Wallace_Adjectival Genitive pt. 1

Question 1

Define the descriptive genitive

Answer 1

1. Describes the head noun in a loose manner

2. The relationship is ambiguous

Question 2

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

Answer 2

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 3

When is a descriptive genitive more likely?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What are the key words for descriptive genitives?

Answer 4

“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 5

Define the partitive genitive

Answer 5

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 6

What are the key words for partitive genitive?

Answer 6

“which is a part of”

Question 7

What other genitive is the partitive sometimes structurally identical to?

Answer 7

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 8

Define attributive genitive

Answer 8

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 9

What is the key to identification the attributive genitive?

Answer 9

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 10

Define the attributed genitive

Answer 10

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 11

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

Answer 11

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