Wallace_Adjectival Genitive pt. 1

Question 1

How are the genitive and accusative similar?

Answer 1

They are both cases of limitation (76)

Question 2

How are the genitive and accusative different?

Answer 2

1. Genitive: limits to kind; limits to quality; related to a noun (flesh of birds)
2. Accusative; limits to extent; limits to quantity; related to a verb (I heard a voice)

Question 3

How are the genitive and dative different?

Answer 3

1. Genitive: generally adjectival; related to a noun

2. Dative: generally adverbial; related to a verb

Question 4

According to the five case system, how is the genitive defined?

Answer 4

The case of qualification (limitation as to kind) and (occasionally) separation. (77)

Question 5

What is the similarity and difference of the genitive to an adjective?

Answer 5

1. Adjectival in force

2. More emphatic than adjective

Question 6

Define the descriptive genitive

Answer 6

1. Describes the head noun in a loose manner

2. The relationship is ambiguous

Question 7

What is important to keep in mind about the descriptive genitive?

Answer 7

1. all adjectival genitives are descriptive by their nature
2. Very few belong to this category, because they fit in a more precise category
3. This category is used when another one cannot be found

Question 8

When is a descriptive genitive more likely?

Answer 8

1. when the head noun is highly idiomatic, figurative, or informed by Semitic usage (e.g. “son of disobedience,” “root of bitterness”)

Question 9

What are the key words for descriptive genitives?

Answer 9

“characterized by,” “described by”

if this fits and none of the other uses of the genitive fits, then the genitive is probably a genitive of description

Question 10

Define possessive genitive

Answer 10

In some sense the head noun is owned by the genitive noun

Question 11

What are the key words for possessive genitive?

Answer 11

“belonging to,” “possessed by”

Question 12

Define genitive of relationship

Answer 12

indicates a familial relationship, typically the progenitor of the head noun (relatively rare; “Simon, [son] of John”)

Question 13

Define the partitive genitive

Answer 13

1. The whole of which the head noun is a part (relatively common in NT)
2. Also called “wholative” because it is more descriptive

Question 14

What are the key words for partitive genitive?

Answer 14

“which is a part of”

Question 15

How can the gen. of possession (anatomy) be differentiated from the partitive genitive?

Answer 15

1. Ask if the noun would mind greatly if the head noun were to be cut off
2. “The tail of the dog” is possessive and would object
3. “the bumper of the car” is partitive and would not object

Question 16

What other genitive is the partitive sometimes structurally identical to?

Answer 16

1. gen. of apposition (keep in mind that these are opposites; the partitive gives a part to the whole “one of them”; whereas the apposition gives a whole to the part “land of Egypt”)

Question 17

Will a head noun always be present for the partitive gen.? And what to do in this case? What other construction can represent a partitive gen.?

Answer 17

1. No
2. supply a head noun
3. sometimes, instead of a head noun, the construction is εκ + genitive (by the time of koine Greek the partitive gen. is being squeezed out)

Question 18

What are the most common types of words that are seen in partitive gen. constructions?

Answer 18

1. τις, ἕκαστος, and especially ἑις

Question 19

Define attributive genitive

Answer 19

1. an attribute or innate quality of the head substantive

2. similar to adjective, but more emphatic (“body of sin” vs. “sinful body”; very common in NT)

Question 20

What is the key to identification the attributive genitive?

Answer 20

If the noun in the genitive can be converted into an attributive adjective, then it is likely attributive (certain words are common in this construction; such as the head noun: σῶμα, and the genitive δόξης)

Question 21

What is the biggest difficulty with translating the attributive genitive?

Answer 21

Should it be active or passive force (would “man of peace” mean “peaceful man” or “peacemaking man”? would “body of death” mean “deadly body” or “dying body”? Context determines)

Question 22

Define the attributed genitive

Answer 22

1. It is the opposite of the attributive genitive

2. Here the head noun is acting as a adjective to the genitive (more rare than attributive, but not completely uncommon)

Question 23

Give an example of how the attributive could translate “body of sin” and the attributed translate “newness of life”

Answer 23

Attributive: “body of sin” = “sinful body”
Attributed: “newness of life” not “life newness” but “new life”