εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

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Peter Streitenberger
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εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Peter Streitenberger »

Dear Friends,

καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν εὐθέως πορευθεὶς δέ ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν (Mat 25,15f)

Does εὐθέως modifiy the preceding verb ἀπεδήμησεν or πορευθεὶς ?
My own first impression is, that εὐθέως modifies more often the forthcoming verb, even if it's a participle, but I'm not sure in this case.

Thank you again for any help !

Peter, Germany
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cwconrad
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by cwconrad »

Peter Streitenberger wrote:Dear Friends,

καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν εὐθέως πορευθεὶς δέ ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν (Mat 25,15f)

Does εὐθέως modifiy the preceding verb ἀπεδήμησεν or πορευθεὶς ?
My own first impression is, that εὐθέως modifies more often the forthcoming verb, even if it's a participle, but I'm not sure in this case.
I think that εὐθέως begins a new clause. εὐθέως would indeed be awkward with ἀπεδήμησεν, which concludes the action of the man described originally (v. 14) as ἄνθρωπος ἀποδημῶν. Note how UBS4/NA27 punctuate it (so also Holmes in SBL GNT):

Matt. 25:15 καὶ ᾧ μὲν ἔδωκεν πέντε τάλαντα, ᾧ δὲ δύο, ᾧ δὲ ἕν, ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν, καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν. εὐθέως 16 πορευθεὶς ὁ τὰ πέντε τάλαντα λαβὼν ἠργάσατο ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκέρδησεν ἄλλα πέντε·

As I vividly recall an elderly Yiddish-speaker putting it: "Right away quick he made steps ... " -- and this he tells you before he tells you who "made the steps."
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

In every usage in Matthew, εὐθέως precedes what it modifies.


&` Matt 4:20
&` Matt 4:22
&` Matt 8:3
&` Matt 13:5
&` Matt 14:22
&` Matt 14:31
&` Matt 20:34
&` Matt 21:2
&` Matt 24:29
&` Matt 25:15
&` Matt 26:49
&` Matt 26:74
&` Matt 27:48
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
MAubrey
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by MAubrey »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:In every usage in Matthew, εὐθέως precedes what it modifies.
Indeed, but it's distribution across the clause looks like this when you go beyond Matthew.

εὐθέως = %

% ἡ λέπρα % ἀπῆλθεν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ %

At one point I went through the NT, Josephus, and Philo on this, but my notes are missing from my hard drive right now...
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Iver Larsen
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Iver Larsen »

εὐθέως is inherently emphatic and will therefore as a general rule precede the verb it modifies as it does throughout the NT. I would render it in English "right away" and in contexts like this one it implies that the servant is fully obedient to his master. He right away starts implementing his master's desires.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

MAubrey wrote:
Barry Hofstetter wrote:In every usage in Matthew, εὐθέως precedes what it modifies.
Indeed, but it's distribution across the clause looks like this when you go beyond Matthew.

εὐθέως = %

% ἡ λέπρα % ἀπῆλθεν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ %

At one point I went through the NT, Josephus, and Philo on this, but my notes are missing from my hard drive right now...
Mike, I have no idea what your little percenty looking things mean... :? Looking at other usages outside of Matthew, it seems that it normally precedes what it modifies, surely for the reason that Iver suggests.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
MAubrey
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by MAubrey »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:
MAubrey wrote:
Barry Hofstetter wrote:In every usage in Matthew, εὐθέως precedes what it modifies.
Indeed, but it's distribution across the clause looks like this when you go beyond Matthew.

εὐθέως = %

% ἡ λέπρα % ἀπῆλθεν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ %

At one point I went through the NT, Josephus, and Philo on this, but my notes are missing from my hard drive right now...
Mike, I have no idea what your little percenty looking things mean... :? Looking at other usages outside of Matthew, it seems that it normally precedes what it modifies, surely for the reason that Iver suggests.
In a given <edit>case (i.e. instance or use)</edit>, you might find εὐθέως in those positions. <edit>That is to say, εὐθέως might appear in a number of pre-verbal positions, but if it follows the verb, it's distribution is more restricted and won't appear in what some linguistic frameworks would term the verb phrase.</edit>

The claim about the adverb's distribution is original to Micheal Palmer (Levels of Constituent Structure), but I've checked it across numerous other texts.

FYI: I find the idea that the word as inherently emphatic to be highly questionable. It may tend toward pre-verbal usage, but proves nothing about its inherent meaning.
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Iver Larsen
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Iver Larsen »

Mike,

Can you explain what you mean by a given class? I cannot check a statement that I do not understand.

