Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου fnction of the article?

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cwconrad
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Re: Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου fnction of the article?

Post by cwconrad »

Jonathan Robie wrote:Question: if we removed the article from Exodus 13:3, how would it change the meaning? What is the difference between:
  • καὶ τὸ καθόλου μὴ βλέπουσι
  • καὶ καθόλου μὴ βλέπουσι
From what I've observed, there's a tendency in Hellenistic Greek to make single words out of idiomatic prepositional phrases and then to substantivize those newly-coined expressions:

καθ’ ὅλου -- τὸ καθ’ ὅλου -- καθόλου -- τὸ καθόλου
διὰ πασὼν (χορδῶν) -- ἡ διαπασῶν (ἁρμονία) = octave

I'm sure this process of word-building has been better described.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
cwconrad
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Re: Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου fnction of the article?

Post by cwconrad »

Stephen Hughes wrote:The title of this thread should have been
  • Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου function of the article?
NOW you tell us! And all this time we thought we were talking about the article's fnction. It would have been kinder to clear this up a lot sooner! You must not keep us dangling so long in our misapprehensions! Oops, I guess I'd better add the quintessential emoji: ;)
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου fnction of the article?

Post by Jonathan Robie »

cwconrad wrote:From what I've observed, there's a tendency in Hellenistic Greek to make single words out of idiomatic prepositional phrases and then to substantivize those newly-coined expressions:

καθ’ ὅλου -- τὸ καθ’ ὅλου -- καθόλου -- τὸ καθόλου
διὰ πασὼν (χορδῶν) -- ἡ διαπασῶν (ἁρμονία) = octave

I'm sure this process of word-building has been better described.
That makes sense, and is very helpful. Thanks!
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Stephen Hughes
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Re: Acts 4:18 τὸ καθόλου fnction of the article?

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:So, do your have any unambiguous examples where the distinction between (a) and (b) must be semantic, not contextual? Or do lexicons imply such distinction?
Do you mean like this?
Amos 3:3 wrote:εἰ πορεύσονται δύο ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ;
καθόλου!
ἐὰν μὴ γνωρίσωσιν ἑαυτούς.
Do two people walk together?
Not at all!
Unless they are acquainted with one another.
[εἰ is literally "if", or in indirect speech "whether". In this case, the indirect speech only implies the direct speech that made it indirect. "Tell me whether two people walk ... ?" would be an English way of saying that. The easiest to abbreviate, "Tell me whether ... " is "Do ... ?"]
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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