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wta akouein

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:52 am
by Kasper
Hi all,

i've been reading Matthew lately, and repeatedly i find the phrase:

o ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω.

(hmm... i hope that will show up alright...)

i keep wondering whether this is grammatically good Greek. I'm very much a novice still, but i wonder whether there shouldn't be an article between w)=ta and a)kou/ein, particularly the genitive 'tou='.

I've checked my dutch bible which has "oren om te horen", and seems to confirm my suspicion. Similarly in the Vulgate, it reads "qui habet aures audiendi audiat", and i gather from 'audiendi' that the genitive does seem to have a place here.

any comments on this anyone?

Re: wta akouein

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:12 pm
by IreneY
I really need to buy me a grammar in English! Urgh!
Anyway, it's just fine. The infinitive of purpose (?) (that's how I always viewed it at least) doesn't need an article.

See the following examples (from this site in Greek)

Xenophon Anabasis 5.2.1 τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ (τοῦ στρατεύματος) κατέλιπε φυλάττειν τὸ στρατόπεδον
Isaeus 8.8 ἐπεὶ συνοικεῖν εἶχεν ἡλικίαν

Re: wta akouein

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:46 am
by Bert
Kasper wrote: i keep wondering whether this is grammatically good Greek. I'm very much a novice still, but i wonder whether there shouldn't be an article between w)=ta and a)kou/ein, particularly the genitive 'tou='.

I've checked my dutch bible which has "oren om te horen", and seems to confirm my suspicion.
The "om" from the Dutch is not really similar to a genitive article but just indicates purpose. Compare; waarom? daarom! The Greek the infinitive does that on its own (like Irene said.)
In English you don't really need anything in addition to the infinitive; ears to hear, but some indication of purpose can be added; ears in order to hear.

Re: wta akouein

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:24 pm
by Kasper
many thanks to you both!