Ch 11 · Lesson 17Latin · Chapter 11 · Lesson 17 · Grammar primer
In principio erat Verbum: John 1:1-5
, not : the imperfect against Genesis's perfect. Then where the Vulgate parts company with Cicero, and why Jerome would not smooth it.
The short version
John's
.
Why?Hide
Genesis and John open with the same words, in , and differ in one verb. Creavit is perfect: one act, done. is imperfect: a state with no beginning marked. Had John written , the Word's existence would read as a finished episode.
John 1:1-5: erat, not fuit
In
,,.in.:,.In,:inlucet,comprehenderunt.In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men: and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. (John 1:1-5)
John opens with Genesis's first words and swaps one verb. Genesis has the perfect, one completed act; John has the imperfect, a state with no beginning marked:
erat Verbum: the Word was (imperfect, a state)
creavit, facta sunt: created, were made (perfect, one act)
lucet: the light shines (present)
Timeline from past to now, with now marked.
| Tense | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| perfect | creavit | In the beginning God created |
| imperfect | | In the beginning was the Word |
| present | lucet | the light shines in the darkness |
Had John written , the perfect of , the Word's existence would read as a finished episode. Things get made at a point ( , perfect passive) while the Word simply . Then 5 jumps to the present: in a passage set in the past, the light shines now.
Three things to catch:
the subject: and the Word was God.the relative pronoun, which, not the that of Genesis 1:4. Only the clause tells you which.Comprehenderuntmeans both grasped (understood) and seized. The King James has comprehended it not; modern versions have did not overcome it. The Greek allows both.
Where the Vulgate parts company with Cicero
| Feature | Classical | Vulgate |
|---|---|---|
| indirect statement | accusative and infinitive | |
| sentence openers | a connecting relative | |
| clauses | nested inside each other | side by side |
| word order | verb tends to the end | verb often first |
| vocabulary | literary | ordinary, plus Greek loans |
Renaissance humanists, measuring by Cicero, called it barbarous. Jerome worried about it himself: in his letter to Eustochium (Letter 22) he dreams he is accused before a judge, Ciceronianus , , you are a Ciceronian, not a Christian. His defence, in his letter on translation (Letter 57), is that in scripture even the order of the words is a mystery, so he would not smooth it.
That is why the text suits a learner: the Latin was left transparent to the languages underneath it. The humanists won the argument about style and lost the argument about readers.
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
: is made | was made | perfect passive uses |
| | the participle agrees with |
| the subject | |
dixitque: no entry | - | chop off the - |
| a state, not one act | imperfect, not perfect |
Going further: Why the Vulgate is easy and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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