Paul Danove, «Distinguishing Goal and Locative Complements of New Testament Verbs of Transference.», Vol. 20 (2007) 51-66
This study develops a rigorous method for distinguishing the Goal or Locative function of dative case noun phrase and ei0j and pro/j prepositional phrase required complements of NT verbs that designate transference. The discussion examines the manner in which Greek verbs grammaticalize the event of transference and proposes a semantic feature, ±animate, which specifies whether the entity designated by the complement is or is not attributed with the characteristics of a living being. An investigation of all occurrences of the dative case, ei0j, and pro/j required verbal complements then permits a distinction in their function as either Goal or Locative based on their animacy. The study concludes with an investigation of the constraints that these verbs place on the interpretation of their required complements.
54 Paul Danove
Loc. *The Father…has given all things in his hand (John 3,35)
ὠπατὴÏ…πάντα δέδωκεν á¼Î½ τῇ χειÏὶ αá½Ï„οῦ.
The translation of John 3,35 is grammatical in English only if “in
his hand†is interpreted to specify the locale of either the Father or all
things at the initiation of the action of giving. This is clearly in contrast
to its Greek function of specifying the abiding locale of all things at the
termination of transference. Maintaining the translation “giveâ€, however,
has exegetical significance, because “giveâ€, like δίδωμι, has the implica-
tion that the Agent transfers to the Locative entity a legal or ethical right
of disposal over the Theme. Maintaining the Locative function also is
exegetically significant because the Son receives an enduring right of
disposal over all things. The study maintains the same verb with such
“difficult†Locatives by using a paraphrase with five elements: (1) the ver-
bal subject; (2) the English verb that best translates the Greek verb in its
Goal usage; (3) the word “andâ€; (4) a simple English verb that designates
transference terminating in a Locative usage (“set†or “putâ€); and (5) all
other verbal complements. The paraphrase places the words not present
in the Greek text in brackets, [ ]:
The father…has given [and set] all things in his hand (John 3,35)
This translation captures all of the grammatical information in the
Greek clause by using the coordination capacities of “andâ€, which permit
the retrieval of the Theme and Goal complements of “give†from the
Theme and Locative complements of “setâ€.
2. The Feature, ±Animate
Standard Greek Grammars frequently employ the distinctions, per-
sons / things or personal / impersonal, to describe the semantic function
and syntactic case of prepositional and verbal complements. For example,
Smyth’s discussion of the use of παÏá½± with genitive complements begins
“usually coming or proceeding from a personâ€6. Again, his discussion
of ἀκούω (hear) states, “To hear a thing is usually ἀκούειν τι, when the
things heard is something definite and when the meaning is simply hear,
not listen toâ€7. These distinctions appeal to a semantic feature in Greek
H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (Cambridge 1959) 381.
6
H.W. Smyth, Greek Series for Colleges and Schools (New York 1916) 322; F. Blass,
7
A. Debrunner and R.W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature (Chicago 1961) 95; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek Illustrated by Exam-
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