Notes for the Greek Preposition Workshop, on June 30th through July 1st.

Below are two examples. The first we label Source (material) and the second we label Source (reflexive).

(1) Source (material)
καὶ ποιήσας φραγέλλιον ἐκ σχοινίων πάντας ἐξέβαλεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ
And making a whip out of cords he drove them all from the temple.
Landmark (LM): σχοινίων (cords)
Trajector (TR): φραγέλλιον (whip)

(2) Source (reflexive)
ὁ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ·
The one who speaks for himself seeks his own glory (John 7:18).
Landmark (LM): ἑαυτοῦ (himself)
Trajector (TR): ὁ … λαλῶν (the one who speaks)

These two uses are not intuitively similar, but they share striking features. Both the Source (material) & Source (reflexive) senses involve an an element of identification of the TR with the LM.  For the Source (material) uses, the TR emerges from the LM changed: the cords are the source of the whip.* It is still made up of the same chemical composition but it has been shaped into something new. Other examples include “a crown made of thorns” (John 19:2).

In the case of the Source (reflexive) uses, the TR & LM are again identified with one another, except this involves animate participants rather than inanimate objects. For these uses, the TR identifies himself as the source of the action (i.e. I speak from myself, I lay this down from myself).

*In some cases for the Source Material use, the TR is simply identified with the LM (i.e. the inhabited world is made up of men and beasts, as in Daniel 2:38). Yet, even here, the culture presumes an origin story where man and beast were made from the material of the earth.

 

 

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