Ted: While the absence of a definite article does not imply the noun is not definite, its presence does point us to a particular object. Does a definite article ever denote anything but definiteness? I have no idea why the NIV renders it "a mountain." Most translations do translate the definite article in Mt 5:1 as "the." Paul Dixon On Sat, 14 Jul 2001 14:55:50 -0400 "Ted Mann" writes: > I know that the absence of an article in Greek does not necessarily > call for > the use of the indefinite article in translation. However, are > there > occasions when it is reasonable (or at least acceptable) to use > either the > definite or indefinite articles in translation when the Greek has > the > definite article? For example, in Mt. 5:1, I notice that the NIV > translates > ANEBH EIS TO OROS as "..he went up on a mountainside.." Does this > accurately reflect the Greek, or would the readers of the gospel > have > understood this to be "THE mountainside ("mountain," "hill," etc.)"? > > Many thanks. > > Ted > Dr. Theodore H. Mann > theomann@earthlink.net > http://home.earthlink.net/~theomann > > > --- > B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek > You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [dixonps@juno.com] > To unsubscribe, forward this message to > leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu > To subscribe, send a message to > subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu > > Dr. Paul S. Dixon, Pastor Evangelical Free Church Iowa Falls, IA http://members.aol.com/dixonps --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu