Steven Avery
Administrator
NOTES:
Check work done on this on 1 Timothy 3:16 (done, it is mostly a different study, although it would be nice to keep them in the same mix)
=========
constructio ad sensum
constructio ad synesis
constructio kata synesins
sense figure
sense construction
„Konstruktion auf den Sinn hin“, auch Constructio kata synesin, Synesis oder Synese are terms occasionally used instead of constructio ad sensum.
==================================================
Daniel Wallace Summary - context - Greek Grammar and the Personality of the Holy Spirit
Since the purpose here was specialized, not to look at grammar in general and not to defend the CT, Wallace accidentally makes incredibly important arguments for the pure Bible text. We acknowledge that Daniel Wallace does a fine job showing that an attempt used by even dozens of writers (including a couple of grammarians) does not work. This can also be seen as a warning about modern grammarians and interpreters, since almost all the problems began around 1870.
The masculine grammar of the short earthly witnesses text can not be attributed to the "spirit" being seen as masculine. There are two stumbles in the Wallace attempt, the lesser one is the ultra-minority variant that has a foul spirit as personalized. The greater one is that he really does not have an answer for the earthly witnesses short text.
After disarming the traditional attempt, Daniel Wallace shows us the oddball theory now in the lead, about a metaphor involving witnessing:
Then he takes a "who knows" approach:
==================================================
Georg Benedikt Winer on constructio ad sensum - "some animate object is denoted by a Neuter or an abstract Feminine noun"
Grammar of the New Testament Diction (1860)
Georg Benedikt Winer (6th ed German, 1855, translated by Edward Masson)
http://books.google.com/books?id=YQoOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA153
Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachidioms: Als sichere Grundlage der neutestamentlichen Exegese - 6th ed.
https://archive.org/details/grammatikdesneu00lngoog
Pronouns, whether personal, demonstrative, or relative, not unfrequently take a different gender from the nouns to which they refer. This is called constructio ad sensum, the meaning, and not the grammatical gender of the word, being mainly considered. It is used particularly when some animate object is denoted by a Neuter or an abstract Feminine noun. The pronoun is then made to agree grammatically with the object in question ...
=============
My comment - http://forums.carm.org/vbb/showthre...io-ad-Sensum&p=5772223&viewfull=1#post5772223
And yes, constructio ad sensum is unremarkable for animate objects, things that have life, see Georg Benedikt Winer (1789-1858). Clearly, synesis can be seen as a grammatical construction used for people and groups of people. And I would be interested in any examples you have that do not relate to people (omitting any that are based on an ultra-minority Greek corruption text, as you often find in the CTs from Hort to NA-28. Also possibly in editions from Griesbach to Tischendorf.)
Moses Stuart on constructio ad sensum - "the real gender or number"
Moses Stuart (1780-1852) was a top grammar writer in the mid-1800s.
A Grammar of the New Testament Dialect (1841)
Moses Stuart
https://books.google.com/books?id=qD4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158
Note. Whenever constructio ad sensum takes place, the gender or number of the word employed is overlooked, and the verb, adjective, etc., accords with the real gender or number of the thing or person intended to be expressed; thus τὰ παιδικά ἐστι καλός _________________
Notice that there is nothing there about the metaphor. hmmmm
======+====
New
Uses same example
A Grammar of the Greek Language
Vol. II - Syntax (1866)
William Edward Jeff
https://books.google.com/books?id=odAIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA37
https://archive.org/details/agrammargreekla04jelfgoog/page/37/mode/1up
6. Gender and number of adjective, participle, and pronoun— a masculine or feminine adjective, agreeing with a noun neuter in form, but masculine or feminine (and sometimes also plural) in sense :
==================================================
Raphael Kühner on constructio ad sensum
Stuart also has a reference to see Raphael Kuhner (1802-1878) ?418a,b for many constructio in the classics.
German section
Ausführliche grammatik der griechischen sprache, Volume 2, Part 1
Raphael Kühner,
https://books.google.com/books?id=CGBXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0020:smythp=418
==================================================
Gildersleeve on constructio ad sensum
After noting how difficult it was to find masculine grammar with neuter nouns in a couple of other sources, Wallace had mentioned Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (1831-1924) in Personality
Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve
https://books.google.com/books?id=XEItAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA204
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0074:section=18:subsection=2:smythp=498
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/navigate.pl?NewPerseusMonographs.4
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019440707;view=1up;seq=31
==================================================
Daniel Wallace Summary - straight grammar sections, two books - (1 John 5:7-8 not an example)
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (2009)
Daniel B. Wallace
https://books.google.com/books?id=XlqoTVsk2wcC&pg=PA330
Acts 8:10
To whom they all gave heed,
from the least to the greatest, saying,
This man is the great power of God.
