1. No thorough treatment of the Greek idiom of the LXX. is known to exist. Two ancient treatises upon the dialect of Alexandria, by Irenaeus (Minutius Pacatus) and Demetrius Ixion , have unhappily disappeared. In modern times the ground has been broken by Sturz and Thiersch , and within the last few years Deissmann has used the recently discovered papyri of Egypt to illustrate the connotation or the form of a number of Septuagint nouns and verbs. Much has also been done by Dr H. A. A. Kennedy and the Abbé J. Viteau in the way of determining the relation of Septuagint Greek to the classical and later usage, and to the Greek of the N.T.; and the N.T. grammars of Winer-Moulton, Winer-Schmiedel, and Blass contain incidental references to the linguistic characteristics of the Alexandrian version. But a separate grammar of the Greek Old Testament was long a real want, and the time has now come for attempting to supply it. Biblical scholars have now at their disposal a store of trustworthy materials in the Oxford Concordance, and the larger Cambridge Septuagint will supply an accurate and sufficient textual guide. On the basis of these two works it ought to be possible for the workers of the twentieth century to prepare a satisfactory grammar and lexicon . Meanwhile in this chapter nothing more can be attempted than to set before the beginner some of the linguistic problems presented by the Greek of the Septuagint, and to point out the chief features which distinguish it from other forms of the language.
2. The student who enters upon this subject with some knowledge of the Greek New Testament must begin by reminding himself of the different conditions under which the two parts of the Greek Bible were produced. The Greek Old Testament was not like the New Testament the work of a single generation, nor are its books as homogeneous in their general character. The Septuagint is a collection of translations interspersed with original Greek works, the translations belonging partly to the third century B.C., partly to the second and first, and the original works chiefly to the end of this period. Even in the case of the Pentateuch we are not at liberty to assume that the translators worked at the same time or under the same circumstances. These considerations complicate our enquiry, and lead us to expect in the LXX., great varieties of manner and language. In the earlier work we shall meet with the colloquial Greek which the Jews learnt to speak shortly after their settlement in Egypt. Later translations will approximate to the literary style of the second century, except in cases where this tendency has been kept in check by a desire to follow the manner of the older books. Lastly, in the original writings, many of which are relatively late, and in which the writers were free from the limitations that beset the translator, the Greek will be nearly identical with that which was written by the Jewish-Alexandrian historians and philosophers of the time.
3. We begin by investigating the literary conditions under which both the translators and the writers lived at Alexandria.
In the middle of the second century B.C. Polybius found Alexandria inhabited by three races, the native Egyptians, who occupied the site of the old seaport Rhacôtis, the mercenary class (to misthophorikon), who may be roughly identified with the Jews, and the Greeks of the Brucheion, a mixed multitude claiming Hellenic descent and wedded to Hellenic traditions (ei migades, Hellenes homou anekathen esan, kai ememnento tou koinou ton Hellenon ethous). This fusion of various elements in the Greek population of the city must have existed from the first. The original colony was largely made up of the veterans of Alexander's Macedonian army, volunteers from every part of Greece, and mercenaries from the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, and from Syria. Even in the villages of the Fayûm, as we now know, by the side of the Macedonians there were settlers from Libya, Caria, Thrace, Illyria, and even Italy , and Alexandria presented without doubt a similar medley of Hellenic types. Each class brought with it a dialect or idiom of its own. The Macedonian dialect, e.g., is said to have been marked by certain phonetic changes , and the use of barbarous terms such as ade = ouranos, bethu = aer, danos = thanatos and of Greek words in unusual senses, as parembole, 'camp,' rhume, street . Some of these passed into the speech of Alexandria, and with them were echoes of the older dialects -- Doric, Ionic, Aeolic -- and other less known local varieties of Greek. A mongrel patois, he Alexandreon dialektos, as it was called in the title of the treatise of Demetrius Ixion, arose out of this confusion of tongues.
No monument of the Alexandrian 'dialect' remains, unless we may seek it in the earlier books of the Alexandrian Greek Bible. We have indeed another source from which light is thrown on the popular Greek of Egypt under the earlier Ptolemies. A series of epistolary and testamentary papyri has recently been recovered from the Fayûm, and given to the world under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy ; similar collections have been published by Drs Grenfell and Hunt . The Greek of these documents is singularly free from dialectic forms, owing perhaps to local circumstances, as Professor Mahaffy suggests; but the vocabulary has, in common with the LXX., many striking words and forms, some of which are rare elsewhere.
The following list has been formed from the indices to the Flinders Petrie collection: anadendras, anaphalakros, anaphalantos, archisomatophulax, architektonein, achuron, basilissa, genema, diorux, epigone, ergodioktes, euilatos, ephidein, ephiorkein, theristron, oligopsuchein, ochuroma, opsonion, paidion, paradeixai, parepidemos, peridexion, periodeuein, praktor, presbuteroi, stenochorein, choma. The Berlin papyri yield many other such words, e.g. anametresis, glumma, dikaioma, hieropsaltes, himatismos, katalochismos, ktenotrophos, misoponeria, holoscheres, sumplerosis, hupomnematismos.
The following letter of the time of Philadelphus will serve to shew the style of these documents, and at the same time the use in them of certain Septuagint words. It is addressed by the foremen (dekatarchoi) of a gang engaged in a stone quarry to the engineer of the works (architekton):
Kleoni chairein. hoi dekatarchoi ton eleuther[on] latomon adikoumetha; ta gar homologethenta hupo Apolloniou tou dioiketou outhen ginetai hemin, echei de ten graphen Diotimos. spoudason oun hina katha exeilephamen ede, hupo Dionusiou kai Diotimou chrematisthe hemin, kai me ta erga enleiphthe, katha kai emprosthen egeneto. ean gar aisthontai hoi ergazomenoi outhen hemas eilephotas ton sideron enechura thesousin.
