Re: greek word order

On Mon, 24 Sep 2001 20:27:15 +0000, Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
wrote:

>At 7:09 pm -0700 23/9/01, Heather Rice wrote:
>>I have been curious about something for a very long
>>time.  What is the word order for ancient greek?
>>
>>Subject-verb-object?
>>
>>Verb-subject-object?
[...]
>One could, in fact, write a whole book on ancient Greek word order if one
>had the time to do the research & write it up (I have time for neither,
>alas); indeed, I suspect such tomes exist.  The trouble was that with its
>rich battery of inflexions it could be relatively free and easier with its
>word order.
>
>There is, perhaps, a tendency toward subject-object-verb; but exceptions
>are common.   Topic will be fronted (as in modern German) and an element
>will be shifted to the end for focus.
I seem to remember that while reading portions from New Testament in Greek,
I noticed that word order never sounded too odd to my Russian ear.

Which may mean that at least in late Koine the main rule was to put the
focus last, rather than to front the topic, unless it was a contastive one.

But I must check it.


Basilius

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