Question on the use of reflexive vs possessive

[welivetotreadonkings]

Hello! I’ve noticed the workbook I’ve been going through will often use the reflexive pronoun where I’d intuitively think it to be a possessive. Example:

βούλομαι αὐτὸν ἀεὶ κατέχειν καὶ πόσιν ἐμαυτῇ ποιεῖν.


In this sentence, Calypso is saying she wants to make Odysseus her husband. Is there a reason the reflexive is used rather than ἐμήν ? Am I misunderstanding something about the use of the possessives?

Thanks

[mwh]

Greek doesn’t use possessive adjectives as much as English, and when it does, they tend to be quite emphatic (just as εγώ is), e.g. ταυτα τἀμά “this is my stuff” or ὁ πους ὁ εμος μειζων εστιν η ὁ σός “my foot’s bigger than yours.”

Here we have βουλομαι αυτον … πόσιν ἐμαυτῇ ποιεῖν, lit. “ to make him husband for myself.” Instead of ἐμαυτῇ we might have had εμον or τον εμον (“ to make him my husband”). The difference is slight, but the use of the dative is very common.

[welivetotreadonkings]

Thanks, this makes a lot of sense! Appreciate it.

Greek doesn’t use possessive adjectives as much as English, and when it does, they tend to be quite emphatic (just as εγώ is), e.g. ταυτα τἀμά “this is my stuff” or ὁ πους ὁ εμος μειζων εστιν η ὁ σός “my foot’s bigger than yours.”

Here we have βουλομαι αυτον … πόσιν ἐμαυτῇ ποιεῖν, lit. “ to make him husband for myself.” Instead of ἐμαυτῇ we might have had εμον or τον εμον (“ to make him my husband”). The difference is slight, but the use of the dative is very common.