Acts 26:9

[llama_nom]

> > Something else that I wonder about is whether 'wiþro' would be 
> used as
> > a complement of 'andaneiþo'.  As far as I can see, all the 
> examples of
> >   'andaneiþo' and 'andaneiþs' (II Cor 2:7, Col 2:14, I Thess 2:15)
> > simply take a dative complement with no preposition.  That's not to
> > say that 'wiþro' is wrong here -- just something to think about.
> 
> Doesn't wiþra belong rather to gataujan than to andaneiþo here? 
> Rather "to do [many contrary things] against the name of Jesus of 
> Nazareth"? Vulgate  - aduersus nomen ... [multa contraria] agere and 
> LXX - PROS TO ONOMA ... [POLLA ENANTIA] PRAXAI.

In English, at least, the following sentence would be incomplete: "I
thought that I should do many things { contrary, opposed } ..."  We
would want to know "{ contrary, opposed } to what?"  If you put
'contrary' before the noun it modifies, then the sentence could be
complete; it would mean that the things done were just contrary in
general, arbitrarily awkward/difficult/provocative or calculated to
make trouble.  Unfortunately we don't have much information about
Gothic to go on, so we can't tell what would sound odd or incomplete.
 How about Greek and Latin?  Is 'adversus' necessary with 'contraria',
PROS with ENANTIA?  Here is an Icelandic translation for comparison:
'Sjálfur taldi ég mér skylt að vinna af öllu megni gegn nafni Jesú frá
Nasaret.'  Lit. "...to work with all my strength against..."  I'm not
sure if there are any Old English or Old High German versions of this
verse extant.

To elaborate on how I think the sentence works in English (which might
not necessarily apply to Gothic, Latin or Greek...), consider the
question:

Q. What did I think that I should to do?

It isn't possible to answer: "against the name of Jesus of Nazareth",
so that phrase can't be directly dependent on the verb "to do".  You
could answer "many things" -- not very informative, but syntactically
okay -- which suggests that 'managa' would be the complement (direct
object) of 'taujan'.  If I've understood this right 'andaneiþona'
would then be an adjective modifying 'managa'.

I thought
    [that I should
         [do
            [many things
                  [against
                         [the name of Jesus of Nazareth]]]]].

Q. What were the many things which you thought that you should do?
A. Against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Q. Against what were the many things which you thought that you should do?
A. The name of Jesus of Nazareth.

I'm afraid I don't know enough about Latin and Greek to say whether
this interpretation would be relevant there though.

LN

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