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

PRONOMEN ABUNDANS AND PRONOMEN CONIUNCTUM 35
become common property in the Greek language) as being Semitisms,
then even Lev. 11,32 would not contain a Semitism! We need a definition
which is a little more subtie and at the same time should consider the
following. A Semite, even when he is writing Greek, continues thinking
as a Semite and is always inclined to use Semitic phrases and constructions.
This inclination will be even stronger, when he is translating, especially
when he is translating the Holy Scripture. We have seen that in the
Greek Koine the pronomen abundans is not an unusual phenomenon:
it does occur now and then. What we find in the LXX is not unknown
to the Greek language, but, if one looks at it from the viewpoint of statistics,
the phenomenon breaks through its limits, or rather it stretches them
extremely far l05. We may, therefore, as far as the LXX is concerned,
concur with the view of Blass-Debrunner, who sayl06: "In vielen Fällen
hat eine im Griechischen nicht unerhöhrte, aber doch ungewöhnliche
Erscheinung, weil sie zum semitischen Gebrauch stimmte, volle Lebenskraft
erhalten ... ".
2.4.2.2. NT. The situation in the NT differs from the one in the LXX:
there are not so many instances of the pronomen abundans and many of
them are similar to examples which are found in the rest of the Koine.
Ep. Gal. 2,10 flÓVOV nov nTwxwv rva flv'YJflOVBVW!lfiV, 8 xal èanov(jaaa aVTo
Toiho notijaat. This use of the pronomen abundans is almost similar to
the one we have observed in B.G.U. I 330 (see 2.2.1).
Eighteen examples have been found in the NT against 26 in the rest
of the Koine. Eight of them occur in the Gospels: four in Mark, two
in Luke and one in both Matthew and J ohn. St. Paul presents one example,
which we have seen above. The highest amount is found in the Apocalypse:
nine! It is not a surprise that the majority of the cases occurs in the
Gospel of Mark and in the Apocalypse: these two texts have undergone
the greatest influence from Aramaic and Hebrew.
As far as the NT is concerned, we cannot go further than say that
Aramaic supports a tendency which already existed in the Greek language.
With great eagerness the Semitic authors - forgetting for a while that
Luke sooms to have been a Greek! - embraced an idiom that was in their
blood. As to the number of instances one may, considering the fact that
they were Semites, admire their self-restraint!
2.4.3. Qualitative method
If the qualitative method cannot be used, the quantitative method is
still there, but obviously one does not get very far with it. The results
which were attained in the foregoing pages are plausible, but not very
satisfying. We should try, therefore, to make use ofthe qualitative method,
105 Cf. Moulton, Proleg., p. 95. That such a phenomenon cannot be called a
Semitism is also observed by Trenkner, p. 59.
106 Blass-Debrunner, § 4,3.