How to model John 3.1

[jtauber]

Here's another simple verse that exhibits a few interesting constructions that we need to document:

Ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων

GBI, PROIEL and OpenText all have differences in the way they handle this and I'm not sure I agree with any of them completely.

[jonathanrobie]

Interesting verse indeed.

[jtauber]

I've always felt this sounds very much like how you'd introduce someone when verbally telling a story.

e.g. "There was this guy from Denmark. Ulrik was his name. Really smart."

My inclination is to basically treat ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων as a predicative complement and both Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ and ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων as just in apposition to ἄνθρωπος but I don't think any of GBI, PROIEL or OpenText treat Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ and ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων as having the same status.

[jtauber]

Interestingly, Susanna starts with a similarly (although more simply) structured sentence:

ΚΑΙ ἦν ἀνὴρ οἰκῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῷ ᾿Ιωακείμ.

It doesn't pose the same issues but might be worth considering alongside John 3.1.

[jonathanrobie]

How is this? I see ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων ktl as appositional to ἄνθρωπος, providing further information about him.

cj>
    v Ἦν 
    cj δὲ 
    s ἄνθρωπος 
       : ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, 
       : Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, 
       : ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων