09-15-2008, 10:08 PM
Shlama Akhi Mike,
Casus Pendens (Latin for "a hanging case") is found infrequently in classical Greek literature, where it is mainly used for a dramatic effect. But it is much more frequent in Hebrew and Aramaic, and Arabic (all Semitic literature for that matter.)
You will never find a grammatical feature that is exclusively Semitic, or exclusively Indo-European. With few exceptions, every language has a bit of all known grammatical constructions. The phenomenon of grammatical borrowing becomes more frequent as different cultures come into contact. For instance, in some parts of the Canada you will find many English grammatical structures that are common to French.
It's not that Casus Pendens was unknown in Greek, it's that it's not the norm. It is very much a standard part of Semitic grammar, where unlike classical Greek which used it for effect, it is the standard way of speaking.
An Aramaic speaker when trying to learn an Indo-European language like English, or Greek, is immediately struck by a number of differences from his normal speech. The impropriety, or redundancy, of Casus Pendens is one of them. While OK for a play for dramatic effect, people will become quickly tired of your speech in English if it is loaded with this particular grammatical feature.
In addition to Casus Pendens, there are several more grammatical structures within Semitic syntax that, although not completely foreign to Indo-European languages, nevertheless are found far more frequently and are considered to be more "standard" in Semitic tongues. I could write a thread with examples of each kind, but I'll briefly list a few types:
[*] Order of Verbs. The typical Semitic sentence structure is Verb-Subject-Object. "Healed Jesus the paralytic." Indo-European languages, on the other hand, much more frequently employ the Subject-Verb-Object, "Jesus Healed the paralytic", or the Object-Verb-Subject, "The paralytic was healed by Jesus." If you read Greek, read the Magnificat (Luke 1:51-55), the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and the creedal hymn of 1Timothy 3:16. You will be amazed at how often in the GNT this is found, as often as it is found in the LXX (a literal translation.)
[*] Asyndeton (Greek ???????????????????), is another common grammatical structure in Semitic languages. It is where conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. "I came, I saw, I conquered" is an example in Latin. But unlike Indo-European speech, this is a common feature in Semitic tongues.
Like Causus Pendens, Asyndeton was also infrequently used in classical Greek literature for dramatic effect. But only orally, and was not written. For instance, Aristotle said:
If you'd like, read the Greek version of Acts 20:17-35, where Paul is speaking to the Ephesian Church elders. John 5:3. Matthew 15:19. There are lots of examples in almost every book of the Greek NT.
[*] Parataxis (from the Greek for "side-by-side") is another intolerable grammatical feature found in the Greek LXX and NT. But it is very common in Semitic. It literally involves placing many verbal clauses side-by-side and connecting the clauses with a number of conjuctions ("and", "or"). In Indo-European languages, this redundancy is horrendous.
For a good example, see Mark 10:33-34:
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and (kai) the Son of Man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and (kai) they will condemn him to death, and (kai) they will deliver him up to the Gentiles, and (kai) they will mock him and (kai) spit upon him and (kai) scourge him and (kai) kill him, and (kai) three days later he will rise again."
Here Greek style would subordinate one or more of these clauses by means of participles, or relative clauses.
There are a lot of others that I can list, but I have to run for now. I will treat them each separately in their own threads in the near future. These Semitic Grammatical features include things like:
[*] Redundant use of pronouns (eg, Mark 7:25 "A woman whose little daughter of her had an unclean spirit.")
[*] Redundant use of prepositions ("and from....and from.....and from", eg, Mark 3:7-8 "a great crowd followed from Galilee and from Judea")
[*] The use of the positive adjective for the comparative or superlative (eg, John 2:10, "You have kept the best (literally 'good') wine until now." In Semitic languages, with the exception of Arabic, there are no special forms for the comparative and superlative adjectives (such as "bigger," "biggest"). Instead, the positive adjective is used, "big.")
[*] Future indicative used as an imperative (eg, "Whoever wants to be first, he must be the very last,")
[*] Verb and cognate noun expressing emphasis (eg, "they feared a great fear", "with desire I have desired")
[*] Pleonasms, or "fillers." (eg, "he lifted up his eyes and saw")
+Shamasha
Casus Pendens (Latin for "a hanging case") is found infrequently in classical Greek literature, where it is mainly used for a dramatic effect. But it is much more frequent in Hebrew and Aramaic, and Arabic (all Semitic literature for that matter.)