4. Simultaneously with the growth of the colloquial mixed dialect, a deliberate attempt was made at Alexandria to revive the glories of classical Greek. The first Ptolemy, who had been the companion of Alexander's early days, retained throughout his life a passion for literature and learning. Prompted, perhaps, by Demetrius of Phalerum, Soter founded at Alexandria the famous Museum, with its cloisters and lecture rooms and dining hall where scholars lived a common life under a warden appointed by the King . To Soter is also attributed the establishment of the great library which is said to have contained 400,000 MSS . Under his successor the Museum and Library became a centre of literary activity, and the age to which the inception of the Greek Bible is usually ascribed produced Aratus, Callimachus, Herondas, Lycophron, and Theocritus. There is however no reason to suppose that the Jewish translators were officially connected with the Museum, or that the classical revival under Soter and Philadelphus affected them directly. Such traces of a literary style as we find in the Greek Pentateuch are probably due not to the influence of the scholars of the Royal Library, but to the traditions of Greek writing which had floated down from the classical period and were already shaping themselves under altered conditions into a type of Greek which became the common property of the new Hellenism.
5. The later Greek, the koine or Hellenike dialektos -- the dialect in general use among Greek-speaking peoples from the fourth century onwards -- was based on Attic Greek, but embraced elements drawn from all Hellenic dialects. It was the literary language of the cosmopolitan Hellas created by the genius of Alexander. The change had begun indeed before Alexander. Even Xenophon allows himself to make free use of words of provincial origin, and to employ Attic words with a new connotation; and the writings of Aristotle mark the opening of a new era in the history of the Greek language . But the golden age of the koine begins in the second century with Polybius (c. B.C.145), and extends a century or two beyond the Christian era, producing such writers as Diodorus Siculus (B.C.40), Strabo (A.D.10), Plutarch (A.D.90), and Pausanias (A.D.160). The language used by the writers of the Greek Diaspora may be regarded as belonging to a subsection of an early stage of the koine, although, since the time of Scaliger, it has been distinguished from the latter by the term 'Hellenistic .' A 'Hellenist ' is properly a foreigner who affects Greek manners and speaks the Greek tongue. Thus the Jewish Greek spoken in Palestine was 'Hellenistic' in the strictest sense. The word is often used to describe the Greek of such thoroughly Hellenised writers as Philo and Josephus, and the post-apostolic teachers of the ancient Church; but it is applied with special appropriateness to the Alexandrian Bible and the writings of the New Testament, which approach most nearly to the colloquial Greek of Alexandria and Palestine.
6. Such were the local types of Greek upon which the Jewish translators of the O.T. would naturally mould their work. While the colloquial Greek of Alexandria was their chief resource, they were also influenced, in a less degree, by the rise of the later literary style which was afterwards known as the koine.
We are now prepared to begin our examination of the vocabulary and grammar of the Alexandrian Bible, and we may commence by testing the vocabulary in the translated books. Let us select for this purpose the first three chapters of Exodus, 1 Kingdoms, 2 Chronicles, Proverbs, and Jeremiah, books which are, perhaps, fairly representative of the translation as a whole. Reading these contexts in the Cambridge manual edition, and underlining words which are not to be found in the Greek prose of the best period, we obtain the following results. In Exod. i. -- iii. there are 19 such words; in 1 Regn. i. -- iii., 39; in 2 Chron. i. -- iii., 27; in Prov. i. -- iii., 16; in Jer. i. -- iii., 34; making a total of 135 later words in 15 chapters, or nine to a chapter. Of these words 52 -- considerably more than a third -- appear to be peculiar to the LXX., or to have been used there for the first time in extant literature.
The following are the Septuagintal words observed in the above-named passages. Verbs: andrioun, deuteroun, diodeuein, eneulogeisthai, exolethreuein, exouthenei , euodoun, katakleronomein, kataskopeuein, katemblepein, katodunan, olethreuein, orthotomein, orthrizein, pneumatophoreisthai, ptochizein, skopeuein, sunedriazein, trietizein, tropheuein, philechthran. Nouns: agape, asunthesia, asphaltopissa, bdelugma, genema, doma, ergodioktes, thlimmos, katapetasma, krima, latomos, methusma, holokautoma, holokautosis, orophoma, pantokrator, pros?lutos proskomma, rhoiskos, suntrimma. Foreign words (a) with Greek terminations: habra, thibis, siklos; (b) transliterated: ailam, dabeir, ephoud bar, nebel, eloe sabaoth, oiphi, sersereth, cheroubeim.
A similar experiment has been made by Dr H. A. A. Kennedy in reference to one of the books of the Pentateuch. Of 110 late words and forms observed in Deut. i. -- x. he found that 66 belonged to Biblical Greek, 16 of these being peculiar to the LXX.; of 313 such words in the entire book, 152 proved to be Biblical, and 36 peculiar to the Old Testament; nearly half belonged to the koine, and more than a fourth had been used by the writers of tragedy and comedy.
A complete list of the late words in the LXX. is still desideratum. Lists which have been made for the N.T. shew that out of 950 post-Aristotelian words about 314 -- just under one third -- occur also in the Greek O.T. But the writers of the N.T. have taken over only a part -- perhaps a relatively small part -- of the vocabulary of the LXX. As Dr T. K. Abbott has pointed out , Psalm l. (li.) alone yields four important words (agathunein, akoutizein, anomema, antanairein) which find no place in the N.T. This fact is suggestive, for the Psalm is doctrinally important, and the words are such as would have lent themselves readily to N.T. use.
The following LXX. words are condemned by Phrynichus as non-Attic: aichmalotizesthai, apotassesthai, basilissa, bounos, brechein (in the sense of huein), gregorein, eleusesthai, exadelphos, katorthoma, megistan, methusos, oikodome, paidiske, papuros, parembole, pepoithesis, plexai, rhapisma, rhume, skorpizesthai, sussemon. Some of these words are said to be provincialisms; e.g. bounos is Sicilian, skorpizesthai is Ionic, parembole and rhume are Macedonian .
