Dative for Accusative Case Interchange in Epistolary Formulas in Greek Papyrus Letters

Abstract

Greek papyrus letters preserve not only instances of the replacement of the dative case; they also show the use of the dative instead of the accusative case as direct object and disjoint infinitival subject. This interchange is mostly found in epistolary phrases, namely the salutation formula (ἀσπάζομαί σε) and the initial (εὔχομαί σε ὑγιαίνειν) and final (ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι) health wishes. The phonetic similarity of the pronouns might have created the circumstances for case confusion. Contamination of the constructions reflects the difficulties of the scribes to construct conservative epistolary phrases and, thereby, diachronic phraseological variation might reflect language change. In salutation formulas, the use of a dative Addressee could be explained by analogical overextension from the category of communication verbs taking a dative complement. The decline of the accusative and infinitive construction might be one of the reasons why the accusative disjoint infinitival subject is replaced by the dative case in health wishes.

Dative Alternation and Dative Case Syncretism in Greek: The Use of Dative, Accusative and Prepositional Phrases in Documentary Papyri

“…Whether in pronunciation or writing, the difference between the cases used for semantically similar roles might have led to confusion or analogical extension of one or other pattern, such as the accusative with verbs of writing (26a, 27c), speaking (26b) and thanking (28). Not only does the accusative case occasionally appear with ‘dative’ verbs, as observed above, but also the dative is frequently attested as complement of verbs of asking (27a), begging and greeting (Stolk & Nachtergaele ). The alternation between dative and accusative as the addressee of communication verbs is also found with in post‐Classical literary texts and the New Testament (see Moulton & Turner : 236–8; Wong 1999: 146–3; Riaño 2006: 501–8; Caragounis : 83–8; Danove ).…”

“…Personal pronouns, on the other hand, are limited to a certain number of forms and can easily be found by word‐searches. Stolk & Nachtergaele () have shown that the interchange between the dative and the accusative cases of personal pronouns is most common for the second person singular pronoun in private letters. The second person singular pronoun is often encountered in private papyrus letters as a complement of verbs of coming, sending, writing and giving.…”