A word with the semantic content of "immediately, right away, suddenly* would be inherently emphatic in any languauge, In some languages this will be shown by stress, others possibly by tone, in others by relative position. In a few contexts it might be de-emphasized, but the expectation is that it is emphatic unless other elements are made relatively more emphatic.
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by MAubrey »

Iver Larsen wrote:Mike,

Can you explain what you mean by a given class? I cannot check a statement that I do not understand.
Sorry. That was a typo. It should read "case." I'll change it above.
Iver Larsen wrote:A word with the semantic content of "immediately, right away, suddenly* would be inherently emphatic in any languauge, In some languages this will be shown by stress, others possibly by tone, in others by relative position. In a few contexts it might be de-emphasized, but the expectation is that it is emphatic unless other elements are made relatively more emphatic.
Then you're simply using the word emphatic in a manner that I'd never use it.
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Tony Pope
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Re: εὐθέως in Mat 25,15f

Post by Tony Pope »

The idea that in Matt 25.15f εὐθέως would be inappropriate with the preceding verb is countered by H A W Meyer: "And it is precisely in connection with ἀπεδήμεσεν that εὐθέως is seen to have a peculiar significance, that, namely, of showing that absolute independence was allowed in regard to the way in which the money was to be employed by those to whom it
had been entrusted, which is admirably in keeping with κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν δύναμιν."
MAubrey wrote:At one point I went through the NT, Josephus, and Philo on this, but my notes are missing from my hard drive right now...
Re the position of εὐθέως in the clause, I don't think there are any examples of εὐθέως in final position in the NA text of the NT; however in the TR and other traditional texts it occurs in Mark 1.31 καὶ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὴν ὁ πυρετὸς εὐθέως, καὶ διηκόνει αὐτοῖς.

Following Mike's hint, I just checked Josephus on the Perseus site and found the following for εὐθέως:

Against Apion: no occurrences.
Antiquities: 16x, of which none in final position.
War: 63x, of which 9 in final position.
Life: 5x, of which 1 in final position.

Here are the occurrences in final position. The translation is simply Whiston's.

War 1.437 δοὺς μὲν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην ἑπτακαιδεκαέτει, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τιμὴν κτείνας εὐθέως, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἱερὰν ἐσθῆτα
λαβόντι καὶ τῷ βωμῷ προσελθόντι
for when he had given him the high priesthood at the age of seventeen, he slew him quickly after he had conferred that dignity upon him; but when Aristobulus had put on the holy vestments, and had approached to the altar at a festival,

1.454 οὕτως ὡς ἀπογνῶναι μὲν αὐτῶν τὰ κατηγορημένα, διαλλάξαι δὲ Ἡρώδην εὐθέως. αἱ διαλλαγαὶ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἦσαν, ὥστε ἐκείνους μὲν
as to reject the accusations, and to reconcile their father to them immediately. But the conditions of this reconciliation were these, that they should

2.625 τρισχιλίους μὲν ἀπέστησεν εὐθέως, οἳ παραγενόμενοι τὰ ὅπλα παρὰ τοῖς ποσὶν ἔρριψαν αὐτοῦ,
Whereupon three thousand of John's party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet.

2.634 τῶν δ᾽ ἠγγέλη μὲν εἰς Ταριχέας ἡ ἀπόστασις εὐθέως, ἐκπεπομφὼς δὲ πάντας τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐπὶ σίτου
συλλογὴν οὔτε
Now this revolt of theirs was presently known at Taricheae; and as Josephus had sent out all the soldiers that were with him to gather corn,

3.183 βουλόμενός τε παρ᾽ ἐλπίδα τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἐκτεῖναι τὴν πολιορκίαν, μέτρῳ τὸ ποτὸν αὐτοῖς διένειμεν εὐθέως.
and being desirous to protract the siege to the Romans longer than they expected, ordered their drink to be given them by
measure;

5.77 συνεταράχθησαν ἀδοκήτως, καὶ τῶν ἔργων ἀφέμενοι τινὲς μὲν ἀνεχώρουν εὐθέως, πολλοὶ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τὰ ὅπλα θέοντες
when some of hem left their works they were about, and immediately marched off, while many ran to their arms

6.209b ἠπείλουν, εἰ μὴ δείξειεν τὸ παρασκευασθέν, ἀποσφάξειν αὐτὴν εὐθέως. ἡ δὲ καὶ μοῖραν αὐτοῖς
εἰποῦσα καλὴν τετηρηκέναι
they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she had saved a very fine portion

6.339 ἐπὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ὑμῶν δραμεῖν καὶ ταύτην ἐκπορθεῖν τὴν πόλιν εὐθέως, ὁ δὲ Γαλιλαίαν ἐδῄου καὶ τὰ πέριξ ἐπιδιδοὺς ὑμῖν
he had run directly to your fountain-head, and had immediately laid this city waste; whereas he went and burnt Galilee and the neighboring parts, and thereby gave you

6.431 ὑπήντα τοῖς ἐπεισπίπτουσιν ὀδμὴ τῶν σωμάτων, ὡς πολλοὺς μὲν ἀναχωρεῖν εὐθέως, τοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ πλεονεξίας εἰσδύεσθαι νεκροὺς σεσωρευμένους ἐμπατοῦντας:
but then the ill savor of the dead bodies was most offensive to those that lighted upon them, insomuch that some were obliged to get away immediately, while others were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies that
lay on heaps, and tread upon them

Life 251a κατέβαινον οὖν εὐθέως, αὐτὸς τί λέγουσιν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἰωνάθην ἀκουσόμενος.
I went down immediately, so that I could hear what Ionathes’ group would say.
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