Re: The use of demonstratives

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Aug 21 1998 - 16:32:11 EDT


<x-rich>At 12:55 PM -0700 8/21/98, Kyle Dillon wrote:

<excerpt>How do TOUTOS and EKEINOS differ in relation to their
antecedents and/or appositives? For example, if there are two possible
antecedents in a sentence, would EKEINOS refer to the former and TOUTOS
to the latter? In other words, when would TOUTOS be used instead of
EKEINOS (or vise versa)?

 

Kyle Dillon

</excerpt>

I think you must mean hOUTOS/hAUTH/TOUTO--those are the nom. sg. forms
of the demonstrative normally translated 'this' or 'this one.' This is
the one that will should TOUT- forms in the oblique cases of the m. and
n., TAUT- forms in the oblique cases of the f.

The tendency is for hOUTOS to refer to a noun that follows or is
nearest, while EKEINOS refers to a noun that precedes or is more
remote. If both demonstratives appear, then hOUTOS refers to the nearer
noun, EKEINOS to the more remote noun. Example: EPIFANEIS HSAN hO TE
DHMOSQENHS KAI hO KIKERWN, ALL' EKEINOS MEN hELLHN HN, hOUTOS DE
RWMAIOS. "Both Demosthenes and Cicero were illustrious, but the former
was a Greek, the latter a Roman."

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/

</x-rich>



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