τὸ χαλκῷ εἶναι

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Lavrentivs
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τὸ χαλκῷ εἶναι

Post by Lavrentivs »

Aristotle, Physics Γ 1, 201a31 sq.

To be brazen. But why is the adj. in the dative?

Whole sentence:

οὐ γὰρ τὸ αὐτὸ τὸ χαλκῷ εἶναι καὶ δυνάμει τινί [κινητῷ],

for it is not the same to be brazen and to be in some potentiality.

Or is it “in bronze”?---Is there a dativus materiae?

cb
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Re: τὸ χαλκῷ εἶναι

Post by cb »

hi, τὸ εἶναι with a dative is a common expression in aristotle. see footnote 5 here for lots of places where aristotle uses it:

http://www.doczonline.com/wp-content/up ... ive_rz.pdf

there's also an attempt in that article to analyse what type of dative it is, but to me it really doesn't matter what label you pin to it... cheers, chad

Lavrentivs
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Re: τὸ χαλκῷ εἶναι

Post by Lavrentivs »

Thanks, Chad!

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