Interesting use of ἐκτός

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scirocco21
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Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 5:22 pm

Interesting use of ἐκτός

Post by scirocco21 »

Dear all,

I stumbled across an interesting use of ἐκτός recently, and was wondering how best to turn it into English. The sentence is very short; for context, I also give what precedes it:

ὁ δὲ θυμὸς περιόριστον ἔχει τέλος ἀντιλυπῆσαι τὸν λυπήσαντα·

"But anger has the definite goal of causing harm to the person who has caused harm."

This is followed by:

ὁ γὰρ λυπήσας ἐκτός.

I am tempted to read this as: 'Because once anger has caused harm it departs [from the soul?]', but I'm not sure whether ἐκτός can be read this way. From the context, I think ὁ takes up θυμὸς not τὸν λυπήσαντα. In any case I would love to hear your views on this pithy little phrase.

Best wishes for 2016!

mwh
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 4811
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:34 am

Re: Interesting use of ἐκτός

Post by mwh »

This evidently belongs in a larger context where it would make more sense. ὁ must go with λυπήσας, not θυμος. As it stands it means “for the person who caused harm is outside”—outside of the matter under discussion, perhaps? If so, we could say “extrinsic.”

And a Happy New Year to you!

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