The Greek postpositive δέ and the Latin autem mark the adversative transition; the Peshitta supplies no corresponding particle on the first clause, relying instead on asyndeton typical of Syriac narrative sequencing.
EN But others said, “He is Elijah.” Others said, “He is a prophet, or like one of the prophets.”
ES Otros decían: Elías es. Y otros decían: Profeta es, ó alguno de los profetas.
ZH-HANS 但别人说:「是以利亚。」又有人说:「是先知,正像先知中的一位。」
ZH-HANT 但別人說:「是以利亞。」又有人說:「是先知,正像先知中的一位。」
The Greek postpositive δέ and the Latin autem mark the adversative transition; the Peshitta supplies no corresponding particle on the first clause, relying instead on asyndeton typical of Syriac narrative sequencing.
Greek ἔλεγον (imperfect) and Latin dicebant render the durative sense with a single finite verb, whereas the Peshitta expresses the past continuous periphrastically with ܐܡܪܝܢ ܗܘܘ (active participle plus enclitic ܗܘܘ), an idiomatic Syriac construction for ongoing past action.
Greek recitative ὅτι introduces direct speech; the Vulgate renders it with a colon plus Quia, the standard Latin device for marking quotation, while the Syriac folds the marker into the proclitic ܕ on the following word.
The second clause's subject 'others' is matched across traditions; the Peshitta prefixes the conjunction ܘ (ܘܐܚܪܢܐ, 'and others') where Greek uses ἄλλοι alone and Latin pairs alii with the adversative vero, a stylistic divergence in connective choice.
Greek δέ is rendered by Latin vero here (contrasting with autem in the first clause); the Syriac conjunctive ܘ already accounted for in the preceding group carries the connective force, so no separate particle appears.
The repeated verb of speaking is again periphrastic in Syriac but, being identical in form to the first occurrence, is not reduplicated in the Peshitta text; Greek ἔλεγον and Latin dicebant each repeat the finite imperfect.
The second recitative ὅτι is rendered by the Vulgate colon and Quia; the Peshitta again subsumes the quotation marker into the proclitic ܕ of the following noun.
The Greek disjunctive ἢ ('or, that is') introducing the appositional clause is not represented in either the Peshitta or the Vulgate; both versions move directly from 'a prophet' to the comparative 'like one of the prophets', collapsing the Greek's two-stage formulation.
Greek uses the partitive genitive with the article (τῶν προφητῶν) and Latin the prepositional ex prophetis; the Syriac employs the preposition ܡܢ with the noun ܢܒܝܐ unmarked for number, a Syriac idiom in which the singular form may stand for a generic plural after partitive ܡܢ.