As our knowledge of Alexandrian Greek increases, it may be that the greater part of the words which have been regarded as peculiar to the LXX. will prove to belong to the usage of Egyptian Greek. Deissmann has already shewn that many well-known Septuagintal words find a place in the Greek papyri of the Ptolemaic period, and therefore presumably belonged to the language of business and conversation at Alexandria. Thus gonguzein occurs in a papyrus of 241 -- 239 B.C.; ergodioktes, 255 B.C.; parepidemos, 225 B.C.; forms such as eltha, epelthosan, gegonan, oides, can be quoted from the papyri passim; anastrephesthai and anastrophe in an ethical sense, ?eitourgein in reference to the service of a deity, peritemnesthai of circumcision, presbuteros of an official, are shewn to have been in use in Egypt under the Ptolemies. In many cases however words receive a new connotation, when they pass into Biblical Greek and come into contact with Hebrew associations. As examples the following may suffice: angelos, grammateus, diabolos, eidolon, ethne, ekklesia, pantokrator, pentekoste, proselutos, christos.
The forms of many words have undergone a change since the age of classical Greek. A few specimens may be given from the pages of Phrynichus:
Attic Greek. Greek of the LXX. Attic Greek. Greek of the LXX. apokrinasthai apokrithenai miaros mieros apheileto apheilato mochlos moklos (MSS.) achri, mechri achris, mechris neossos, -sia nossos, -sia genesthai genethenai noumenia neomenia glossokomeion glossokomon orthrios orthrinos dipsen dipsan oudeis outheis duoin dusi peinen peinan edeito edeeto pecheon pechon heurema heurema podapos potapos katha kathos tachuteron tachion katamuein kammuein
7. But the vocabulary of the LXX. is not its most characteristic feature. With no other vocabulary than that of the Alexandrian translators, it might be possible to produce a fairly good piece of Greek prose in the style of the later prose writers. It is in its manner, in the construction of the sentences and the disposition of the words, that the Greek of the LXX. is unique, and not only or chiefly in its lexical eccentricities. This may perhaps be brought home to the student most effectually by a comparison of the Greek Bible with two great Hellenistic writers of the first century A.D. (a) In the works of Philo we have a cultured Hellenist's commentary on the earlier books of the LXX., and as he quotes his text verbatim, the student can discern at a glance the gulf which divides its simple manner, half Semitic, half colloquial, from the easy command of idiomatic Greek manifested by the Alexandrian exegete. We will give two brief specimens.
Philo de opif. mundi 7: phesi d' hos en arche epoiesen ho theos ton ouranon kai ten gen, ten archen paralambanon, ouch hos oiontai tines ten kata chronon; chronos gar ouk en pro kosmou, all' e sun auto gegonen e met' auton; epei gar diastema tes tou kosmou kineseos estin ho chronos, protera de tou kinoumenou kinesis ouk an genoito, all' anankaion auten e husteron e hama sunistasthai, anankaion ara kai ton chronon e iselika kosmou gegonenai e neoteron ekeinou; presbuteron d' apophainesthai tolman aphilosophon. De migr. Abrahami 39: ean mentoi skopoumenos me rhadios katalambanes ha zeteis, epimene me kamnon . . hou charin ho philomathes tou topou Suchem eneileptai, metalephthen de tounoma Suchem omiasis kaleitai, ponou sumbolon, epeide tois meresi toutois achthophorein ethos, hos kai autos heterothi memnetai legon epi tinos athletou touton ton tropon Hupetheke ton omon eis to ponein, kai egeneto aner georgos. hoste medepote, o dianoia, malakistheisa oklases, alla kan ti doke dustheoreton einai, to en saute blepon dianoixasa diakupson eiso.
(b) Josephus is not a commentator, but a historian who uses the LXX. as an authority, and states the facts in his own words. We will contrast a few passages of the Greek Bible with the corresponding contexts in the Antiquities.
Exod. ii.2 -- 4. Joseph. ant. ii.9.4.
eskepasan auto menas treis . . . elaben auto he meter autou thibin, kai katechrisen auten asphaltopisse kai enebalen to paidion eis auten . . . kai kateskopeuen he adelphe autou makrothen mathein ti to apobesomenon auto. treis men menas par autois trephousi lanthanontes . . . mechanontai plegma biblinon . . epeita chrisantes asphalto . . entitheasi to paidion . . . Mariame de tou paidos adelphe . . antiparexeei pheromenon hopoi choresei opsomene to plegma.1 Regn. i.1 -- 4. Joseph. ant. v.10.2.
anthropos en ex Harmathaim . . ex orous Ephraim . . kai touto duo gunaikes; onoma te mia Hanna kai te mia Phennana. kai en te Phennana paidia, kai te Hanna ouk en paidion . . plen hoti ten Hannan egapa Elkana huper tauten. aner ton en meso politon tes Ephramou klerouchias Rhamathan polin katoikon egamei duo gunaikas Hannan te kai Phennanan. ek de tautes kai paides auto ginontai, ten de heteran ateknon ousan agapon dietelei.
2 Chronicles iii.1 -- 2. Joseph. ant. viii.3.1.
kai erxato Salomon tou oikodomein ton oikon Kuriou . . kai erxato oikodome en to meni to deutero en to etei to tetarto tes basileias autou. tes de oikodomias tou naou Solomon erxato tetarton etos ede tes basileias echon meni deutero.
Isa. xxxix.6 -- 7. Joseph. ant. x.2.2.
idou hemerai erchontai kai lempsontai panta ta en to oiko sou kai . . . eis Babulona hexei . . . kai apo ton teknon sou hon genneseis lempsontai, kai poiesousin spadontas en to oiko tou basileos ton Babulonion. isthi ou met' oligon chronon eis Babulona sou touton metatethesomenon ton plouton kai tous ekgonous eunouchisthesomenous kai apolesantas to andras einai, to Babulonio douleusontas basilei.
