Adjective – Compound adjectives

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology of compound adjectives
• The intersective and subsective interpretations of adjectives

VocabularyVocabulary

MorphologyMorphology: Adjective – Compound adjectives

• Compound adjectives are made up of two or more morphemes, e.g. εὔσπλαγχνος is composed of εὖ and σπλάγχνον.
• – masc and fem forms use 2nd declension masc endings, and neut forms use 2nd declension neut endings.
• The accenting is regressive.

SemanticsSemantics: Adjective (2 – Intersective and subsective readings)

Adjective: all 2 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 17.3

In Semantics A, we introduced the distinction between intersective and subsective readings of adjectives. The intersective reading of Rachel is a beautiful dancer is that Rachel is both a beautiful person and she is a dancer, but nothing is said about the quality of her dancing, and the subsective reading is that Rachel’s dancing is beautiful, but nothing is said about how she looks as a person. The hallmark of this interpretation is that the adjective may either modify a particular property of a person or the person as a whole. Since this ambiguity is syntactic in nature, it is found in Greek as well:

Is Jesus saying that he is a good person who happens to be a shepherd (the intersective reading) or that he is good at being a shepherd (the subsective reading)? In the context, Jesus contrasts himself with a hired person who would abandon the sheep when a wolf comes. This person is bad at being a shepherd, since he does not adequately take care of the sheep. Jesus, on the other hand, is good at being a shepherd, since he takes care of the sheep. The subsective reading is, then, the more likely reading here. Jesus is not calling himself a good person and a shepherd; he is calling himself a good shepherd, or one who is good at performing the task of shepherding.