Strabo, Geography 2.4.3

Other Greek writings of the New Testament era, including papyri and inscriptions
Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
MAubrey
Posts: 1090
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 8:52 pm
Contact:

Strabo, Geography 2.4.3

Post by MAubrey »

I came across this clause this morning:
Strabo, Geography 2.4.3 wrote:καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ εὖ λέγεται τὸ πλησίον τῆς Σαρδόνος τὴν λεχθεῖσαν κάθετον τελευτᾶν· ουʼ γὰρ παραπλήσιον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ δυσμικώτερον εἶναι τὸ δίαρμα τοῦτο τῆς Σαρδόνος, ὅλον σχεδόν τι ἀπολαμβάνον ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ πρὸς τῷ Σαρδονίῳ τὸ Λιγυστικὸν πέλαγος· καὶ τῆς παραλίας δὲ τὰ μήκη πεπλεόνασται, πλὴν οὐκ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν γε.
I've never seen a middle verb with causative meaning, but every translation I've seen wants make it so. For example:

Loeb (1917): And Polybius has exaggerated the length of the seaboard also, only in a lesser degree.
H. C. Hamilton (1903): Besides this he makes the length of the sea-coast too great; but this [error] is not so considerable [as the two preceding].

If the middle voice can do this, then I'm growing crazy. Surely this is nothing more than a neuter plural subject with a singular verb: And the length of the coastline is exaggerated.
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Strabo, Geography 2.4.3

Post by Stephen Carlson »

LSJ seems to agree with you:
Pass., to be magnified, exaggerated, [νομίσειεν ἂν] ἔστιν ἃ πλεονάζεσθαι Th.2.35, cf. Str.2.4.3
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
MAubrey
Posts: 1090
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 8:52 pm
Contact:

Re: Strabo, Geography 2.4.3

Post by MAubrey »

Well that's nice. I had only looked at BDAG...
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
Post Reply

Return to “Koine Greek Texts”