[B-Greek] "monon" - I Cor. 15:19

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Mar 29 06:16:30 EST 2007


Hi, George,

I'll try to be patient with you, and for the sake of others who may be listening in, I am going to 
explain once more the significance of word order. I encourage you to do a proper research rather 
than a superficial "short survey". There is a fairly nice and simple correlation between  the 
placement of the demonstrative and the use of stress in English. I assume you will not claim that 
stress carries no significance in English. Let me comment on the examples below to illustrate.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>


George: TAUTHi in this passage is without any marking as to significance as is ZWHi the noun it 
modifies.  I am becoming rather impatient with a practice of assigning significance to a word based 
solely and artificially upon its position in the sentence.  A short survey of the use of hOUTOS, 
hAUTH, TOUTO will illustrate the inanity of such a practice.  These passages are simply chosen in 
order excluding only those in which the demonstrative pronoun stands by itself as the subject of the 
sentence, i.e. it must modify a noun.

Mt 5.19 hOS EAN OUN LUSHi MIAN TWN ENTOLWN TOUTWN …
IL: Primary prominence on MIAN - ONE of these commandments, not "one of THESE commandments." The 
position of TOUTWN indicates that there is no contrast between THESE commandments and other 
commandments. The demonstrative is simply anaphoric, referring back to already mentioned or known 
commandments.

Mt 7.24 PAS OUN hOSTIS AKOUEI MOU TOUS LOGOUS TOUTOUS …
Primary prominence on MY - these MY words, not "THESE words" as contrasted to other words. Again, 
the demonstrative is here not contrastive but simply anaphoric, as indicated by the placement.

Mt 9.26 KAI ECHLQEN hH FHMH hAUTH … EIS hOLHN THN GHN EKEINHN
No prominence on THIS report as compared to any other report, but simply anaphoric reference - this 
report. However, there is prominence on the hOLHN - in the WHOLE of that land/region

Mt 10.23 hOTAN DE DIWKWSIN hUMAS EN THi POLEI TAUTHi …FEUGETE EIS THN hETERAN
Here there is a certain contrast, but it is not marked by the position of the demonstrative, but by 
the explicit mentioning of another city. That is why in English this is normally translated: in one 
town, flee to another. Notice that it would give a wrong focus to translate "in THIS city".
I should mention that in 1 Cor 15:19 there is a contextual contrast between the present life and 
resurrection life, but this contrast is not indicated by the placement of the demonstrative and it 
is not in focus in this particular clause.

Mt 10.42 KAI hOS AN POTISHi hENA TWN MIKRWN TOUTWN …
one of these little ones, not "one of THESE little ones". The demonstrative is anaphoric, not 
emphatic or contrastive

Mt 11.16 TINI DE hOMOIWSW THN GENEAN TAUTHN …
Again there is no emphasis on the demonstrative. It is not "THIS generation", but "this generation". 
Anaphoric reference. Now, the common translation "generation" in English is totally misleading, but 
that is another topic, which I have previously discussed under GENEA. The word means "a group of 
people bound together by having a particular shared characteristic." So, "what shal I compare such 
people to?"

Mt 12.41 EN THi KRISEI META THS GENEAS TAUTHS …
Same as above, the phrase hH GENEA hAUTH means "such people".

Mt 12.45 hOUTWS ESTAI KAI THi GENEAi TAUTHi …THi PONHRAi
Same as above, the phrase means such people, but here the characteristic is explicit in the word 
"evil", "such evil people".

Mt 13.15 EPAXUNQH GAR hH KARDIA TOU LAOU TOUTOU (quotation from LXX)
Anaphoric reference, not "THIS people" as if contrasted to another people, but "this people", that 
is "my people".

Mt 15.8 hO LAOS hOUTOS TOIS XEILESIN ME TIMAi (quotation)
Same as above

Mt 18.4 hOSTIS OUN TAPEINWSEI hEAUTON hWS TO PAIDION TOUTO …
Prominence is on "child". It is not "THIS child" as if contrasted to another child, but the child 
just mentioned.

Mt 18.6 SKANDALISHi hENA TWN MIKRWN TOUTWN TWN PISTEUONTON …
Again reference to a known entity, "these small ones who believe in me". It is not THESE small ones 
as contrasted with OTHER small ones.

The one seeming exception to this is when hOUTOS modifies PAS, e.g.

Mt 19.20 λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ νεανίσκος· πάντα ταῦτα ἐφύλαξα· LEGEI AUTWi hO NEANISKOS, "PANTA TAUTA 
EFULACA."
No exception at all. PAS is inherently emphatic and normally precedes any other attributive 
adjectives. In the few cases where the attribute does not follow PAS, then there is strong emphasis 
on that attribute.

Iver Larsen 



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