καθ' εἷς (Romans 12:5)

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Stephen Hughes
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Re: καθ' εἷς (Romans 12:5)

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Danny King wrote: More intriguing, though, is the distinction that arises when accenting εστιν. Murray J. Harris in his EGGNT volume on Colossians and Philemon writes on page 42:
Αυτος εστιν may be accented in two ways: as ἀυτὸς ἔστιν, "he himself exists" or ἀυτὸς ἐστιν, "he himself is".
Is that the usage of ἔστιν for ἔξεστιν?
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
cwconrad
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Re: καθ' εἷς (Romans 12:5)

Post by cwconrad »

Stephen Hughes wrote:
Danny King wrote: More intriguing, though, is the distinction that arises when accenting εστιν. Murray J. Harris in his EGGNT volume on Colossians and Philemon writes on page 42:
Αυτος εστιν may be accented in two ways: as ἀυτὸς ἔστιν, "he himself exists" or ἀυτὸς ἐστιν, "he himself is".
Is that the usage of ἔστιν for ἔξεστιν?
No; it is the distinction between existential and copulative usage of εἶναι:
ἔστιν ἀνθρωπός τις ὀνοματι Σωκράτης: There is (exists) a man named Socrates (existential)
ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ Σωκράτης: Socrates is a human being (copulative)

I think the usage of existential ἔστιν for ἔξεστιν is a different matter, something like, "The possibility exists to ... " or "There is [infinitive of action that is possible or allowed]."
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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