Romans 2:14
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
1 Corinthians 6:10-11 - masculine nouns, neuter demonstrative
Acts 9:15 - Philippians 3:7 1 Peter 2:19 Jude 1:12
The Basics of New Testament Syntax: An Intermediate Greek Grammar (2009)
Daniel B. Wallace
https://books.google.com/books?id=LtRYzGnRvdMC&pg=PT187
These look uneven, however due to the relative clarity in explanation they really can help us to understand whatever is closest to the claims on the earthly witnesses.
==================================================
Robertson on constructio ad sensum
Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863-1934)
Grammar of the Greek New Testament (3rd ed 1919, orig 1914)
Archibald Thomas Robertson
https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/new_testament_greek/text/robertson-greekgrammar.pdf
p. 683-684 looks related, in the context of personal pronouns
The three prefaces are interesting, however separately from the outside, you can study the politicization of NT grammar that had occurred in the 1800s around Winer's edition.
==================================================
Additional Resources
A brief Greek syntax and hints on Greek accidence (1867)
Frederic William Ferrar
https://books.google.com/books?id=GooCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA59
The Sense-Construction
Search term
https://www.google.com/search?q="sense+figure"+"new+testament"&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#tbs=bkv
&tbm=bks&q="constructio+ad+sensum"+"new+testament"
CARM
Constructio ad Sensum 2013-07
http://forums.carm.org/vbb/showthread.php?154639-Constructio-ad-Sensum
Constructio ad Sensum in the prologue of John
b-greek - June 2012 - 5 pages - John Milton
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1314
Check work done on this on 1 Timothy 3:16 (done, it is mostly a different study, although it would be nice to keep them in the same mix)
=========
constructio ad sensum
constructio ad synesis
constructio kata synesins
sense figure
sense construction
„Konstruktion auf den Sinn hin“, auch Constructio kata synesin, Synesis oder Synese are terms occasionally used instead of constructio ad sensum.
==================================================
Daniel Wallace Summary - context - Greek Grammar and the Personality of the Holy Spirit
Since the purpose here was specialized, not to look at grammar in general and not to defend the CT, Wallace accidentally makes incredibly important arguments for the pure Bible text. We acknowledge that Daniel Wallace does a fine job showing that an attempt used by even dozens of writers (including a couple of grammarians) does not work. This can also be seen as a warning about modern grammarians and interpreters, since almost all the problems began around 1870.
The masculine grammar of the short earthly witnesses text can not be attributed to the "spirit" being seen as masculine. There are two stumbles in the Wallace attempt, the lesser one is the ultra-minority variant that has a foul spirit as personalized. The greater one is that he really does not have an answer for the earthly witnesses short text.
After disarming the traditional attempt, Daniel Wallace shows us the oddball theory now in the lead, about a metaphor involving witnessing:
Wallace is clearly not going to hitch his grammatical star on this:it is possible that the masculine was used, almost subconsciously, because the only legitimate witnesses in Jewish courts would be male. (p. 119)
the metaphor .. is thus driving the gender shift (p. 120)
Whatever the reason for the masculine participle in v. 7, it is evident that the grammaticization of the Spirit's personality is not the only, nor even the most plausible, explanation. p. 120
Then he takes a "who knows" approach:
Wallace never gets around to telling his readers the one consistent, sensible and likely reason, given by the far more fluent Eugenius Bulgaris:Since this text also involves serious exegetical problems (i.e., a variety of reasons as to why the masculine participle is used), it cannot be marshaled as unambiguous syntactical proof of the Spirit's personality. (p. 120)
Caused by a false alteration, and the earthly witnesses do not stand grammatically without the heavenly preceding."some violence of language ... a most manifest grammatical solecism"
==================================================
Georg Benedikt Winer on constructio ad sensum - "some animate object is denoted by a Neuter or an abstract Feminine noun"
Grammar of the New Testament Diction (1860)
Georg Benedikt Winer (6th ed German, 1855, translated by Edward Masson)
http://books.google.com/books?id=YQoOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA153
Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachidioms: Als sichere Grundlage der neutestamentlichen Exegese - 6th ed.
https://archive.org/details/grammatikdesneu00lngoog
Pronouns, whether personal, demonstrative, or relative, not unfrequently take a different gender from the nouns to which they refer. This is called constructio ad sensum, the meaning, and not the grammatical gender of the word, being mainly considered. It is used particularly when some animate object is denoted by a Neuter or an abstract Feminine noun. The pronoun is then made to agree grammatically with the object in question ...
