[b-greek] Re: Use of word "mallon"

From: Jay Anthony Adkins (Jadkins26438@cs.com)
Date: Sat Aug 11 2001 - 04:48:28 EDT


Dear Mike,

Thanks for the fuller explanation of your reasoning, as it now makes much
more sense to me and my limited abilities. My understanding of MALLON has
been greatly advanced due to your insights. Thanks for sharing and
allowing me to think out loud as it were.

Sola Gratia,
         Jay Adkins
Always Under Grace!


> "Conrad Chiu" <cchiu@bhmc.com.au> said:
> > I am very novice greek learner. I am just wondering if anyone can tell
> > me what are the pointers to when "mallon" should be translated as
> > "more than" as opposed to "rather than". I am specifically think of 2
> > Tim 3:4 where the meaning will be quite significantly different.
>
> Mike Sangrey wrote:
> > (Snip) The `H' (or) is the syntactic clue which sets up the contrast.
>
> Jay Adkins <Jadkins26438@cs.com> said:
>
> > It is interesting that Louw & Nida use two examples of MALLON as "a
> > marker of contrast indicating an alternative" and neither example
> > uses `H' as the syntactic clue which sets up the contrast.
>
> > 89.126: mallon {b} : a marker of contrast indicating an alternative
> > - `on the contrary, instead, but rather.' KAI hUMEIS PEFUSIWMENOI
> > ESTE, KAI OUXI MALLON EPENQHSATQ `you have become proud, but on the
> > contrary, should you not be exceedingly sad?' 1Cor 5:2 ; NUN DE
> > GNONTES QEON, MALLON DE GNWSQENTES hUPO QEOU `but now (that you)
> > know God, but rather, are known by God' Gala 4:9.
>
> Yes, Jay, I noticed that, too (and thanks). But I also noticed that
> in 1 Cor. 5, Paul is quite upset. Strong contrast is natural in such
> contexts. For example, let's set up a context where a man discovers
> his wife is having an affair with a someone the husband greatly
> dislikes,
>
> Why do you love him? You should really hate him.
>
> The contrast is lexical (love versus hate) and marked by the
> collocation of a question and an imperative. Notice no `but' or any
> other conjunction marking contrast. In fact, adding words, lessens
> the contrast!
>
> But, what about that word `really'? Does it, in this context, mark
> contrast indicating an alternative? Or is the contrast in the context
> comingled with the meaning of `really'?
>
> It's a tricky question because of the nature of comparison versus
> contrast: comparison has bits of contrast, contrast has bits of
> comparison. When you have a word which sets up a relationship between
> two things where the second is MORE than the first, what happens when
> the second is fundamentally different than the first?
>
> This is where Gal. 4:9 comes in. Is Paul contrasting or is he saying
> the later is comparatively better than the former? He isn't rejecting
> the former. Does MALLON bring `alternativeness' or `contrastiveness'
> to the text? What do you get from the text if you drop MALLON
> altogether? Would contrast still be there? Would alternative still
> be there?
>
> ISTM the contrast is set up in Gal. 4:9 by the inversion of love's
> direction. MALLON then adds "betterness" to the later.
>
> Those are the questions which go through my mind. I tend to think of
> MALLON as bringing a heightening sense to the text. Carl Conrad was
> right to correct me with my use of the word `superlative'. I
> overstated. What was going through my mind at the time was this sense
> of heightening or strengthening which I think MALLON brings.
>
> Also, lastly, I notice L&N note an idiom ALLA MALLON (89.125).
> Apparently, the people speaking the language felt some need to throw
> an ALLA in there in order to bring out the contrast.
>
> > With all that said, I have no answer for the question, just more
> > questions.
>
> And most certainly all the questions regarding MALLON are NOT answered
> for me either.
>
> --
> Mike Sangrey
> msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org
> Landisburg, Pa.
> "The first one last wins."
> "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."

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