Notes & Asides.(language)(Brief Article)

-- Dear Mr. Buckley: In the March 11 issue, Mr. Gould B. Hagler Jr. poposed a grammar question about Matthew 6:19 in the King James Version: ". . . where moth and rust doth corrupt . . ."

In defense of the many translators who created the KJV in the beginning of the 17th century, all of whom used Tyndale and Latin and Greek sources, here is a quote from the Vulgate to support those translators: ubi aerugo et tinea demolitur (where rust and moth demolishes); the Latin verb is third person singular (as is the Greek).

As further evidence relating to agreement, I quote from Ward Powers in his Learn to Read the Greek New Testament:

"Like a pronoun, a verb indicates a person . . . it agrees with the number of its subject. When a verb has a multiple subject, the number of the verb regularly agrees with the part of the subject which is nearest to the verb."

Thus, Mr. Buckley, the King James Version passes the test! Each copy of your National Review receives careful attention!

With best wishes,

(Fr.) Martin Hanhauser, OFM