Genitive absolute

The genitive absolutus (abbr. Gen. abs.) Is a participial of ancient Greek, which corresponds to the Latin ablative absolute and is also found in German. He usually expresses an equal or premature action as a time for the predicate of the sentence.

Form and examples

A genitive absolutus consists of one (or more) noun as a reference word (or reference words) and a purpose in number, case and gender congruent participle.

Examples:

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

In rare cases, such as in impersonal verbs, reference word may also be omitted.

Example:

• ὕοντος ( " because it was raining " )

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

Example:

• Περικλέους ἡγεμόνoς ὄντoς ( " Under the leadership of Pericles " ), in Latin, on the other hand: Caesare duce ( " Under the leadership of Caesar " )

Absolute genitive in German

A kind of genitive absolutus also occurs in German. Examples: a beating heart, without having accomplished anything.