Re: OT: Latin subject-verb agreement

2007/12/13, David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>:
>
> You know, there's kind of a similar phenomenon in English
> regarding relative clauses.  Consider:
>
> I, who am a captain, prefer to wear briefs.
> ?*I, who is a captain, prefer to wear briefs.
>
> I'd say that's pretty straightforward, but then...
>
> ?!?*You can give the book to me, who am a captain.
> ?You can give the book to me, who is a captain.
I suddenly remembered an old translation of John 4:9:

In Dutch (Statenvertaling, 1635):

9a. Zo zeide dan de Samaritaanse vrouw tot Hem: Hoe begeert Gij,
Die een Jood zijt, van mij te drinken, die een Samaritaanse
vrouw ben?

Note "die ... ben" (who ... am).

This is apparently in the King James Version:

9a. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou,
being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

But my guess is that this translation was primarily intended to
give as accurate a translation as possible. It probably didn't
reflect actual usage in the time the translation was written.

Rene

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