τὸν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 τὸν

   ton

   the
2. sentence🔊 γράψας ἐπιστολὴν ἔχουσαν τὸν τύπον τοῦτον

   GRA-psas e-pi-sto-LÊN E-khou-san ton TY-pon TOU-ton

   having written a letter having the pattern this

Exegesis

Echousan governs the object phrase ton tupon touton {τὸν τύπον τοῦτον | tón tú-pon toû-ton}, literally ‘this pattern,’ indicating that the letter possessed a specific, recognizable form or formula. Greek word order places the head noun first, followed by participial and object phrases that narrow its description, moving from the act of writing to the character of the document. In English, the anterior participle grapsas is rendered as “Having written” in a dependent clause for formal equivalence, while the dynamic rendering uses a finite verb (“He wrote”) to supply an explicit subject and complete clause. The phrase ton tupon touton is translated as “this pattern” and marked with a colon in English to anticipate the citation of the letter’s content that follows in the narrative.

Root and etymology

hekaton🔊 ἑκατόνepsilon–kappa–alpha–tau–omicron–nu

“hundred”