Ancient Greek grammar Ancient Greek grammar is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected. A complication of Greek grammar is th ...

, the genitive absolute is a

grammatical construction In linguistics, a grammatical construction is any syntactic string of words ranging from sentences over phrasal structures to certain complex lexemes, such as phrasal verbs. Grammatical constructions form the primary unit of study in construction ...

consisting of a

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

and often a

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

both in the genitive case, which is very similar to the

ablative absolute Latin syntax is the part of Latin grammar that covers such matters as word order, the use of cases, tenses and moods, and the construction of simple and compound sentences, also known as ''periods''. The study of Latin syntax in a systematic way ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. A genitive

absolute construction In linguistics, an absolute construction is a grammatical construction standing apart from a normal or usual syntactical relation with other words or sentence elements. It can be a non-finite clause that is subordinate in form and modifies an entire ...

serves as a dependent clause, usually at the beginning of a sentence, in which the genitive noun is the subject of the dependent clause and the participle takes on the role of predicate. The term ''absolute'' comes from the Latin ''absolutus'', literally meaning "made loose". That comes from the general truth that the genitive absolute usually does not refer to anything in the independent clause; however, there are many exceptions, notably in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

and in Koine.

Examples

Below are some examples of the genitive absolute, in different tenses. This first example shows how a genitive absolute with a present participle is used with simultaneous actions. In this example, the two events occur at the same time, or rather, the sailing occurs during the period when spring was beginning. This example shows a genitive absolute with an aorist participle. Here, the two events do not happen simultaneously, as they do with the present genitive absolute, but the event in the main clause occurs after the event in the participial clause. The perfect participle describes a situation which was already in existence and which still prevailed at the time of the action of the main verb, for example: The future is less often used in a genitive absolute. It is generally found after the particle () "in view of the fact that" or "on the grounds that", for example:

Absolute constructions in other languages

Absolute constructions occur with other

grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomin ...

s in

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

, such as the

accusative absolute The accusative absolute is a grammatical construction found in some languages. It is an absolute construction found in the accusative case. Greek In ancient Greek, the accusative case is used adverbially with participles of impersonal verbs, simi ...

in Ancient Greek, German, and late Latin,

in Latin, dative absolute in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Old Church Slavonic, and locative absolute in

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...

. Compare also

nominative absolute In English grammar, a nominative absolute is a free-standing ( absolute) part of a sentence that describes the main subject and verb. It consists of a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the nominative case joined with a predicate that does ...

in English. An actual genitive absolute exists in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, such as ''klopfenden Herzens'' "(with) his/her heart beating", although its use is much less prominent compared to Greek (or to Latin's ablative or English's nominative in such constructions).

References

External links

Katanik
blog entry explaining the genitive absolute in Ancient Greek in few easy terms.
LOY Excursus: The Genitive Absolute in the Synoptic Gospels
(www.JerusalemPerspective.com) contains a complete list of the instances of the genitive absolute in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as in the Septuagint's Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). {{Ancient Greek grammar Greek language Genitive construction Greek grammar