Ran into this :
This seems to have puzzled translators and grammarians a good bit. There are several points at issue.“Ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· σὺ τίς εἶ; εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν;” (Ἰωάννην 8·25 GNT28-T)
https://accordance.bible/link/read/GNT28-T#John_8:25
1. What exactly is τὴν ἀρχὴν doing ? Opinions vary little here and most go with something rather akin to ἐξ ἀρχῆς/ἀπ' ἀρχῆς though BDAG says
This is of course is odd in that John uses ἐν ἀρχῇ, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἐξ ἀρχῆς elsewhere.—τὴν ἀ. J 8:25, as nearly all the Gk. fathers understood it, is emphatically used adverbially=ὅλως at all (Plut., Mor. 115b; Dio Chrys. 10 [11], 12; 14 [31], 5; 133; Lucian, Eunuch. 6 al.; Ps.-Lucian, Salt. 3; POxy 472, 17 [c. 130 AD]; Philo, Spec. Leg. 3, 121; Jos., Ant. 1, 100; 15, 235 al.;
BDAG, s.v. “ἀρχή,” 138.
https://accordance.bible/link/read/BDAG#6853
Current thought seems to be that this is a to be interpreted adverbially as since/from the beginning though the NRSV holds to a ὅλως interpretation.
2. ὃ τι there is debate here and textual variation. ὅτι seems unlikely though and some variation on ὅστις seems better but to me a little unnecessary. Perhaps this combined with the adverbial καὶ indicates some mild exasperation. Why are you continuing to ask this when I have already told you ?
3. Is it a question or a statement ? Here there is a bunch of variation in the Greek MS, though the NA derivatives and the SBL all treat it as a question, which perhaps makes sense if the sense is "what have I been telling you since the beginning ?!".
4. Why is λαλῶ rather than ἐλαλοῦν ? I guess we could go with historical present, But perhaps again it is "what am I always telling you, from the first ?"
If anyone has anything to offer on any of these points, or any others, for me to consider or investigate I would be grateful.
Thx
D