of course

Greek Learning Greek
1

Hello all,

I’m learning Greek with the OU, and JACT Reading Greek. Can someone explain why
pOs gar ou;
is followed by the interrogative semi-colon. It’s not really a question, is it? More a sort of “certe” in Latin - adverb

Thanks for any help,

Paul

2

I’m learning Greek with the OU, and JACT Reading Greek. Can
> someone explain why
> pOs gar ou;
> is followed by the interrogative semi-colon. It’s not really a
> question, is it? More a sort of “certe” in Latin - adverb

It is not at all like ‘certe’, actually. It’s a shame most beginners’ books don’t explain these things more carefully. While ‘of course’ is the sense of this phrase, it really means “for how not?”

A: Are all men mortal?
B: pOs gar ou? [Yes,] for how not?

So it’s sort of a rhetorical “how else could it be” question, with the same sort of sense we use ‘of course’ as in English. So even though this phrase is sort of stereotyped, it still gets the punctuation of a question.

–
wm