Greek uses simple imperfect ἐσιώπων; Peshitta employs periphrastic construction ܫܬܝܩܝܢ ܗܘܘ (participle + auxiliary 'were'), a common Syriac idiom for progressive aspect. Latin tacebant mirrors the Greek synthetic form.
EN But they were silent, for they had disputed one with another on the way about who was the greatest.
ES Mas ellos callaron; porque los unos con los otros habían disputado en el camino quién había de ser el mayor.
ZH-HANS 门徒不作声,因为他们在路上彼此争论谁为大。
ZH-HANT 門徒不作聲,因為他們在路上彼此爭論誰為大。
Greek uses simple imperfect ἐσιώπων; Peshitta employs periphrastic construction ܫܬܝܩܝܢ ܗܘܘ (participle + auxiliary 'were'), a common Syriac idiom for progressive aspect. Latin tacebant mirrors the Greek synthetic form.
Vulgate inserts colon after tacebant to mark the explanatory clause, a stylistic feature absent in Greek and Peshitta manuscripts which use no punctuation or only a mid-point.
Greek γὰρ appears post-positionally after πρὸς ἀλλήλους; Peshitta ܓܝܪ follows the verb ܐܬܚܪܝܘ; Vulgate siquidem ('seeing that indeed') fronts the causal clause, reflecting Latin preference for clause-initial conjunctions.
Greek πρὸς ἀλλήλους (reciprocal pronoun) and Latin inter se both use standard reciprocal constructions. Peshitta employs the distributive idiom ܚܕ ܥܡ ܚܕ ('one with one'), a characteristic Semitic expression for mutual action.
Greek διελέχθησαν (aorist passive deponent) and Latin disputaverunt (perfect active) use synthetic verb forms. Peshitta again employs periphrastic ܐܬܚܪܝܘ ܗܘܘ (perfect + auxiliary), maintaining aspectual distinction through analytic construction.
Vulgate inserts second colon before the indirect question quis eorum major esset, marking the shift to reported speech. Greek and Peshitta traditions lack this punctuation distinction.
Peshitta ܒܗܘܢ ('among them') and Vulgate eorum ('of them') make explicit the partitive relationship implicit in Greek τίς μείζων, where the comparative adjective alone implies comparison within the group of disciples.
Greek uses comparative adjective μείζων with implied copula; Peshitta ܪܒ employs the positive adjective (Syriac lacks morphological comparative); Vulgate major esset uses comparative with explicit subjunctive copula in indirect question, reflecting Latin syntactic requirements.