Josephus, it will be seen, has rewritten each passage, and in doing so, has not only modified the vocabulary, but revolutionised the style. On turning from the left hand to the right hand column we pass from a literal translation of Semitic texts to an imitation of classical Greek. But the contrast is not entirely due to the circumstance that the passages taken from the Septuagint are translations, while the Antiquities is an original work. Translations, however faithful, may be in the manner of the language into which they render their original. But the manner of the LXX. is not Greek, and does not even aim at being so. It is that of a book written by men of Semitic descent, who have carried their habits of thought into their adopted tongue. The translators write Greek largely as they doubtless spoke it; they possess a plentiful vocabulary and are at no loss for a word, but they are almost indifferent to idiom, and seem to have no sense of rhythm. Hebrew constructions and Semitic arrangements of the words are at times employed, even when not directly suggested by the original. These remarks apply especially to the earlier books, but they are true to a great extent in regard to the translations of the second century; the manner of the older translations naturally became a standard to which later translators thought it right to conform themselves. Thus the grandson of Jesus son of Sirach writes his prologue in the literary style of the Alexandrian Jews of the time of Euergetes, but in the body of the work he drops into the Biblical manner, and his translation differs little in general character from that of the Greek version of Proverbs.
8. From the general view of the subject we proceed to a detailed account of some of the more characteristic features of the language of the LXX. They fall under three heads -- orthography, accidence, syntax. Under the second head a full list of examples from the Pentateuch will be given, with the view of familiarising the beginner with the vocabulary of the earlier books.
I. ORTHOGRAPHY.
In the best MSS. of the LXX. as of the N.T. a large number of peculiar spellings occur, of which only a part can be assigned to itacism and other forms of clerical error. In many of the instances where the great uncial MSS. of the Greek Bible persistently depart from the ordinary orthography they have the support of inscriptions contemporary with the translators, and it is manifest that we have before us specimens of a system which was prevalent at Alexandria and other centres of Greek life during the third and second centuries before Christ.
To a considerable extent the orthography of the MSS. is the same in the LXX. and the N.T. The student may find ample information with regard to the N.T. in the Notes on Orthography appended to Westcott and Hort's Introduction, and in the best N. T. grammars (Ph. Buttmann, Winer-Moulton, Winer-Schmiedel, Blass). But even in MSS. which like 'BAC originally contained the whole of the Greek Scriptures, the Greek Old Testament possesses an orthography which is in part peculiar to itself, and certain features which are common to both Old and New Testaments are found with greater frequency and with a wider application in the LXX. than in the N.T. The reader of the Cambridge manual LXX. who is interested in this question, can readily work out the details from the apparatus criticus, and more especially from the appendix, where he will find all the spellings of the uncial MSS. employed which were not thought worthy of a place in the footnotes to the text. For those to whom orthography is of little interest the specimens given below will probably suffice.
Consonants. Assimilation neglected in compounds: engastrimuthos, sunkatakleronomein, sunseismos, enkainia, encheiridion. Assimilation where there is no composition: em meso, eg gastri. Use of n ephelkustikon before consonants (omission is rare, except in a few cases such as pasi before the art.); use of the final s in achris, mechris, houtos, antikrus. Retention of the m in fut. and aor. pass. of lambanein (lempsomai, elemphthen), and in words formed from it, e.g. proslempsis. Outheis, metheis (see p.297, note) for oudeis, medeis. G dropped in the middle of a word between vowels, as kraue, olios, pheuein (especially in cod. '). Rh not doubled in compounds, e.g. epirantizein, koloboris, kataraktos, and reduplicated in the augment (rherantismenos); ss for tt in elasson, hesson, arsen, tharsein. In some verbal forms consonants are doubled, e.g. bennein, ktennein, chunnein. Rough and smooth consonants are occasionally exchanged, e.g. kuthra (1 Regn. ii.14, B) for chutra.
Vowels. Ei for i in syllables where i is long, e.g. Semitic words such as Leuei, Leueites, Daueid, Seion, and Greek words as trapezeites, geinesthai, geinoskein. Also (perhaps by itacism) in innumerable instances of ? ; e.g. horeion, aletheinos, adikeia, kreinein. I for ei, e.g. tichos, litourgein, aliphein, alimma, kateliphthen, paradigma, danizein, ophiletes, aigios, and esp. in nouns in -eia, -eia, e.g. apolia, endia, paidia, Samaria, stratia, and those in eion, as danion, eidolion. A for e, as eraunan; e for a, as ekatheristhen, mieros, tesserakonta. Omission of a syllable consisting of i, as in pein, tameion. Prefixing of a vowel, as in echthes.
Breathings. Rough breathing for smooth: e.g. ouch holigos, eph' helpidi, ephide, ouch heisakousomai (Jer. vii.16), kath' hophthalmous (Ezech. xx.14). Similarly we find halsos, halopex, heniautos Dt. xiv.20 (Nestle, Septuagintastudien i. p.19, ii. pp.12, 13, 20 f.). Smooth breathing for rough: ouk eneken (2 Regn. vii.12), ouk uparchei (Job xxxviii.26, A).
Abnormal spellings such as these occur on every page of an uncial MS. of the LXX. and sometimes cause great perplexity to an editor of the text. So far as they correctly represent the written or spoken Greek of the period, their retention is, generally speaking, desirable. In some cases the MSS. are unanimous, or each MS. is fairly persistent in its practice; in others, the spelling fluctuates considerably. The Cambridge manual LXX. usually adopts a spelling which is persistently given by the MS. whose text it prints, and on the same principle follows the fluctuations of its MS. where they are of any special interest. But the whole question of orthography is far from having reached a settlement.
II. ACCIDENCE. We will deal with (i.) the formation of words, (ii.) the declension of nouns, (iii.) the conjugation of verbs.
(i.) Formation of words.
(a) Words formed by termination:
Verbs. In -oun from nouns in -os: amauroun, apodekatoun, apolutroun, apotuphloun, asphaltoun, diabioun, ektupoun, elattonoun, epidiploun, epipemptoun, eruthrodanoun, euodoun, thanatoun, katachrusoun, kuroun, palaioun, parazeloun, perikukloun, sunkuroun. In -izein, -azein -iazein, -uzein: hagiazein, hairetizein, akoutizein, anabibazein, anathematizein, apogalaktizein, augazein, aphagnizein, aphanizein, aphorizein, badizein, geloiazein, gruzein, danizein, diagonguzein, diaskedazein, diaskorpizein, diachorizein, ektherizein, ekklesiazein, ekmuelizein, ekspermatizein, ektokizein, entaphiazein, enupniazein, enotizesthai, exeikonizein, exetazein, exoplizein, exorkizein, epikluzein, epirantizein, episkiazein, epistoibazein, epiphemizein, thusiazein, katabiazein, kataskiazein, katasophizein, kledonizein, komizein, kouphizein, lepizein, leukathizein, makarizein, melizein, oionizein, onuchizein, optazein, orthrizein, paradeigmatizein, paradoxazein, paralogizein, periaspizein, perionuchizein, perirantizein, pleonazein, poluchronizein, prosengizein, prosochthizein, sabbatizein, skepazein, spermatizein, sterizein, stochazein, sumpodizein, sunathroizein, sunoikizein, sphakelizein, scholazein, teichizein, phaulizein, phlogizein, chlorizein, chronizein, psomizein.
