Re: USAGE: Initial "and" (was Re: The Babel Text)

--- Trebor Jung <treborjung@...> wrote:
> Merhaba!
>
> Mark J. Reed wrote:
>
> "Speaking of the Babel text - the English begins
> with the word "and", which seems particularly common
> in Biblical translations and, in general, verse:
>
> "And all the land was one language and few words.
>
> "What exactly does the "and" signify here?  I'm a
> native English speaker, but I still don't really
> know.  It's obviously not joining anything together,
> really.  Logically, it seems to be doing nothing at
> all, and yet there's a subtle at least connoative
> difference between the anded and andless versions.
>
> Maybe the anded version means something like, '[And
> so,] all the land was one language and few words'.
> Maybe there's something before this part of the
> Bible about language or about the people of the
> land, and this part is just continuing with the
> story.
> --Trebor
Chapter 10 is a list of all the tribes of peoples
decended from Noah and his sons, so it tells how the
earth was repopulated after the Flood.  The "and" at
the beginning of the Babel story in chapter 11 is
connecting the two stories with 11 giving a more
detailed acount of what happened than just a list of
decendants as in 10.  The NIV translators used "Now"
rather than "And" to start chapter 11.  I believe
you'll find and used in this manner quite a bit in
Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton, Bunyan and other Early
Modern English writers.  It's one of many features in
the English language which has changed since those
days, but persists in written texts of the period.

Adam

=====
Indjindrud edjuebu ul Ozias ad ul Jotam. Indjindrud edjuebu ul Jotam ad ul Acaz.
Indjindrud edjuebu ul Acaz ad ul Ezecias. Indjindrud edjuebu ul Ezecias ad ul
Manases. Indjindrud edjuebu ul Manases ad ul Amos. Indjindrud edjuebu ul Amos
ad ul Josias.

Machu 1:9-10

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