Apology 18a

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vir litterarum
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Apology 18a

Post by vir litterarum »

καὶ δὴ καὶ νυ̂ν του̂το ὑμω̂ν δε?ομαι δι?καιον

How would you translate the predicate adjective "dikaion" into English?

modus.irrealis
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Re: Apology 18a

Post by modus.irrealis »

I would go with "which is just", or maybe something like "a thing which is just" to rule out the possibility of it being read as a restrictive relative clause -- i.e. it doesn't mean "I ask of you this just thing" but "I ask of you this, something which is just."

I'm thinking I might call this a case of apposition.

vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

so you're saying "dikaion" is in apposition to "touto"?

modus.irrealis
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Post by modus.irrealis »

Or perhaps to the whole clause, although what difference there would be I don't know. But after thinking about it, I might also translate it as "as something just" which seems clearer to me.

vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

The only problem with that is that it does not translate well into English: "...I want this from you as something just."

This sentence does not work in English.

modus.irrealis
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Post by modus.irrealis »

Well, I wouldn't say it doesn't work, although I won't argue it sounds elegant. But in terms of a complete translation into English, I'd expect something freer, say something like "...I ask of you, and I think it is a fair request, that you allow me..." which nobody would accuse of being literal and doesn't reflect the underlying grammatical structure of the Greek.

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