Pronomen Abundans and Pronomen Coniunctum. A ... - DWC

106 PRONOMEN ABUNDANS AND PRONOMEN CONIUNCTUM
It does surprise us, however, that in typical stories as Exodus, the
Gospel of Mark and the Apocalypse relat. connection hardly ever occurs.
In Luke we find some more instances, and in Acts the percentage (26%)
seems to be normal for the period. Considering these proportions, one is
inclined to assume that relat. connection was a literary element in the
language, for exactly those texts in the NT which are regarded as being
more literary than books like the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and the
Apocalypse are the Gospel of Luke and, to a greater extent, the book of
Acts 398.
Another indication, which points to the same direction, is given by
Tabachovitz, who, trying to explain the frequency of relat. connection
in the early byzantine texts, speaks of "l'ambition des écrivains d'écrire
dans un style qui s'éloigne de la langue parlée" 399.
Finally the texts of Polybius and Diodorus, which are written in the
literary Koine, teem of instances of relat. connection.
The other part of the question, whether it belongs to colloquial speech,
is more difficult to answer. It has to be admitted that we do not know
whether it occurred in the spoken language or not. There are some indications,
though. Relat. connection hardly occurs in Exodus, nor in
Mark, nor in the Apocalypse. The connective which we find there is mainly
the paratactic "al. This is not surprising, for this "at is quite suitable to
the simple story 400. However the Semitic background of the translator
and the authors mayalso have exerted its influence. Luke uses "at less
of ten and more of ten the relat. connection. Perhaps he did not do th is
under the influence of literary texts, but only to write a better Greek,
"better" not in the atticistic sense, but in the sense of being more in
accordance with Greek idiom. When a Greek was telling a story, and
especially when he was writing one, he may have used both connections,
the paratactic "at and relat. connection (leaving aside the other connection,
the connective particles) 401.
As to the frequency of the relat. connection in the byzantine period,
it must be admitted that authors like Palladius, Malalas, and those of the
Ohronicon Paschale and the Byz. Alexander-poem use this construction
more of ten than must have been common practice. The only possible
reason for this behaviour has been indicated by Tabachovitz: the wish
to avoid paratactic "al. This does not mean, however, that the relat.
connection was only a literary element 402. It just is one of the ways in
398 Cf. Mussies, p. 175.
399 Tabachovitz, Études, p. H .
400 Just as it belongs in the simple story in Attic Greek: see Trenkner.
401 See Schwyzer-Debrunner, p. 644,13, who say that relat. connection is used
"in lebhafter Rede".
402 That relat. connection is not such a Iiterary element af ter all is shown by a
count of the relat. pronouns in some discourses of Dio Chrysostomus (ed. J. W.
Coloon, Loeb I, pp. 2-82). Only four cases of relat. connection have been found
(= 7%).