Genitive absolutus

The genitive absolutus (abbr. Gen. abs. ) Is a participle construction of ancient Greek , which corresponds to the Latin ablative absolutus and also occurs in German . It usually expresses a simultaneous or premature event as a time indication for the predicate of the sentence.

Form and examples

A genitive absolute consists of one (or more) nouns as a reference word (or reference words) and a participle that is congruent in number , case and gender .

Examples:

τῶν ἀνδρῶν πολεμούντων αἱ γυναῖκες μόναι οἴκοι εἰσίν ("While the men fight, the women are alone at home")
τοῦ δεσπότου κελεύσαντος οἱ δοῦλοι ἤργαζον ("After their master gave the order, the slaves began to work")
ἐκ τούτου συνελθόντων εἶπε Ξενοφῶν τάδε ("After they had gathered, Xenophon said the following")

In rare cases, such as impersonal verbs , the reference word can also be missing.

Example:

ὕοντος ("because it was raining")

In contrast to Latin, where the participle of the verb "sein" ( esse ) died out early and had to be compensated for by a noun construction in the ablative absolutus , in Greek the formation of the genitive absolutus with the participle of the verb "sein" ( εἶναι ) possible.

Example:

Περικλέους ἡγεμόνος ὄντος ("under the leadership of Pericles"), in Latin: Caesare duce ("under the leadership of Caesar")

Absolute genitive in German

A kind of genitive absolutus also occurs in German. Examples: beating heart , things not being achieved , heavy heart, seeing eyes, cheerfulness.