In -euein: anchisteuein, diodeuein, exolethreuein, hierateuein, katadunasteuein, katakurieuein, kataphuteuein, katocheuein, metalleuein, propheteuein, prototokeuein, stratopedeuein, tropheuein, hudreuein.
Nouns. In -ma, from verbs: hagiasma, hagnisma, adikema, ainigma, allagma, anastema, anomema, antapodoma, apodoma, asebema, augasma, aphairema, bdelugma, diegema, dikaioma, diorugma, dichotomema, doma, enkatalimma, edesma, ekkolamma, ektupoma, epithema, epikalumma, epitedeuma, hepsema, hemiseuma, thereuma, thumiama, thusiasma, hierateuma, karpoma, katakauma, katapetasma, kauchema, klemma, lepisma, holokautoma. horama, opheilema, ochuroma, paradeigma, parathema, pararuma, perithema, peripsoma, prosochthisma, prostagma, protogenema, stereoma, sunantema, sunkalumma, sustema, tagma, timema, toxeuma, phalakroma, phulagma, phurama, chortasma, choneuma.
In -mos, from verbs: aphanismos, gongusmos, endelechismos, enporismos, exilasmos, episitismos, himatismos, katharismos, merukismos, oionismos, horismos, horkismos, paroxusmos, peirasmos, stathmos, stenagmos, phragmos, chorismos.
In -sis, from verbs: anairesis, anamnesis, apokidarosis, aphesis, bebaiosis, gongusis, gumnosis, delosis, diabasis, diasaphesis, ekdikesis, ekstasis, ekchusis, eperotesis, katakarposis, kataleipsis, kataschesis, katoikesis, holokarposis, holokautosis, homoiosis, plerosis, poreusis, prasis, sunkrasis, sunantesis, suntimesis, sustasis, tapeinosis, huperorasis, huperopsis, hupostasis, phausis, charakosis, chereusis.
In -e, from verbs: aloiphe, anazuge, aposkeue, apostole, apostrophe, aphe, diaskeue, doche, ektribe, entole, epagoge, episkope, kataphuge, holke, parabole, pronome, prophulake, sunagoge, trope.
In -tes, from verbs (m.): ainigmatistes, entaphiastes, exngetes, epithumetes, hermeneutes, polemistes, rhaphideutes, skepastes, scholastes.
Adjectives. In -inos: deilinos, dermatinos, karuinos, ostrakinos, prasinos, sturakinos, phloginos.
In -ios: eniausios, homometrios, poluchronios, hupocheirios.
In -ikos: arsenikos, eirenikos, lampenikos, leitourgikos, lithourgikos, murepsikos, patrikos, poikiltikos, polemikos, prophasistikos.
In -tos: akataskeuastos, halusidotos, aoratos, aperikathartos, epikataratos, eulogetos, laxeutos, misthotos, onomastos, pleonastos, phorologistos.
(b) Words formed by composition:
Verbs compounded with two prepositions: anthuphairein, antapodounai, apokathistan, enkataleipein, enperipatein, exanastellein, episunistan, katemblepein, paremballein, sunanalambanein, sunanastrephesthai, sunapolluein, sunekpolemoun, sunepakolouthein, sunepiskeptein, sunkatakleronomein, sunparalambanein, sunpropempein.
Nouns. Compounded with nouns: asphaltopissa, dasupous, heterozugos, kamelopardalis, koloboris, makroemeros, makrochronios, mikrothumos, holokleros, holoporphuros, polueleos, poluchronios, sklerotrachlos, choirogrullion.
Compounded with a prefix or preposition : antiprosopos, Antilibanos, archidesmophulax, archidesmotes, archiereus, archimageiros, archioinochoos, archisitopoios, epipemptos, euprosopos, kataloipos, kataxeros, paralios, parepidemos, peridexion, perilupos, perioikos, perichoros, hupandros, hupermekes.
Compounded with a verb stem, and forming a fresh noun or a verb: anemophthoros, glossotmetos, ergodioktes, thanatephoros, therialotos, therobrotos, hippodromos, ischnophonos, ktenotrophos, numphagogos, sitopoios, sphurokopos, telesphoros, charopoios, dichotomein, zoogonein, klopophorein, kreanomein, lithobolein, limanchonein, neurokopein, ornithoskopein, sumbolokopein, teknopoiein, psoragrian.
(ii.) Declension of nouns:
Declension 1. Nouns in -r?, -uia, form gen. in es, dat. e, machaire, machaires Gen. xxvii.40, Exod. xv.9 (|vielfach bei A, bes. in Jerem.,| W.-Schm.), kunomuies Exod. viii.17, epibebekuies 1 Regn. xv.20
Declension 2. Certain nouns in -ous end also in -os, e.g. cheimarros, adelphidos. The Attic form in -eos disappears; e.g. laos and naos are written for leos and neos -- the latter however occurs in 2 Macc. (A). Nouns in -archos pass occasionally into the first declension, e.g. toparches Gen. xli.34, komarches Esth. ii.3, genesiarches Sap. xiii.3 osteon usu. contr. in nom. acc., uncontr. in gen. dat.
Declension 3. Uncontracted forms are frequent, as bathea Job xii.22, pecheon, cheileon, and in the plural nom. and acc. of neuters in -as, as kerata, perata. Geras makes gen. gerous dat. gerei. Metaplasmus occurs in some words, e.g. duo, dusi, pan with masc. noun, pule, pulesin (3 Regn. xxii.11, A), sabbata, sabbasin, tessares tessarois, cheir, cheiran. Acc. in -an for -a, nuktan Exod. xiii.21, tinan Nah. iii.19, and freq. in ' and A .
