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

INTRODUCTION
1. Definitions. What is a pronomen abundans and what a pronomen
coniunctum 1 The pronomen abundans is a personalor demonstrative
pronoun which repeats the relative pronoun in a single-limbed relative
clause. A well-known example occurs in P. Oxy. I 117,12 tI. (Il-IIl A.D.)
lnef//'pa v!-'etV .. . éáxrJ ~o ..., è~ WV I5cóauç ro'iç natMotç aov lv t~ avrwv.
At a later point we shall have to decide whether this name is correct or not.
The pronomen coniunctum is an idiom that belongs exclusively to Modern
Greek. It is the personal pronoun by which the meaning of the rather
vague relative pronoun nov is rendered clearer. An example: Ais, on
eMe rij !-,rJdea !-,ov, nov l5èv r~ve Ueet, "He says that he has seen my mother,
whom he does not know (however)" *.
2. The main object of this paper is to find out whether there is any
relation between these two idioms and whether it can be proved that such
a clause as nov l5èv r~ve ~ieet is the result of a development of the idiom
occurring in the above-mentioned papyrus. But there are more questions
which should be answered. In following the development of the pronomen
abundans we shall also encounter problems such as is it a Semi ti sm (in
the LXX and the NT) and should it be regarded as being a vulgarism or not.
3. The subject-matter will be divided according to the following plan.
In the first part the period of Ancient Greek and the Koine will be discussed.
The second part will be devoted to a treatise on the pronomen coniunctum
in Modern Greek. The earliost instances discussed in this part originate
from the 12th century, as it is in texts of this time that (ó Jnov starts being
used as the normal relat. pronoun. Then there remains the period from
the 4th until the 12th century. One may wonder why this period is treated
in the third and not in the second part. Why not follow the chronological
order? There are two reasons, one positive and one negative. If there
exists any relation between the so-called pronomen abundans and the
pronomen coniunctum, the presence of it should be sensed in the Greek
used during this period. And if one is right in speaking of a change from
one idiom to the ot her , this change must have taken place in the course
of that time. So much as to the positive reason. The negative reason is
that we do not have available many texts in which we find traces of the
* In this relative clause the two syntactical functions which in Ancient Greek
are expressed by one word (ijv - and, for that matter, also in the more official
type of Modern Greek: .rJv óno{av) are denoted by two words: nov (which has a
connective function) and TljvE (by which the syntactical position of the "mother"
within the relative clause is denoted). From this viewpoint it becomes clear why
the phrase è~ aVrwv in the first example is considered as something redundant.