| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is framed by elegon {ἔλεγον | e-le-gon} ‘they were saying’, an imperfect verb that portrays ongoing or repeated discussion rather than a single remark. The inferential oun {οὖν | oûn} ties their confusion back to Jesus’ prior statement, so the question is presented as a reaction. The first question, Ti estin touto ho legei mikron {Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο ὃ λέγει μικρόν | tí estin toûto ho lé-gei mi-krón}, asks about the meaning of the utterance as a whole, then narrows to the relative clause ho legei {ὃ λέγει | ho lé-gei}, which specifies the saying that is troubling them. Mikron {μικρόν | mi-krón} functions substantivally as a brief temporal expression, so the disciples are not simply asking for a dictionary definition but for the referent of Jesus’ time phrase. The second clause, ouk oidamen ti lalei {οὐκ οἴδαμεν τί λαλεῖ | ouk oí-da-men tí la-leî}, intensifies the point by using the perfect oidamen {οἴδαμεν | oí-da-men}, which conveys a settled state of not knowing. The present tense of lalei {λαλεῖ | la-leî} keeps Jesus’ speech immediate and ongoing, while the indirect question shows that the problem is not hearing but comprehension. In translation, the Greek’s two-layered questioning is rendered as natural English uncertainty without flattening the repeated, unfinished feel created by the imperfect and present verbs. |