I'm having a discussion with someone about the use of ἐφ' ᾧ. I've used it in the opening phrases of the song "Never Gonna Stop" as the beginning of several lines for "For the ...". Mark (in the email below questions the usage). I have looked up passages in the TLG database using Diogenes and have found that most of the usages of ἐφ' ᾧ are followed by complete sentences, but some are not. In the following lines 1, 4, 5 are all lines which the singer/reader must fill in the blank - I've listed the words they should fill in in parentheses. Line 2 is in the predicate position, line 3 is a complete sentence.
(1) ἐφ' ᾧ τὸ καλὸν τὸ πεφαμμένον (ἦν)
(2) ἐφ' ᾧ τὰ μυστήρια ἄγνωστα
(3) ἐφ' ᾧ τὰς δυναμεῖς εἴδαμεν
σε ἐπαινοῦμεν (Κύριε).
(4) ἐφ' ᾧ ὁ τῆς ἀγάπης σου λόγος (ἐδηλώθη)
(5) ἐφ' ᾧ τὸ θαῦμα σου αἶματος (ὤφθην ἡμῖν)
διότι καθαρίζει τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν
οἰὸν ὠς ἐμέ.
English:
For Your beauty that's been shown
For Your mysteries unknown
For the miracles we've seen
We praise You Lord
For the story of Your love
For the wonder of Your blood
How it makes the sinner clean
Someone like me
The song can be found at
http://www.letsreadgreek.com/songs/neve ... nastop.htm
Is this an incorrect usage of ἐφ' ᾧ?
Louis
email correspondence as follows
----------------------------
(From Mark)
Now you've got me curious to see what others of the list would think, but
it still seems wrong to me. In all the NT passages you cited EP' hWi seems
to be essentially a conjuction, linking a verbal phrase, not a preposition used
directly with a noun. I still think hUPER is what is needed, though you would
have to put all those nouns in the gen, which may throw off your rhythm. Phil
4:10 may be preposition, though, so your usage may be right. I'm just not sure.
I checked out that you-tube. Glad to know that there are people out there
interested in koine that can do stuff like that. I expect some very good
video, not just audio stuff to soon be available.
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, Louis Sorenson <
llsorenson@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Louis Sorenson <
llsorenson@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Song: Never Gonna Stop
To: lightmanmark
Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009, 4:50 PM
ἐφ' ᾧ = "for the reason that" Ro 5.12; 2 Cor 5:4; Phil 3:12; (and 4:10?); See Blass-De-Brunner §232(2) and 294(4). Citation as follows:
"There are in addition fixed phrases like ἀνθ' ὧν = ἀντὶ τούτων ότι, ἐφ' ᾧ = ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὅτι, διότι = διὰ τοῦτο , further ἐν ᾧ, ἐν οἷς, ἀφ' οὗ, μέχρις οὗ, etc. ἐφ' ὅσον Mt 25:40; Barn 4..11, 17.1
I struggled over using it and had the choice of ἐπί, ἐπεί, ὅτι, etc., or the simple dative. Ιt seems that ἐφ' ᾧ is a conjunction able to introduce a dependent sentence. It is kind of a contraction (circumlocution) and means "for the fact that". It fit the meanings of all sentences and supports multiple constructions. It also seems poetic, and worked well. Am I correct in its usage?. I'm not sure.
Louis