a note on attribution, predication, and word order with the definite article

Word order with adjectives and the definite article in Greek comes in two varieties:

attributive (=adjectival) word order

ο αγαθος ανηρ
ο ανηρ ο αγαθος
ανηρ ο αγαθος

predicative (=adverbial=circumstantial) word order

ο ανηρ αγαθος
αγαθος ο ανηρ

Poetry freqently dispenses with the definite article and so in

αγαθος ανηρ

the word αγαθος can be taken attributively or predicatively, just as in the Latin

bonus uir

(Though it should be noted that the default Latin word order for an attributive adjective is right after its noun: uir bonus.)

Roughly speaking, then,

an attributive adjective (or another part of speech in that word order) can be translated with an English relative clause

ο αγαθος ανηρ = "the man, who is good"

a predicative adjective (or another part of speech in that word order) can be translated as though it were in apposition, or with the word "as"

ο ανηρ αγαθος = "the man, a good one" or "the man, as good"

(In this particular instance, in fact, the verb εστι can be supplied and αγαθος can be taken as the "predicate" of ο ανηρ, hence the label "predicative" for this word order.)

These distinctions apply to adjectives, participles (ie verbal adjectives), prepositional phrases, even adverbs and nouns; compare

ο τρεχων ανηρ
ο εν τηι οικιαι ανηρ

with

ο ανηρ τρεχων
ο ανηρ εν τηι οικιαι

Insert the verb απεθανε at the end of these phrases and the distinctions should be clear:

ο τρεχων ανηρ απεθανε
ο εν τηι οικιαι ανηρ απεθανε

versus

ο ανηρ τρεχων απεθανε
ο ανηρ εν τηι οικιαι απεθανε

Now try this again with αγαθος:

ο αγαθος ανηρ απεθανε (attributive word order with the definite article)

versus

ο ανηρ αγαθος απεθανε (predicative word order with the definitive article)

Remember: take away the definite article and you are in the same situation as Latin, where you must decide for an attributive or predicative reading of a given word. Normally this is intuitive and obvious but not always. Try to interpret a simple sentence in these two ways:

consul mortuus est
ηγεμων απεθανε

Better yet,

equus currit

Try taking equus as an attribute of the implied subject in currit and then take it predicatively of the implied subject in currit.

A related but distinct syntactic concept are substantives. These can roughly be defined as words that function as a noun in a given sentence and yet have no separate entry in the dictionary as nouns. They are made in the first instance from any adjective or participle:

αγαθος = "a good man"
λυων = "a loosing man"

just as in Latin

bonus = "a good man"
soluens = "a loosing man"

but frequently occur with the definite article, esp. in prose.

ο αγαθος
ο λυων

With the definite article you may even make substantives out of adverbs and prepositional phrases:

οι ανω
ο εν τηι οικιαι

Substantive participles (ο λυων) can be thought of as "attributive" and are frequently called "attributive" yet strictly speaking they are not actually attributive of anything since no noun appears with the word. These can in fact admit both attributive and predicative interpretation:

οι θανοντες ουδενος φροντιζουσι

And in general the distinction between attributive and predicative is not always watertight, but it is a fairly basic rule of accurate reading and writing.

"Circumstantial" participles is just another way of labelling participles taken predicatively (also="adverbially"). These may also be subclassified as "causal" (sts with particles ατε or ως) or "concessive" (sts with και or καιπερ) or "temporal" or "conditional" (μη in the negative) if the context of the sentence calls for it, and especially the semantics of the main verb in relation to those of the participle. Other subclasses include manner, means, purpose, attendant circumstance … such connotations are really for us as readers to work out based on the context of the sentence at hand; the labels are supposed to be a convenient and even shorthand way for us to describe the way a particular author uses a particular participle in a text, and they must not be taken as hard and fast "rules".

All genitive absolutes (and accusative absolutes for that matter) are predicative/adverbial/circumstantial participles and naturally exhibit predicative word order with the definite article when it is used. Try making sense of these three strings:

του ανδρος λυοντος απεθανε
του λυοντος ανδρος απεθανε
ανδρος λυοντος απεθανε

Another related and yet distinct phenomenon are supplementary participles; these are in reality simply predicative or circumstantial participles yet some verbs appear with them so frequently that they seem necessary to fill out or "supplement" the meaning of the verb:

ηδομαι αναγιγνωσκων
τυγχανω αναγιγνωσκων = "I am actually..."
φαινομαι αναγιγνωσκων = "I manifestly am..."
(cf. δηλος ειμι αναγιγνωσκων)

The meaning of these verbs becomes clearer when you use an infinitive with those verbs that admit infinitives and participles as "supplements":

τυγχανω αναγιγνωσκειν = "I happen to be..."
φαινομαι αναγιγνωσκειν = "I appear to be..."

Note: demonstrative adjectives follow predicative word order with the definite article:

ουτος ο ανηρ

or

ο ανηρ ουτος

In poetry especially the definite article can be omitted.

Note: some adjectives change meaning radically when taken adjectivally or predicatively; especially adjectives that refer to the noun in question as a whole (not unlike demonstratives) rather than identify an accidental attribute of it:

το ακρον ορος
ακρον το ορος
το μεσον ορος
μεσον το ορος
το παν ορος
παν το ορος
το αυτον ορος
αυτον το ορος

Note: to summarize αυτος:

a) oblique pronoun = is, ea, id
b) ο αυτος = idem (pronoun or adjective)
c) ανηρ αυτος (or αυτος ανηρ) = uir ipse (intensifying adjective)