων τὰς πτέρυγας καὶ κροτῶν αὐτάς,
And the crow (that we see) glibly uttering its sound and clapping its wings together and rattling them
A specific statementὅτι χειμὼν ἔσται κατέγνω πρῶτος.
(It) first knows that there will be a storm.
General statementκόραξ δὲ αὖ καὶ κορώνη καὶ κολοιὸς δείλης ὀψίας εἰ φθέγγοιντο,
And the crow and what's more both the shearwater and the jackdaw, if they make their sounds throughout the late afternoon
Specific point.χειμῶνος ἔσεσθαί τινα ἐπιδημίαν διδάσκουσι.
They instruct one that throughout winter
Broad general statement.κολοιοὶ δὲ ἱερακίζοντες, ὡς ἐκεῖνος λέγει, καὶ πετόμενοι πῆ μὲν ἀνωτέρω πῆ δὲ κατωτέρω,
When shearwaters fly like hawks, as Aristotle says, and they (are seen to be) flying somewhere up higher and somewhere else down lower
Specific statementκρυμὸν καὶ ὑετὸν δηλοῦσι.
Frost and rain are signified.
General setting.κορώνη δὲ ἐπὶ δείπνου ὑποφθεγγομένη ἡσυχῆ,
When the shearwater calling quitely in muffled tones at dinner time
Specific point.ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίαν εὐδίαν παρακαλεῖ.
It is calling the later fine weather to come (ie and share the meal).
General statementφανέντες δὲ ὄρνιθες πολλοὶ μὲν τὸν ἀριθμόν,
When birds are visible, being many in number
λευκοὶ δὲ τὴν χρόαν,
and white in colour
Specific pointχειμὼν ὅτι ἔσται πολὺς ἐκδιδάσκουσι.
They are indicating that there will be a great storm.
General statementνῆτται δὲ καὶ αἴθυιαι πτερυγίζουσαι
When ducks and (another type of) shearwater (at least a diving bird) flutter their wings as if to fly,
Specific detailπνεῦμα δηλοῦσιν ἰσχυρόν.
They are indicating that there will be a strong wind.
In terms of the structre in which it occurs that is fine as a name. I introduced that passage from Aelian, because participial general statements are where every body already recognises the two-fold structure of Greek stylistic practice. What I am saying is that if one looks at the same pattern in the language, in something like
Then the same pattern appears based on word choices, like this:Luke 7:38 wrote:ἤρξατο βρέχειν τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ τοῖς δάκρυσιν, καὶ ταῖς θριξὶν τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῆς ἐξέμασσεν, καὶ κατεφίλει τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἤλειφεν τῷ μύρῳ.
Judge for yourself.
So far as the internal structure is concerned, hating and loving are more contextual actions than the devotion or despising, ie it is within the context of loving that devotion happens, and within the context of hating that one despises. There seems to be a certain degree of honourific movement of God to the broader context earlier elements of a phrase. God is a universal being, and mamon tends to occur near the end of phrases.Paul-Nitz wrote: ↑April 9th, 2017, 9:35 amMatthew 6:24-26
GENERAL Οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν· ἢ γὰρ τὸν ἕνα μισήσει καὶ τὸν ἕτερον ἀγαπήσει, ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταφρονήσει.
[“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.]
SPECIFIC οὐ δύνασθε θεῷ δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ.
[You cannot serve both God and Money. ]
μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν (contextualising statement)Paul-Nitz wrote: ↑April 9th, 2017, 9:35 amSPECIFIC Διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν· μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν τί φάγητε [ἢ τί πίητε], μηδὲ τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν τί ἐνδύσησθε.
[“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.]
GENERAL οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πλεῖόν ἐστιν τῆς τροφῆς καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐνδύματος;
[Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?]
To βλέπειν requires time and mental effort. As with Aelian's use of birds in the contextualising speech style phrases, πετεινόν "flying creatures", seems to be a contextualising wprd, but actually it seems to be used in either - ie, it is not a specifically marked word. σπείρειν, θερίζειν and συνάγειν (in the active or mediopassive of self advantage) are all small context / specific. ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά· While τρέφειν is a word that belongs to the specific moiety in the lexicon, the order of the phrase goes from the conceptually broadest to the conceptually most specific ideas.Paul-Nitz wrote: ↑April 9th, 2017, 9:35 amGENERAL ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὅτι οὐ σπείρουσιν οὐδὲ θερίζουσιν οὐδὲ συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά·
[Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.]
Perhaps this is a statement on its own, or there may be no words here, only grammar.
As you look further, there will be things between the phrases.
Yes. Some of them at least.Paul-Nitz wrote: ↑April 10th, 2017, 10:11 am Stephen,
So, is this accurate? In the Matt 6:24-26 selection, I was looking for a back and forth pattern of thoughts and seeing coupling of general-specific statements. You are seeing the coupling of general-specific within statements based on the quality of the words used.
Paul