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Absolute Constructions in the Gothic Bible

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

M. Metlen
M. Metlen*
Affiliation:
Loyola University
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Extract

A number of noted scholars from Jacob Grimm to Streitberg have treated this topic. The latter in his Gotisches Elementarbuch (1920) summarizes, under the corresponding heads of the syntactical part of his grammar, the results of the various investigators. I intend in this paper to make an annotation here and there to their statements. And since I have noticed that some critics waver as to where to draw the exact demarcation line, I shall start with a definition of the matter under present consideration, following in part Grimm's Deutsche Grammatik.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 1938 , pp. 631 - 644
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1938

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References

1 See under dative absolute, below.

2 As examples he refers to the elimination of one s in Mc. x.44; 2 Cor. iii.2; iv.5; 1 Thess. v.7; þ in 2 Cor. xiii.3; Philem. 14; m in 2 Thess. iii.17; 2 Tim. ii.2; n in J. vii.51; xii.42; g in Gol. ii.8, and h in Mc. vi.11; Eph v.5.

3 Grimm wanted to put into this group also Mt. viii.1 because of afar before the last imma. However, in the Greek the participle is appositive, and I think we may consider it as such also in the Gothic, as the preposition, which might conceivably be omitted, functions to stress the direction of motion, as is the case with du before certain participles.

4 Formally this could, of course, also be an abl. abs = when his head is covered, or abl. of manner = with covered head. But it is certainly not an instrumental.

5 By the way, milhmam of the gloss is to all intents and purposes a slip for milhmin (see text), probably caused by the mental anticipation of the following atgaggandam. Streitberg wants to change it to milhman, to agree with , which evidently would be correct. However, the Gothic text has milhmin, and it does not seem necessary to substitute for it the commoner form milhman, as milhmin may be an imitation of the Latin ablative after in to express motion, as for instance Bello Gallico ii.29: magni ponderis saxa et præacutas trabis in muro conlocabant. This usage is not uncommon in Latin.