Proper nouns. Many are mere transliterations and indeclinable, e.g. Adam, Abraam, Ioseph, Samouel, Daueid, Achaab, Eleiou, Eleisaie, Daniel. On the other hand some well-known names receive Greek terminations and are declined, as Mouses or Moses, Iesous, Hezekias, Esaias, Ieremias; while some are found in both forms, e.g. we have both Eleiou and El(e)ias, Manasse, and Manasses, Solomon indecl. and Solomon gen. -monos or -montos. But in the translated books the indeclinable forms prevail, and there is no appearance of the forms Abramos, Israelos, Iosepos, which are familiar to the reader of Josephus. In the case of local names transliteration is usual, e.g. Ierousalem, Bethleem, Baithel, Seion. A few however have Greek terminations, as Samareia or Samaria, Iordanos, and some names of foreign localities are Hellenised, as Babulon, Suria, he eruthra thalassa, Idoumaia, Aiguptos, and the two Egyptian towns Heroon polis (Gen. xlvi.28), Heliou polis (Exod. i.11). The declension of the Hellenised names presents some irregularities; thus we find Mouses, -se, -sei, -sen; Iesous, -sou, -soi, -soun; Manasses, -se.
(iii.) Conjugation of verbs
Augments. Doubled, as in kekaterantai Num. xxii.6, xxiv.9, apekatestesen Gen. xxiii.16, paresuneblethe Ps. xlviii.13, 21 (A). Prefixed to prepositions, e.g. epronomeusan Num. xxi.1, Deut. ii.35, epropheteusan Num. xi.25 f., enotisanto 2 Esdr. xix.30 (B). Lengthened, as emellon Sap. xviii.4, eboulomen Isa. i.29, xiii.9, edunethen, edunasthen 2 Chr. xx.37, Jer. v.4. Omitted, as in anethe Jud. viii.3, aphethe Isa. xxxiii.24, autarkesen Deut. xxxii.10, exolothreuen 1 Chr. xxi.15, iden Gen. i.4, katorthothe 2 Chr. xxxv.10.
Tenses and Persons. (1) Verbs in -o. New presents, as amphiazo, gregoro, benno, ktenno. Futures and aorists with reduplication: kekraxomai (Job vi.5), ekekraxa (Num. xi.2), epepoithesa (Jud. ix.26 A); cf. ekekragon, Isa. vi.3. Contracted futures in -o from -aso: erga Gen. iv.2, harpa Lev. xix.13, ekdikatai Deut. xxxii.43, enkaucha Ps. li.3, sumbiba Isa. xl.13, apodokimo Jer. xxxviii. (xxxi.) 37. Futures (and aor.) with short vowels, poneso, Isa. xix.10. Irregular futures: edomai, phagomai, cheo (Exod. iv.9). Second aor. forms with termination in -a: eidamen 1 Regn. x.14, ephugan 2 Regn. x.14, ephagamen 2 Regn. xix.42, elthato Esth. v.4. Person endings: 2nd p. s. pres. pass. or middle in -sai: piesai, phagesai (Ezech. xiii.18, Ruth ii.9, 14), apexenousai 3 Regn. xiv.6.3rd p. pl. imperf, and aor. act. in -osan: egennosan Gen. vi.4, elthosan Exod. xv.27, kateliposan Exod. xvi.24, katenoousan Exod. xxxiii.8, enomousan Ezech. xxii.11; cf. the opt. ainesaisan Gen. xlix.8, elthoisan Deut. xxxiii.16.3rd p. pl. aor. mid. in -ento: epelathento Jud. iii.7 (A), Hos. xiii.6 (B), Jer. xviii.15 (B*A), &c.3rd p. pl. perf. act. in -an: heorakan Deut. xi.7; pepoithan, Judith vii.10.2nd p. s.1st aor. and perf. act. in -es; apestalkes Exod. v.22; edokes, 2 Esdr. xix.10, Ezech. xvi.21. (2) Verbs in -mi. From eimi we have emen, estha. From kathemai, kathou Ps. cix. (cx.) 1. From histemi, hestekenai, hestekos. From didomi, edideto Exod. v.13 (A), Jer. xii.34; doi, Ps. xli.3 (B), 2 Regn. iii.39 (A).
III. SYNTAX.
Many of the irregularities which fall under this head are due to the influence of the Hebrew text or of Semitic habits of thought. These will be treated in the next section. In this place we shall limit ourselves to constructions which appear to be characteristic of the Greek idiom used by the translators.
Cases and Numbers. Nom. for voc., e.g. ho theos for thee, Ps. xxi.2, esp. in the phrase Kurie ho theos; thugater = thugater, Ruth ii.2, 22, iii.1, &c. Disuse of the Dual.
Comparison. Use of a preposition with the positive for the comparative, e.g. megas para pantas, Exod. xviii.11; agathos huper deka, 1 Regn. i.8.
Numerals. Hepta = heptakis, Gen. iv.24. Omission of kai when numbers are coupled, e.g. deka duo, deka hex, deka tente, &c.
Verbs. Relative rarity of the optative mood , and disappearance of that mood in dependent clauses. Periphrasis with eimi, e.g. pepoithos esomai, 2 Regn. xxii.3; isthi pepoithos, Prov. iii.5. Indicative with an: imperf. and aor., hotan eisercheto, Gen. xxxviii.9; hotan eperen, Exod. xvii.11; hotan katebe, Num. xi.9; heniaa an eiseporeueto, Jud. vi.3; ean espeiran, Jud. vi.2. Coordination of indicative with conjunctive: Exod. viii.8 exapostelo autous, kai thusosi, Lev. vi.2 psuche ean hamarte kai . . .paride . . . kai pseusetai, e edikesen . . . e heuren . . . kai pseusetai . . . kai omose ktl. Use of infinitive, with or without the article, to express object, purpose, subject, or result ; e.g. (a) ezetei anelein, Exod. ii.15: erxato tou oikodomein, 2 Chr. iii.1; (b) paraginetai boethenai, 2 Regn. viii.5; apesteilen tou idein, Gen. viii.7; (c) sunebe kremasthenai, Gen xli.13; to proskollasthai agathon Ps. lxxii.28; (d) ho theos ego tou thanatosai kai zoopoiesai, 4 Regn. v.7.