=============
My comment - http://forums.carm.org/vbb/showthre...io-ad-Sensum&p=5772223&viewfull=1#post5772223
And yes, constructio ad sensum is unremarkable for animate objects, things that have life, see Georg Benedikt Winer (1789-1858). Clearly, synesis can be seen as a grammatical construction used for people and groups of people. And I would be interested in any examples you have that do not relate to people (omitting any that are based on an ultra-minority Greek corruption text, as you often find in the CTs from Hort to NA-28. Also possibly in editions from Griesbach to Tischendorf.)
Moses Stuart on constructio ad sensum - "the real gender or number"
Moses Stuart (1780-1852) was a top grammar writer in the mid-1800s.
A Grammar of the New Testament Dialect (1841)
Moses Stuart
https://books.google.com/books?id=qD4AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158
Note. Whenever constructio ad sensum takes place, the gender or number of the word employed is overlooked, and the verb, adjective, etc., accords with the real gender or number of the thing or person intended to be expressed; thus τὰ παιδικά ἐστι καλός _________________
Notice that there is nothing there about the metaphor. hmmmm
======+====
New
Uses same example
A Grammar of the Greek Language
Vol. II - Syntax (1866)
William Edward Jeff
https://books.google.com/books?id=odAIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA37
https://archive.org/details/agrammargreekla04jelfgoog/page/37/mode/1up
6. Gender and number of adjective, participle, and pronoun— a masculine or feminine adjective, agreeing with a noun neuter in form, but masculine or feminine (and sometimes also plural) in sense :
==================================================
Raphael Kühner on constructio ad sensum
Stuart also has a reference to see Raphael Kuhner (1802-1878) ?418a,b for many constructio in the classics.
German section
Ausführliche grammatik der griechischen sprache, Volume 2, Part 1
Raphael Kühner,
https://books.google.com/books?id=CGBXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0020:smythp=418
==================================================
Gildersleeve on constructio ad sensum
After noting how difficult it was to find masculine grammar with neuter nouns in a couple of other sources, Wallace had mentioned Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve (1831-1924) in Personality
Syntax of Classical Greek from Homer to Demosthenes (1900)7. Turner calls the incongruence of gender or number that is due to constructio ad sensum"good Greek" (Nigel Turner,Syntax, vol. 3 of J. H. Moulton et al.,A Grammar of New Testament Greek [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963], 311). BDF, well known as a grammar of exceptions, does not even list the use of masculine for neuter, presumably because it is so common. They do list, however, feminine for neuter, masculine for feminine, and neuter for persons, "if it is not the individuals but a general quality that is to be emphasized" (pp. 76-77 [?138]). This lacuna has not been filled with BDR (p. 115 [?138]). This instance of constructio ad sensum is also common enough in Classical Greek (cf. B. L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek from Homer to Demosthenes [New York: American Book, 1900-1911], 2.204-7 [??499-502] for numerous examples of various kinds of pronominal incongruence).
Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve
https://books.google.com/books?id=XEItAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA204
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0074:section=18:subsection=2:smythp=498
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/navigate.pl?NewPerseusMonographs.4
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019440707;view=1up;seq=31
==================================================
Daniel Wallace Summary - straight grammar sections, two books - (1 John 5:7-8 not an example)
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (2009)
Daniel B. Wallace
https://books.google.com/books?id=XlqoTVsk2wcC&pg=PA330
Acts 8:10
To whom they all gave heed,
from the least to the greatest, saying,
This man is the great power of God.
Romans 2:14
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
1 Corinthians 6:10-11 - masculine nouns, neuter demonstrative
Acts 9:15 - Philippians 3:7 1 Peter 2:19 Jude 1:12
The Basics of New Testament Syntax: An Intermediate Greek Grammar (2009)
Daniel B. Wallace
https://books.google.com/books?id=LtRYzGnRvdMC&pg=PT187
These look uneven, however due to the relative clarity in explanation they really can help us to understand whatever is closest to the claims on the earthly witnesses.
==================================================
Robertson on constructio ad sensum
Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863-1934)
Grammar of the Greek New Testament (3rd ed 1919, orig 1914)
Archibald Thomas Robertson
https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/new_testament_greek/text/robertson-greekgrammar.pdf
p. 683-684 looks related, in the context of personal pronouns
The three prefaces are interesting, however separately from the outside, you can study the politicization of NT grammar that had occurred in the 1800s around Winer's edition.
==================================================
Additional Resources
A brief Greek syntax and hints on Greek accidence (1867)
Frederic William Ferrar
https://books.google.com/books?id=GooCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA59
The Sense-Construction
Search term
https://www.google.com/search?q="sense+figure"+"new+testament"&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#tbs=bkv
CARM
Constructio ad Sensum 2013-07
http://forums.carm.org/vbb/showthread.php?154639-Constructio-ad-Sensum
Constructio ad Sensum in the prologue of John
b-greek - June 2012 - 5 pages - John Milton
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1314
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