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Dative: time as satellite

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Meaning

γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ ὁ Κύριος ὑμῶν ἔρχεται

‘Watch, therefore, for you do not know in which hour your Lord comes.’ ( Matthew 24.42)

The dative signals a point in time as a satellite.

Lexical usage

The word in the dative can be:

  • a lexeme indicating time (e.g. ἡμέρᾳ ‘on the day’, ἔτει ‘in the year’);
  • an annual festival (e.g. Παναθηναίοις ‘during the Panathenaea’).
Example Sentences: 

τῷ δὲ πέμπτῳ καὶ δεκάτῳ ἔτει ... μετὰ τὴν ἐν Ποτειδαίᾳ μάχην μηνὶ ἕκτῳ καὶ ἅμα ἦρι ἀρχομένῳ Θηβαίων ἄνδρες... ἐσῆλθον... ξὺν ὅπλοις ἐς Πλάταιαν τῆς Βοιωτίας

In the fifteenth year [of the truce]... five months after the Battle of Potidaia, at the beginning of spring, Theban men moved armed to Plataia in Boiotia. [provisional translation]

Ὀλυμπίασιν, ἡνίκ᾽ ἐθεώρουν ἐγώ,

Ἐφουδίων ἐμαχέσατ᾽ Ἀσκώνδᾳ καλῶς

ἤδη γέρων ὤν

τρίτῃ δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἡμέρᾳ καὶ τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἤδη σαφῶς ἑωρῶμεν, γῆν δὲ οὐδαμοῦ.

The third day after this they saw the ocean very clearly, but nowhere did they see land.

πρὸς τὸν πυθόμενον ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ δεῖ ἀριστᾶν, εἰ μὲν πλούσιος,ἔφη, ὅταν θέλῃ· εἰ δὲ πένης, ὅταν ἔχῃ.

When someone asked him at what hour of the day people should have lunch, Diogenes answered: in the case of a rich man, whenever he wishes. In the case of a poor man, whenever he can.