Connexion of the sentence. Use of gen. abs. in reference to the subject of the verb: e.g. poreuomenou sou . . . hora, Exod. iv.21. Anacoluthon: idon de Pharao . . . ebarunthe he kardia Pharao, Exod. ix.7. Use of the finite verb where the classical language prefers to employ a participle.
9. Besides the non-classical forms and constructions which may fairly be placed to the credit of Alexandrian Greek, the translated books of the Greek Bible naturally exhibit a large number of irregularities which are of Semitic origin. The following are examples.
(a) Lexical.
1. Transliterations, and Greek words formed from the Hebrew or Aramaic.
2. Words coined or adopted to express Semitic ideas, as akrobustia, anathematizein, holokautoma, skandalizein, splanchnizein.
3. Phrases answering to the Hebrew idiom: e.g. arton phagein = 'kl lchm, eleos poiein meta tinos = sh chsd m, enopion tou kuriou = lphnyyhvh, zetein psuchen = bqs nphs, thusia soteriou = slmym zvch, lambanein prosopon = ns' phnym, pasa sarx = klbsr, huios tesserakonta kai henos eniauton = bn'rbym v'cht snch.
4. Words with a new connotation: hagios, hamartolos, arete, aphorisma, aphron, diabolos, diatheke, dikaiosune, ekklesia, eleemosune, exilasmos, kardia, Kurios or ho kurios, leitourgein, mataiotes, hosiotes, peirazein, prophetes, ptochos, sarx, phugadeuterion.
(b) Grammatical .
Nouns. Repeated to express distribution, e. g. anthropos anthropos = 'ys 'ys, Num. ix.10; ethne ethne = gvy gvy, IV Regn. xvii.29. Similarly duo duo, Gen. vi.19; kata mikron mikron (AF), Exod. xxiii.30. Emphatic adverbs also are occasionally doubled after the Hebrew manner, as sphodra sphodra, Exod. i.12, Ezech. ix.9; cf. sphodra sphodros, Gen. vii.19 (A).
Pronouns. Otiose use, e.g. Gen. xxx.1 teleuteso ego ('nky mth); Exod. ii.14 su theleis ('th 'mr); Exod. xxxvi.4 autos, autoi. To Semitic influence is also due the wearisome iteration of the oblique cases of personal pronouns answering to the Hebrew suffixes, e.g. Jer. ii.26 autoi kai hoi basileis auton kai hoi archontes auton kai hoi hiereis auton kai hoi prophetai auton. The fem. haute is occasionally used for touto after the manner of the Heb. z't, as in Gen. xxxv.17, 27, xxxvi.1, Ps. cxvii. (cxviii.) 23; see Driver on 1 Sam. iv.7. To the circumstance that the Hebrew relative is indeclinable we owe the pleonastic use of the pronoun after the Greek relative in such passages as Gen. xxviii.13, eph' hes . . . ep' autes ('sr . . . lyh); Deut. i.22 di hes . . . en aute ('sr . . . bh); Prov. iii.15 hon . . . auton. A similar redundancy occurs with relative adverbs: Deut. ix.28, hothen . . . ekeithen (msm . . . 'sr); II Chr. i.3, hou . . . ekei.
Verbs. The following Hebraisms may be specially noted. Various phrases used to represent the Heb. inf. abs. when prefixed to a finite verb, e.g. Exod. iii.7, idon idon (r'h r'yty); Deut. xxxi.18, apostrophe apostrepso (hstr 'styr); also the Heb. idiom vysph l: e.g. Exod. xiv.13, ou prosthesesthe eti idein, 1 Regn. iii.6 prosetheto kai ekalesen (cf. v.8 proseth. kalesai, Job xxix.1 prostheis eipen (vysph . . . vy'mr). Constructions with prepositions contrary to the Greek idiom: bdelussesthai apo (m?pny), Exod. i.12; pheidesthai epi, Deut. vii.16; eperotan en Kurio (s'l byhvh), 1 Regn. x.22; eudokein en or epi (chphts b). Hebrew forms of adjuration as 1 Regn. iii.14 ei ('m) exilasthesetai, ib.17 tade poiesei soi ho theos, ean . . . A question standing for the expression of a wish: Num. xi.29 kai tis doe panta ton laon Kuriou . . . ; Ps. lii. (liii.) 6 tis dosei ek Seion to soterion tou Israel; Ego eimi followed by an ind. (Jud. vi.18 ego eimi kathisomai, 2 Regn. ii.2 ego eimi poreusomai) -- a construction limited in B to Judges, Ruth, 2 -- 4 Regn. Periphrases such as esomai didonai (Tob. v.15, BA). Pleonastic use of legon = l'mvr, often soloecistically: e.g. Gen. xv.1 egenethe rhema Kuriou . . . legon, xlv.16 dieboethe he phone . . . legontes.
Particles. Pleonastic use of kai and de, (1) in an apodosis, e.g. Num. xv.14, ean . . . prosgenetai, . . . , kai poiesei karpoma; Prov. i.28, estai hotan . . . ego de . . . ; (2) after a participle: Num. xxi.11, kai exarantes . . . kai parenebalon. Use of kai in a coordinated clause, where a dependent clause might have been expected; e.g. Num. xxxv.2, suntaxeis tois huiois Israel, kai dosousin ktl.
