Pronoun – ὅστις

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology and syntax-semantics of the indefinite relative pronoun ὅστις

VocabularyVocabulary

MorphologyMorphology: Pronoun – ὅστις

• The indefinite relative pronoun is formed by combining the respective forms of ὅς and τις
• All forms in the NT are in nom case except for the genitive ὅτου (found 5 times)

SyntaxSyntax-Semantics: Pronoun – ὅστις

Although Greek’s indefinite relative pronoun ὅστις can sometimes be translated with English’s indefinite relative pronoun ‘whoever’, the two do not have the same range of meaning. In its most basic function, it is used to refer to an unspecific person or thing:

There is no specific person that is being referred to by ὅστις here, and because the action described by the verb is hypothetical as well, ἄν is also used (the two commonly go together). It doesn’t matter who it is that would deny Jesus–that person will be denied by him. Because the person or thing being referred to in this use includes whoever or whatever fits the description, ὅστις is often used in things like parables, which refer to hypothetical people. This use is not limited to parables, of course; it can be found in any context where a description of a person is referred to rather than a specific known individual.

In other uses, ὅστις is used to draw attention to the person who fits the description in the relative clause and to negate alternatives. In this construction, you have an initial ὅστις clause followed by a pronoun, either αὐτός or οὗτος, that refers back to the first ‘whoever’:

In this kind of construction, there is an implicit negation, and this is also evident in the context. It is not those who are related to Jesus by birth that are his family–it is those who do his father’s will. Whoever fits the description Jesus gives, and only those people, are his true family.

Sometimes the plural οἵτινες is used with καί to add an additional group or description of a group that is counter to expectation:

In this case, ‘even whoever pierced him’ mentions a specific group within the group referred to by ‘every eye’, and this sub-group is singled out because them seeing Jesus again is contrary to their expectations.

At other times ὅστις functions very similarly to the regular relative pronoun, particularly when it is modifying a specific individual:

The ‘city of David’ is a specific individual being referred to and is modified by the relative clause beginning with ἥτις. A careful examination of these kinds of clauses reveals a pattern: ὅστις can only be used to modify a specific individual if it introduces a nonrestrictive relative clause. This is different from ὅς which allows for restrictive relative clauses and can be used to help identify the referent (see 25.3.3.2).

Finally, the genitive ὅτου is found 5 times in the NT combining every time with ἕως and normally referring to a future eventuality:

Jesus says that he will not eat the Passover until it is fulfilled, whenever that happens to be in the future.