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Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:05 pm
by huilen

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ὣς ἔφατ'· αἴδετο γὰρ θαλερὸν γάμον ἐξονομῆναι
πατρὶ φίλῳ· ὁ δὲ πάντα νόει καὶ ἀμείβετο μύθῳ·
(Odyssey 6, 66-67)

Why is the particle γὰρ used here? I understand that she blushed, because she mentioned marriage to his father, but why is this fact a cause of the previous clause "ὥς ἔφατο"?
I mean, I would understand: "she stopped speaking, for she blushed...", but it says "she spoke, for she blushed...". Is there something wrong with my lecture?

Re: Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:01 pm
by Paul Derouda
The point is that in the preceding speech, Nausicaa did not mention marriage to her father. Marriage was the first thing in her mind, yet she didn't dare to speak about it.

"She spoke like that, because she was ashamed to mention marriage to her own father. Yet he understood it all and answered..."

γάρ is used to clarify why she didn't mention marriage -- because she was ashamed.

Re: Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:10 pm
by huilen
Thanks Paul, now it has much sense. I would like to observe that it also explains the imperfect of αἰδέομαι: I was reading "she blushed, she shamed", as a punctual fact, but I should read "she was ashamed", as a durative action.

Re: Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:27 pm
by huilen
Just one more question, which tense of the infinitive would I have to use if I wanted to say "she was ashamed for having mentioned marriage to his father"? Perfect maybe? Or should I leave the infinitive as it is and change the main verb αἰδέομαι to the aorist?

Re: Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:58 pm
by Paul Derouda
I think the problem is that αἰδέομαι is used in Homeric Greek for something that you don't want to do out of shame or respect, it's not used if you are ashamed for something you have already done. See Cunliffe:

http://www.tlg.uci.edu/cunliffe/#eid=22 ... rom-search

I'm not sure what verb should be used; αἰσχύνομαι seems to have the same idea of hesitation, not of regret for past actions.

Re: Question about γάρ

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:25 pm
by huilen
Oh, I was asking because I was thinking that the pretended double meaning that I was ascribing to αἰδέομαι was being desambiguated by the verbal aspect, but now I see that there is just one meaning.