You will never find a grammatical feature that is exclusively Semitic, or exclusively Indo-European. With few exceptions, every language has a bit of all known grammatical constructions. The phenomenon of grammatical borrowing becomes more frequent as different cultures come into contact. For instance, in some parts of the Canada you will find many English grammatical structures that are common to French.
It's not that Casus Pendens was unknown in Greek, it's that it's not the norm. It is very much a standard part of Semitic grammar, where unlike classical Greek which used it for effect, it is the standard way of speaking.
An Aramaic speaker when trying to learn an Indo-European language like English, or Greek, is immediately struck by a number of differences from his normal speech. The impropriety, or redundancy, of Casus Pendens is one of them. While OK for a play for dramatic effect, people will become quickly tired of your speech in English if it is loaded with this particular grammatical feature.
In addition to Casus Pendens, there are several more grammatical structures within Semitic syntax that, although not completely foreign to Indo-European languages, nevertheless are found far more frequently and are considered to be more "standard" in Semitic tongues. I could write a thread with examples of each kind, but I'll briefly list a few types:
[*] Order of Verbs. The typical Semitic sentence structure is Verb-Subject-Object. "Healed Jesus the paralytic." Indo-European languages, on the other hand, much more frequently employ the Subject-Verb-Object, "Jesus Healed the paralytic", or the Object-Verb-Subject, "The paralytic was healed by Jesus." If you read Greek, read the Magnificat (Luke 1:51-55), the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and the creedal hymn of 1Timothy 3:16. You will be amazed at how often in the GNT this is found, as often as it is found in the LXX (a literal translation.)
[*] Asyndeton (Greek ???????????????????), is another common grammatical structure in Semitic languages. It is where conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. "I came, I saw, I conquered" is an example in Latin. But unlike Indo-European speech, this is a common feature in Semitic tongues.
Like Causus Pendens, Asyndeton was also infrequently used in classical Greek literature for dramatic effect. But only orally, and was not written. For instance, Aristotle said:
Quote:"Thus strings of unconnected words, and constant repetitions of words and phrases, are very properly condemned in written speeches: but not in spoken speeches ??? speakers use them freely, for they have a dramatic effect. In this repetition there must be variety of tone, paving the way, as it were, to dramatic effect; e.g. 'This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely.'" Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book III, Chapter 12.
If you'd like, read the Greek version of Acts 20:17-35, where Paul is speaking to the Ephesian Church elders. John 5:3. Matthew 15:19. There are lots of examples in almost every book of the Greek NT.
[*] Parataxis (from the Greek for "side-by-side") is another intolerable grammatical feature found in the Greek LXX and NT. But it is very common in Semitic. It literally involves placing many verbal clauses side-by-side and connecting the clauses with a number of conjuctions ("and", "or"). In Indo-European languages, this redundancy is horrendous.
For a good example, see Mark 10:33-34:
"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and (kai) the Son of Man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and (kai) they will condemn him to death, and (kai) they will deliver him up to the Gentiles, and (kai) they will mock him and (kai) spit upon him and (kai) scourge him and (kai) kill him, and (kai) three days later he will rise again."
Here Greek style would subordinate one or more of these clauses by means of participles, or relative clauses.
There are a lot of others that I can list, but I have to run for now. I will treat them each separately in their own threads in the near future. These Semitic Grammatical features include things like:
[*] Redundant use of pronouns (eg, Mark 7:25 "A woman whose little daughter of her had an unclean spirit.")
[*] Redundant use of prepositions ("and from....and from.....and from", eg, Mark 3:7-8 "a great crowd followed from Galilee and from Judea")
[*] The use of the positive adjective for the comparative or superlative (eg, John 2:10, "You have kept the best (literally 'good') wine until now." In Semitic languages, with the exception of Arabic, there are no special forms for the comparative and superlative adjectives (such as "bigger," "biggest"). Instead, the positive adjective is used, "big.")
[*] Future indicative used as an imperative (eg, "Whoever wants to be first, he must be the very last,")
[*] Verb and cognate noun expressing emphasis (eg, "they feared a great fear", "with desire I have desired")
[*] Pleonasms, or "fillers." (eg, "he lifted up his eyes and saw")
+Shamasha