[B-Greek] Romans 8:16: SUMMARTUREI TWi PNEUMATI

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Jun 14 14:48:44 EDT 2008


On Jun 14, 2008, at 2:21 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:

>
> On Jun 14, 2008, at 6:41 AM, John Sanders wrote:
>
>> I would change my mind quickly and easily if Elizabeth or someone
>> could indicate with examples from the literature where SUMMARTUREW
>> with DOTIKH case only indicates associativeness.
>
> Thank you George for the citation.
>
> John,
>
> I don't recall stating that "SUMMARTUREW with DOTIKH case only
> indicates associativeness" in Rom. 8:16. That was a term used by
> Wallace along with 'intensive'.
>
> Yesterday I took up my yellowed copy of Moule's Idiom Book (pp. 87-88)
> where he lists some preposition verb compounds under the heading
> 'intensification simply'. I started looking at the SUN compounds to
> see what I could learn. About the third word in the list SUMPNIGW
> doesn't look like a valid example. It is used in the parable of the
> sower where the weeds choke the grain by crowding them out. Certainly
> doesn't take much imagination to see how SUN contributes to SUMPNIGW
> in this context. This is not a case where the 'associative' tag would
> work. I have no particular interest in the that or any other tag the
> Wallace uses. My compliant against the 'intensification' tag, as I
> have said previously, it is too inclusive to be very useful. It is
> also difficult to falsify.
>
> Another verb in Moule's 'intensification simply' list is SUNQALW used
> in Matt. 21:44 [text?] and Lk 20:18. This is another case where I
> think we might be able to come up with a semantic motivation for SUN
> in SUNQLAW. Perhaps not.
>
> BTW, Moule doesn't include SUMMARTUREW in his 'intensification simply'
> list.

I have no new "scientific" evidence to contribute to this discussion  
(if that is what it is); it all strikes me as much ado about little or  
nothing. It's rather a nuisance to have to deal with a plethora of  
terminology to describe dative usage. I go along with the notion of  
three fundamental case-usage categories of the dative; I taught them  
as "true dative" (instances of an indirect object where we'd use "to"  
or "for" in English and it's used with a noun indicating a person),  
"locative dative" (instances of stationary time or place where we'd  
use "in" or "at" in English and it's used with a noun indicating a  
locality or time-word), and "instrumental/comitative" (instances of  
instrumentality or association where we'd use "by" or "with" or "by  
means of" in English with an appropriate nominal form. I think these  
distinctions generally hold valid in the Koine, with a striking  
exception of EN + dative which is often instrumental rather than  
locative and is perhaps used even more extensively.

There really isn't any doubt regarding what SUMMARTUREW with a dative  
of the person means: "back up the testimony of ... " or "support." I  
just don't see what all the folderol about classifying the usage is  
about.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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