This thread is a little difficult to follow. There are several points being made in parallel. The original question about the syntactic role of the article has gone on to challenging the meaning of a word given in standard works. I generally dislike proofs as things that clever and persuasive people use to distort truth and pervert justice, but never-the-less, in this case things have gotten out of hand. Reason being that I assumed (wrongly) that BDAG had the meaning "not at all" - i.e. that they had differentiated between the Classical and later meaning. I'm sorry, I was mistaken and that led to my other statements. Generally I try to can (as in trash) discussions when they seem to be going into arguments and discussions, but things here having been begun, may as well be finished.Jonathan Robie wrote:So articular καθόλου is possible, but I'm having a hard time understanding Acts 4:18 construed this way. Can you help me understand what it would mean?
To me, τὸ has to govern the object of παρήγγειλαν. You can't command someone to "on the whole", but you can command them not to speak or teach.
The basic thing I am saying is that καθόλου does hold its etymological meaning ("on the whole") at the New Testament time, but has taken on a negative meaning without the need for the μή. In other words the positive meaning ("on the whole, generally") that Abbot-Smith (that has - the meaning in Classical times - and now I see BDAG too) is not the meaning it has in later times. μὴ καθόλου as a phrase that negates a positive (earlier) meaning of καθόλου - as for example in Aristotle - is not what we find in Acts 4:18. The μὴ's in the syntax of the verse go with the two infinitives φθέγγεσθαι and διδάσκειν as their position (before the infinitives, rather than before καθόλου) shows.
Assuming that this verb of speaking is followed by an accusative and infinitive(s), and the accusative is the substantivised καθόλου, (not the substantivised μὴ καθόλου), and the positive doesn't make sense (as Jonathan says). There are two possibilities for the meaning καθόλου - the first (from Classical Greek) meaning "in general", "entirely" and the other (from Modern Greek) meaning "not at all", "zero", "mini-mini-minimum" and one of them had to be fitted into the Greek context of Acts 4:18 which would be most logical?
positive meaning for καθόλου wrote:παρήγγειλαν αὐτοῖς τὸ καθόλου (the entirely) μὴ φθέγγεσθαι μηδὲ διδάσκειν
Of course taking syntax as Barry suggests and GBI trees agree, is a way to retain καθόλου in a positive sense, as it is used in the earlier period, while taking it as an articular adverbial requires a negative sense. The (chance) ability to shift the syntactic interpretation of this verse into patterns that could suit either a positive or negative meaning is a fluke. From the point of view of it being positive, there is a problem because verbs of speaking don't take an articular infinitive, and from the point of view of it being negative, there is a problem because it is at odds with the standard reference works.negative meaning for καθόλου wrote:παρήγγειλαν αὐτοῖς τὸ καθόλου (the very, very minimum thing) μὴ φθέγγεσθαι μηδὲ διδάσκειν
The question then is whether the verb of speaking in a narrative account has an articular infinitive, or to put it another way, we could ask whether an infinitive after the verb of speaking is the type of infinitive that you use to say that something gets done by doing something else, or whether it is part of the formal structure of verb of speaking. Within the limited corpus of the New Testament, 1 Timothy 6:17 is the most obvious example to look at:
Presumably he would be expected to say "μὴ ὑψηλοφρονεῖτε, μηδὲ ἐλπίσατε ... ".Τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι παράγγελλε, μὴ ὑψηλοφρονεῖν, μηδὲ ἠλπικέναι ἐπὶ πλούτου ἀδηλότητι, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ ζῶντι, τῷ παρέχοντι ἡμῖν πάντα πλουσίως εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν·
On the assumption that καθόλου has a negative meaning, in the conversation behind Acts 4:18, presumably they said, τὸ καθόλου ("even" from emphatic position) (the very, very minimum thing) μὴ φθέγγεσθε (don't utter) μηδὲ διδάσκετε (and don't teach)...