Re: kai

From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Wed Oct 13 1999 - 15:41:05 EDT


Bart Ehrman wrote:
>
> What are the arguments, if there are any, against starting a Greek
> sentence with the word "kai" (i.e., with punctuating a text with a full
> stop before a kai). (Does anyone know of any books that begin with kai?)
>

Bart's question raises another question. What is a Greek sentence? We
talked about this on b-greek back in '97 but there is no simple answer.
In my following remarks I will use the word "clause" since I consider
the concept "sentence" a bit problematic.

The LXX starts a lot of "clauses" with KAI since Hebrew often begins a
clause with a verb prefixed with Waw. This doesn't really tell us if
this is "acceptable" Greek. But NT Greek does at times mimic the LXX. A
number of KAI initial clauses are found in the Apocalypse which is well
known for strict adherence to the norms of Greek syntax.

I would assume Bart's question is connected with his Apostolic Fathers
project and that is a subject I know nothing about.

-- 
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062

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