From: Mark E. Shoulson (mark@kli.org)
Date: Sat May 29 2004 - 20:51:30 CDT
Chris Jacobs wrote:
>[Dan. v. 8] "They were not able to read the writing, nor to make its
>interpretation."
>
>The waw which is here translated as "nor". Has it, in this verse, allways
>meant "nor" ?
>
I don't know about "always in this verse," but it is true that the
conjunctive waw, though in general meaning "and," often is used to mean
"or." I can find some examples if you want. I dunno, how about Exodus
21:15? It is unlikely that this is pronouncing a penalty only for
someone who strikes *both* his parents. Rather, it's more "one who
strikes his father OR his mother..." There are many, many such examples.
>Compare Daniel 5:7
>
>Who can ((read this) ∧(explain it to me)) gets purple and gold and other
>rewards, or something like that.
>
>I would expect in Daniel 5:8 the logical negation of this, something like:
>
>They ¬ (were able to ((read the writing) ∧ (make its interpretation)))
>
Natural-language conjunctions are rarely logical.
~mark
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat May 29 2004 - 20:52:54 CDT