Re: MEN OUN

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Jan 08 1998 - 06:42:33 EST


At 2:41 PM -0600 1/7/98, clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:
>Carl W. Conrad wrote about Acts 8:4 MEN OUN . . .
>>
>> I will "essay an opinion": it certainly should be said that this is not the
>> combination that would be printed together as MENOUN. Rather I think it is
>> a MEN coordinated with the DE in 8:5 accompanied by a continuative OUN. I'd
>> translate the pair of verses somewhat: "Now those who had been scattered
>> went every which way proclaiming the gospel word, but Philip, upon his
>> arrival in Samaria, ..."
>>
>> I would add that I think the context is not just the activity of Paul in
>> 8:3 but rather the dispersion and aftermath of the stoning of Stephen as a
>> whole sequence in 8:1b-3.
>>
>After reading Carl's post I went back to Smyth and read #2901 & #2904 again.
>If I understand Carl correctly, he is ruling out the compound sense of MEN OUN
>given in Smyth #2901.a and suggesting that these particles (Smyth's term) each
>have their own force as described in Smyth #2901.c. Further he is suggesting
>that what we have here is a MEN . . . DE construction with DE having a mild
>adversative force. All of this makes sense, but I have one lingering
>question.
>
>What does OUN add to this passage?

Fundamentally it is drawing a more-or-less logical connection with an
earlier section while starting out on a new tack; call it "continuative" or
"mildly resumptive" for want of a better phrase. This is not very
scientific, but I tend to rely on "gut feelings" about particles like OUN
which are so frequent in this context. In the version I suggested in my
previous post (cited above) the "Now ..." represents the OUN, while I
expressed the force of the MEN ... DE by beginning the second clause with
"but Philip ..." to suggest that there's at least a mild contrast between
what the other DIASPARENTES did and what Philip did. I've checked Louw &
Nida (in Accordance) and don't find that particularly helpful in its
suggestion that OUN by itself means the same thing as MENOUN, but rather I
think in this instance what the questionably adequate UBS dictionary offers
("so," "then," "accordingly," ...) is about right."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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