Participle – Luo active feminine

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The feminine morphology of the Luo active participle
• The syntax and semantics of the genitive absolute

VocabularyVocabulary

MorphologyMorphology: Participle – Luo active feminine

• The fem Luo ptcp has 1st rather than 3rd declension endings and follows the τράπεζα pattern (see 8.3.4.1)

SyntaxSyntax: Participle – Genitive absolute

In 18.2.3.2, we introduced the genitive absolute as an example of the participle functioning as a verb. The genitive absolute is a subordinate clause that is related in some way to the main clause of the sentence. Our original example was Ἐσθίοντος τοῦ προφήτου, ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐπορεύθη πρὸς αὐτόν ‘while the prophet was eating, the teacher went to him’ where the initial subordinate clause Ἐσθίοντος τοῦ προφήτου describes what the prophet was doing while the teacher went to him. There are five noteworthy syntactic characteristics of the genitive absolute:

1. The genitive participle never has the article (e.g. *τοῦ ἐσθίοντος τοῦ προφήτου)

2. The subject of the genitive absolute always agrees with the participle in gender, case, and number (e.g. Ἐσθίοντος τοῦ προφήτου)

3. The genitive absolute clause normally (but not always) precedes the main clause

4. The subject of the genitive absolute clause is never the same as the subject of the main clause (e.g. Ἐσθίοντος τοῦ προφήτου, ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐπορεύθη πρὸς αὐτόν)

5. The participle’s subject may precede or follow it or may be implicit (like subjects of finite verbs)

SemanticsSemantics: Participle (2 – Genitive absolute)

Participle: all 7 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 18.2, Lesson 20.3, Lesson 27.1, Lesson 30.2, Lesson 36.1, Lesson 37.2

The relationship between the subordinate clause given by the genitive absolute and the main clause is underspecified. In other words, there are many different kinds of relationships that can hold. There are two main factors for determining the relationship. First, the aspect of the participle tells us whether the eventuality is still happening when the main clause eventuality occurs or whether it has finished. The Luo participle, for example, suggests that the eventuality being referred to by the participle is still occurring during the eventuality referred to in the main clause. In contrast, the Aorist participle normally describes an eventuality that occurs before the eventuality of the main verb. Second, our world-knowledge about eventualities helps to clarify the relationship between the genitive absolute and the main clause. Temporal relationships between the two clauses are common, as we saw in our example with the prophet and teacher:

NoteGenitive absolute clause:

• The servant did not have [ἔχοντος] enough to pay back the king

NoteMain clause:

• The king orders his whole family to be sold and payment made (Matt 18:25)

Because we know that selling things gives us money and the servant did not have enough, we infer that there is a causal relationship between the servant not having enough and being required to sell his family. The genitive absolute does not tell us that this relationship is causal, but our knowledge about events of selling and paying back creates this inference.