[b-greek] Re: Negative particle -> EWS hOU

From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sun Dec 24 2000 - 14:10:09 EST


on 12/23/00 8:33 AM, Richard Ghilardi wrote:

> So now I am ready to restate the rule in its more restricted form:
>
> << A temporal clause introduced by the conjunctive particles hEWS hOU or
> hEWS hOTOU, meaning "until", always implies that the action of the main
> clause was or will be discontinued or reversed after the point of time
> indicated by these particles. >>

Richard , Steve and Iver,

Thanks for your contributions. There seem to be some minor or perhaps major
disagreements on this "rule."

H.A.W Meyer, (Matthew, pg. 54) says:

. . . But from hEWS hOU of itself no inference can be drawn either in favor
or against . . . it is not intended to convey it afterwards took place."

There are several indicators in the semantic structure of this passage (Matt
1:25 and context) which make it fairly certain what did take place
afterwards, e.g. v.l. hUION AUTHS TON PRWTOTOKON, (Lk 2:7). Meyer, Alford,
Plummer, Hendriksen all think that what took place afterwards was not really
a matter of controversy until it became a dogmatic issue later in Church
History.

But all of that is beside the point, our question is about the impact of
hEWS hOU on the passage. Meyer is adamant that hEWS hOU does not contribute
anything to this question. In Roehampton terminology, the question of what
takes place after the time or action limited by hEWS hOU is not
gramaticalized.

Even if every instance of hEWS hOU or hEWS hOTOU (very few of them) can be
shown to fit the pattern, that still leaves the question open if hEWS hOU
actually contributes that information to the semantic structure of its
context. I doubt that it does. Meyer, Alford and several others say that it
does not. These guys were big greeks.

We want to avoid the quagmire that the verb aspect discussion nearly always
falls into of attributing semantic properties to a formal language feature
which are really only coextensive with that language feature and have no
causal relationship to the feature what so ever.

Thanks for your thoughts on this,

Clay

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



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