Post
by cwconrad » March 19th, 2015, 8:42 am
Jonathan Robie wrote:Stephen Carlson wrote:On this particular example, however, Robertson is wrong as to the force of the article. The article no more has its "real force" with articular infinitives than does the English preposition "to" keeps its force when used with its infinitives. In both cases, they are merely syntactic structuring devices.
Can you go into more depth on this, perhaps with some examples of how you think Robertson got it wrong?
Yes, I too am curious about Stephen's meaning here. In the articular infinitive in question here,
Lk. 2:27, ἐν τῷ εἰσαγαγεῖν τοὺς γονεῖς τὸ παιδίον
I'd be inclined to say that the "real force" of the article is highlighting -- it is, in origin, a weak demonstrative. A woodenly-literal version in English might use a gerund in place of the infinitive: "in
the bringing in of the child by his parents"
0 x
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)