The Hebraic Character of Septuagint Greek

Gehman, Henry S.

doi:10.1163/156853351x00157

Cited by 45 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In his analysis of New Testament Greek, 7 for instance, Wellhausen explicitly postulates a direct derivation of this pattern from Aramaic: 6 The Semitic character of Septuagint Greek is one of the most debated issues in the history of the Greek language, and cannot be dealt with in detail here. The dominant trend in the current literature is to maintain (as do, among others, Gehman 1951 andHorrocks 1997: 56ff) that Septuagint Greek is Hellenistic Greek to full right, reflecting the everyday language spoken in Alexandria in Egypt. Its many unusual features can be attributed to the difficulties of translatingfor the first time in the history of the Greek languagean Eastern religious work.…”

Section: The Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Men, women, and birds. An embryonic system of noun classification in Ancient Greek

Sansò

2009

Flin

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Ancient Greek, two terms meaning ‘man’ (anēr and anthrōpos) combine with common nouns referring to human occupations, ethnic groups, and ranks in a generic-specific construction (e.g. anēr hiereus ‘priest’ [lit. ‘man priest’]; anēr Spartiatēs ‘Spartan’ [lit. ‘man Spartan’]). This construction is used to refer to male human referents in a clearly identifiable set of discourse contexts, including (i) numeral expressions, (ii) non-assertive contexts, and (iii) presentative sentences in which a character is introduced at the beginning of a more or less lengthy story about him. In all these contexts, the function of the two terms may be thought of as similar to the function of the indefinite article, i.e. the construction always introduces indefinite referents, which may be both specific (anēr hiereus = ‘a [certain] priest’) and non-specific (anēr hiereus = ‘a priest, any priest’). The pairing of a generic and a specific noun resembles the well-known pattern by which generic superordinate terms such as ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘animal’, ‘vegetable’, ‘bird’, ‘tree’, etc. grammaticalize into noun classifiers, accompanying more specific nouns with a more restricted meaning. Besides classifying discourse referents, the main function of noun classifiers is determination/reference, i.e. they generally play a determinerlike role, marking the discourse status of their referents. Based on the available typological evidence on noun classifiers, in this paper I will argue for an interpretation of the construction anēr/anthrōpos + common noun as an incipient with an identifiable set of discourse situations, in which a free-form lexeme with superordinate semantics is combined with a more specific noun. Classifier constructions are considered to be the first stage in the grammaticalization path leading from generic superordinate nouns to noun classifiers. Similar uses of other superordinate terms such as gynē ‘woman’ and ornis ‘bird’ are also discussed. These uses are suggestive of a rudimentary system of nominal classification in Ancient Greek. In the conclusions, I will provide some speculative thoughts on why this system has not eventually developed into a full system of noun classifiers.

show abstract

Section: The Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Men, women, and birds. An embryonic system of noun classification in Ancient Greek

Sansò

2009

Flin

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The roots of 'Jewish Greek theory' go way back to the very beginning of studies -as early as the 18th century -on the languages of the Biblical text, and especially on the character of → New Testament Greek. It is Gehman (1951) hypotactic constructions (especially in Psalms). The approach of the translators was further influenced not only by the Semitic Vorlage but also by the natural local development of the Greek language, which in Egypt was also influenced by Coptic, in Palestine only by Aramaic and Hebrew.…”

Section: The Rise Of 'Jewish Greek Theory'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Jewish Greek

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The New Cambridge History of the Bible

Paget

Schaper

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent years have witnessed significant discoveries of texts and artefacts relevant to the study of the Old and New Testaments and remarkable shifts in scholarly methods of study. The present volume mirrors the increasing specialization of Old Testament studies, including the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and reflects rich research activity that has unfolded over the last four decades in Pentateuch theory, Septuagint scholarship, Qumran studies and early Jewish exegesis of biblical texts. The second half of the volume discusses the period running from the New Testament to 600, including chapters on the Coptic, Syriac and Latin bibles, the 'Gnostic' use of the scriptures, pagan engagement with the Bible, the use of the Bible in Christian councils and in popular and non-literary culture. A fascinating in-depth account of the reception of the Bible in the earliest period of its history.

show abstract

The Hebraic Character of Septuagint Greek

Cited by 45 publications

References 0 publications

Men, women, and birds. An embryonic system of noun classification in Ancient Greek

Men, women, and birds. An embryonic system of noun classification in Ancient Greek

Jewish Greek

The New Cambridge History of the Bible

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About