# Δαυΐδ γαρ το πράον έσχες



## Aelialicinia

Dear experts

This is the full context:  

   Δαυΐδ γαρ το πράον έσχες και Σολομώντος, σεμνή, την σοφίαν, Σαμψών την ανδρείαν, και Aβραάμ το φιλόξενον, υπομονήν τε Iώβ, του Προδρόμου δε θείαν άσκησιν

I've got it all except the first part Δαυΐδ γαρ το πράον έσχες 

many thanks for your help


----------



## bearded

Aelialicinia said:


> Δαυΐδ γαρ το πράον έσχες


Hello
My interpretation:
_In fact, David had the gentleness/good temper_
( esches for eiche... but is it really έσχες or έσχε ?)

Native experts please confirm. <---


----------



## Acestor

"Το πράον" must be in the accusative, just as σοφίαν, ανδρείαν, το φιλόξενον, etc.
Similarly, Δαυίδ (and the other names) must be in the genitive as Σολομώντος.
Therefore, I read this as: For you had David's gentleness...


----------



## bearded

Acestor said:


> you had


 




Acestor said:


> and the other names) must be in the genitive


Σαμψών seems to be a nominative, though.


----------



## apmoy70

bearded said:


> Σαμψών seems to be a nominative, though.


Σαμψών is indeclinable, ὁ Σαμψών, τοῦ Σαμψών, τῷ Σαμψών etc. Only Josephus declines it (and it's considered bad Greek)


----------



## bearded

apmoy70 said:


> Σαμψών is indeclinable


Ah ok, thank you!


----------



## Aelialicinia

apmoy70 said:


> Σαμψών is indeclinable, ὁ Σαμψών, τοῦ Σαμψών, τῷ Σαμψών etc. Only Josephus declines it (and it's considered bad Greek)


So helpful... thank you!


----------



## ioanell

Aelialicinia said:


> Δαυΐδ γαρ το πράον έσχες



Δαυΐδ γὰρ τὸ πρᾶον ἔσχες = because you had David’s mildness

In Ancient Greek the neuter gender of an adjective was in some cases used in the place of the corresponding feminine abstract noun, e.g. τὸ πρᾶον (gentle, mild) instead of ἡ πραότης (gentleness, mildness, placidity), τὸ εὔψυχον (courageous, fearless, brave) instead of ἡ εὐψυχία (bravery, good courage), τὸ εὔδαιμον (happy, lucky) instead of ἡ εὐδαιμονία (good luck, prosperity, absolute satisfaction) κ.λπ. Saint Philothei’s/Philothea’s encomium, although she lived in the middle ages, was composed in the Greek Koine, as was the custom of the ecclesiastical tradition. 
There follows the syntactical analysis of the sentence in the AG order: Δαυΐδ (=David’s [genitive of possession]) γὰρ (=because [conjunction of cause, never placed at the beginning]) σὺ (=you [Philothei], [implied subject, pers. pronoun]), τὸ πρᾶον (=τὴν πραότητα=the mildness [object of the verb]) ἔσχες (=had [2nd pers. sing. aorist of the verb ἔχω])



bearded said:


> Σαμψών seems to be a nominative, though.


All the names (except Σολομῶντος), although they seem to be in the nominative case, in the specific excerpt of Saint Philothei’s encomium are in the genitive. This is because they remained indeclinable as originally transliterated from Hebrew, except the only case stated by apmoy70. So, we have ὁ Δαυΐδ, τοῦ Δαυΐδ, ὁ Σαμψών, τοῦ Σαμψών, ὁ Αβραάμ, τοῦ Αβραάμ, ὁ Ἰώβ, τοῦ Ίώβ. Ὁ Σολομῶν, τοῦ Σολομῶντος is an exception, because from the time of its transliteration from Hebrew it formed a genitive according to some rare Ancient Greek proper names ending in -*ῶν*, -*ῶντος*, like ὁ Ξενοφῶν, τοῦ Ξενοφῶντος, ὁ Ἀντιφῶν, τοῦ Ἀντιφῶντος, or active voice present tense participles like ὁ ζῶν, τοῦ ζῶντος, πεινῶν, πεινῶντος, γελῶν, γελῶντος, κυβερνῶν, κυβερνῶντος κ.λπ.


----------

