The Greek Article - A Functional Grammar of ὁ-items in the Greek New Testament with Special Emphasis on the Greek Article

297 Pages·2016·1.42 MB·English

by  Ronald D. Peters

The Greek Article
Linguistic Biblical Studies
Series Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College
Hamilton, Ontario
VOLUME 9
This series, Linguistic Biblical Studies, is dedicated to the
development and promotion of linguistically informed
study of the Bible in its original languages. Biblical studies
has greatly benefited from modern theoretical and applied
linguistics, but stands poised to benefit from further
integration of the two fields of study. Most linguistics has
studied contemporary languages, and attempts to apply
linguistic methods to study of ancient languages requires
systematic re-assessment of their approaches. This series
is designed to address such challenges, by providing a
venue for linguistically based analysis of the languages
of the Bible. As a result, monograph-length studies and
collections of essays in the major areas of linguistics, such
as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis and
text linguistics, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics,
comparative linguistics, and the like, will be encouraged,
and any theoretical linguistic approach will be considered,
both formal and functional. Primary consideration is given
to the Greek of the New and Old Testaments and of other
relevant ancient authors, but studies in Hebrew, Coptic, and
other related languages will be entertained as appropriate.
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/lbs
The Greek Article
A Functional Grammar of ὁ-items in the Greek
New Testament with Special Emphasis on the
Greek Article
By
Ronald D. Peters
LEiDEN • BOSTON
2014
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peters, Ronald D.
 The Greek article : a functional grammar of o-items in the Greek New Testament with special
emphasis on the Greek article / by Ronald D. Peters.
  pages cm. — (Linguistic Biblical studies, iSSN 1877-7554 ; volume 9)
 includes bibliographical references and index.
 iSBN 978-90-04-25722-1 (hardback : acid-free paper) — iSBN 978-90-04-26231-7 (e-book) 1. Greek
language, Biblical—Article. 2. Greek language, Biblical—Grammar. 3. Bible. New Testament.
Greek. i. Title.
 PA844.P48 2014
 487’.4—dc23
2013040381
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters
covering Latin, iPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface.
iSSN 1877-7554
iSBN 978-90-04-25722-1 (hardback)
iSBN 978-90-04-26231-7 (e-book)
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For Suzanne

CONTENTS
introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
1 Historical Overview  ................................................................................. 5
1. The Article in Ancient Greek Writings  ....................................... 5
2. The influence of German Scholarship  ......................................... 11
3. The Article in Classical Greek Grammars  .................................. 14
4 . The Article in intermediate and Advanced Biblical
Greek Grammars  ................................................................................ 20
5. The Article in Beginning Biblical Greek Grammars  ................ 39
6. Monographs on the Greek Article  ................................................ 46
7. Specialized Studies on the Greek Article .................................... 52
8. The State of Current Research  ....................................................... 66
2 The Common Function of the Article and Relative Pronouns:
Methodology  .............................................................................................. 69
1. The Semantic Function of ὁ-items  ................................................ 70
2. The Discourse Function of ὁ-items  ............................................... 77
3. Selection and Organization of Sample Texts  ............................ 81
3 Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses  .................................. 83
1. introduction  ......................................................................................... 83
2. Defining Relative Clauses  ................................................................ 84
3. Non-defining Relative Clauses  ....................................................... 115
4. Conclusion  ............................................................................................ 121
4 Relative Clauses as the Head of a Nominal Group  ........................ 123
1. The Relative Clause as Subject or Object  ................................... 125
2. Articular Participial Clauses as Relative Clauses ...................... 130
3. Articular Participial Clauses as Subject or Complement  ....... 137
4. Conclusion  ............................................................................................ 150
5 ὁ-items in μὲν . . . δὲ Structures  ............................................................. 151
1. The Relative Pronoun in ὃς μὲν . . . ὃς δὲ Structures  ................. 153
2 . The Article in ὁ μὲν . . . ὁ δὲ Structures  ......................................... 163
3. independent ὁ μὲν and ὁ δὲ Structures  ........................................ 172
4. Conclusion  ............................................................................................ 178
viii contents
6 The Function of the Article Defined  ................................................ 179
1. The Function of the Article as a ὁ-item  ..................................... 180
2. How the Article does not Function  ............................................ 181
3. The Semantic Function of the Article  ....................................... 184
4. The Discourse Function of the Article  ...................................... 187
5. Conclusion  .......................................................................................... 191
7 The Article with individual Parts of Speech  .................................. 193
1. The Article with Participles  .......................................................... 194
2. The Article with Adjectives  ........................................................... 197
3. The Article with Adverbs  ............................................................... 201
4. The Article with Numerals  ............................................................ 204
5. The Article with Particles  .............................................................. 206
6. The Article with infinitives  ........................................................... 207
7. Conclusion  .......................................................................................... 211
8 The Article with Groups ....................................................................... 213
1. The Article with a Genitive Group  ............................................. 213
2. The Article with Prepositional Groups  ...................................... 219
3. Conclusion  .......................................................................................... 225
9 The Article with Nouns  ......................................................................... 226
1. Description of the Article’s Function  ......................................... 226
2. The Article with Nouns  .................................................................. 229
3. The Article with Proper Nouns  .................................................... 247
4. Conclusion  .......................................................................................... 252
10 The Article as a Structural Element  ................................................. 253
1. Definers and Group Structures  .................................................... 254
2. Qualifiers and Group Structures  .................................................. 259
3. Prepositional Groups and Group Structures  ............................ 264
4. Complex Nominal Group Structures  .......................................... 266
5. Conclusion  .......................................................................................... 270
11 Conclusion  ................................................................................................ 271
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 275
index of Ancient Authors  ............................................................................. 281
index of Modern Authors  ............................................................................. 282
Scripture index  ................................................................................................ 284
IntroductIon
to date, the first and only comprehensive grammar of the Greek article
was thomas Fanshaw Middleton’s The Doctrine of the Greek Article, pub-
lished in 1828. nearly two centuries later, it is plain to see that our under-
standing of the article’s function has advanced significantly. At its most
fundamental level, modern grammarians have been forced to concede,
contrary to their predecessors, that the Greek article does not operate in a
manner that is analogous to the English definite article. definiteness and
indefiniteness are not established in Greek by the presence or absence of
the article. despite this recognition, grammatical treatments of the Greek
article continue to operate on analogy with the English definite article.
though they qualify their explanations by stating that the two articles
function differently, they proceed by beginning with the translation
equivalent the, then explain the Greek article’s function as either confor-
mity to or deviation from this norm. Since Middleton, no author has taken
up the task of producing a comprehensive grammar of the Greek article
based exclusively on descriptions derived from observations of its usage
in Koine Greek.
one might question the necessity of expending so much labour upon
what may be perceived as a relatively insignificant element of language.
Indeed, what is at stake? to that question I would respond, a great deal.
While scholarship has made great strides in recognizing what the Greek
article does not do, there has yet to be a definitive attempt to address
what it does do. Additionally, the methodologies employed are demon-
strably inadequate. As a result, there are ramifications that impact impor-
tant matters involving both translation and exegesis, both of which affect
christian theology and practice. to this day, scholars continue to appeal
to the presence or absence of the article as definitive regarding matters of
translation and theology. this may be illustrated in a recent article in The
Bible Translator. In this article, clint tibbs addresses the question of when
the phrases ἅγιον πνεῦμα, τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα and τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον should be
translated “the Holy Spirit,” “holy spirit,” or “a holy spirit.” Going back to
Athanasius of Alexandria, the answer to this question was determined in
no small part by the presence or absence of the article.1 As he attempts to
1 tibbs, “the Holy Spirit,” 153. this is the first of two articles tibbs has published in The
Bible Translator on this topic. the thesis he presents is continued in his second article,