Prepositions. See under Verbs. Peculiar uses of the Heb. prepositions are often reflected in the Greek; e.g.1 Regn. i.24, anebe en moscho (bphrym); Lev. xxi.10, ho megas apo ton adelphon autou (hgdvl m?'chyv). A number of new prepositions or prepositional phrases are used to express the Hebrew lphny, e.g. enanti, apenanti, katenanti, enopion, katenopion, apo, epi, pro, prosopou. Similarly opiso represents 'chry; en meso, ana meson, dia mesou = btvk, apo (ek) mesou = m?tvk; dia cheiros, eis cheiras, ek cheiros = byd ,m?yd; hodon = drk. The use of sunto express the prefix 't, which is characteristic of Aquila, occurs in codex A six times in 3 Regn., once in Esther (where it probably came from the Hexapla), and frequently in Ecclesiastes, where even cod. B shews this peculiarity, e.g. Eccl. ii.17 emisesa sun ten zoen ('thchyym) .
10. Both the vocabulary and the syntax of the LXX. exhibit remarkable affinities with the modern language. Mr Geldart (Modern Greek Language, p.102 f.) urges the study of modern Greek upon Biblical students on the ground that |the Greek of the present day affords a better commentary on the language of the LXX. and of the N.T. than the writings of contemporary historians, rhetoricians, grammarians and philosophers .| He adds: |The phraseology of the LXX. is modern to an extent which is quite marvellous . . . let me mention a few well-known words common to the LXX. and modern Greek: episkeptomai, apokrinomai, epistrepho, proskuno, enopion, proskomma, peirazo, akoloutho, koimomai, holos, katoiko, kathezomai, kathizo, ta himatia, hup?ago . . . The Greek of the N.T. . . . is by no means so vulgar, so merely a vernacular, as that of the LXX.| This estimate is perhaps overdone; certainly there are considerations which suggest caution in the use of modern Greek usage as a key to the meaning of the LXX. But the general similarity of the Alexandrian vocabulary and, to a less extent, of the Alexandrian syntax to those of the spoken language indicates a common affinity to the old colloquial Greek, which ultimately triumphed over the classical standards . That the resemblance is less marked in the case of the New Testament is due to the different circumstances under which it was written. Bilingual Palestinian writers of the first century naturally possessed a more limited vocabulary and employed a more chastened style than Alexandrian translators of the time of Philadelphus and Euergetes, who had been born in the heart of a great Greek city teeming with a cosmopolitan population.
11. Some of the non-canonical books of the Greek Old Testament, which were either (a) loosely translated or paraphrased from a Hebrew original, or (b) originally written in Greek, need separate treatment in regard to their lexical and grammatical character. Such are (a) 1 Esdras, Daniel (LXX.), (b) Wisdom, 2 -- 4 Maccabees.
The lexicography of the 'Apocrypha' has been separately treated by C. A. Wahl (Clavis Abr. V. T. apocryphorum philologica, Leipzig, 1853), and with the help of the Oxford Concordance it may be studied independently. But, for the sake of the student who has not the necessary leisure to examine the subject in detail, it is desirable to notice here the more conspicuous words in each of the books referred to above.
1 ESDRAS.
akolouthos = kata, dat. (2 Esdr., 2 Macc.)
euphues (Sap., 2 Macc.)
hierodoulos
anagnostes = grammateus, 2 Esdr. hieropsaltes anamphisbetetos historein anaplerosis (Dan.) katalochismos (1, 2, Chr.) anieroun (3 Macc.) kolakeuein (Job¹, Sap.¹) antigraphon (Esth., Ep.-Jer., 1, 2 Macc.) lesteuein antiparatassein maniake (Dan.) aponoeisthai (2 Macc.) megaleiotes aposemainein meridarchia apostatis (2 Esdr.) metagenesteros bibliophulakion onomatographia demagogein, -gia horkomosia (Ez.) diadema (Esth. Sap., Isa., 2, 4 Macc.) peitharchein (Jer., Dan.) prokathegeisthai (cod. B)
dogmatizein (Esth., Dan., 2, 3 Macc.) propompe
proskephalaion (Ez.)
dussebeia, -bema (2 Macc.) sunbrabeuein eidoleion (Dan., 1 Macc.) somatophulax (Judith, 2 Macc.) emphusioun hupomnematizein epakoustos phorologia (1 Macc.) epidoxos chamaipetes epispeudein (Esth.¹ , Prov.¹ ) chaskein
eromene, he (cod. B) chrematisterion eutharses (1, 2, Macc.) chrusochalinos (2 Macc.) euprepos (Sap.)
DANIEL.
apothaumazein (Sir.) kopanizein (3 Regn.)
apotumpanizein (3 Macc.) maniakes (1 Esdr.¹ )
archieunouchos megaleiotes (1 Esdr.)
archipatriotes (Jos.¹ ) prosopsis (2 Macc.)
damazein sambuke
demeuein sophistes (Exod.¹ )
diamelizein sunaloan
diapuros (3 Macc.) sunmolunesthai
dioiketes (2 Esdr., Tob.) surinx
enkuklios hupatos
eporgizesthai (2 Macc.) huperainetos
estiatoria (4 Regn.) huperendoxos
eukataphronetos hupermegethes (1 Chr.)
eusemos huperupsoun (Ps.^2)
thermasia (Jer.¹ ) huperpheres
kelidousthai (Jer.) philosophos (4 Macc.)
koniama
WISDOM.
This book contains an unusually large vocabulary, consisting in great part of compound words. The following list, taken from c. i. -- vi., will suffice to shew its lexical character .
agerochia (2, 3 Macc.) autoschedios
adiaptotos aphthonos
athanasia (4 Macc.) baskania (4 Macc.)
akatamachetos dekameniaios
akelidotos (Ps.¹ ) diorthotes
akoimetos duschrestos (Isa.¹ )
alazoneuesthai (Ps.¹ ) episphalos
amarantos epitedeios (1 Chr., 1 -- 3 Macc.) amoluntos epiphemizein (Deut.¹ )
anapodismos ergateia
aneklipes euklees (Jer.¹ )
anexikakia eukuklos
anupokritos eumorphia (3 Macc.)
apemantos eustochos
apologia thumeres
apotomos, apotomos idiotes (3 Macc.)
atelestos kakopragia
atimetos (3 Macc.) kakotechnos
katadapanan polugonos (4 Macc.) katalupos pompeuein
katachreos protoplastos
makrobios (Isa.¹ ) stephanephorein monoemeros sungnostos
homoiopathes (4 Macc.) sullogismos (Ex.¹ ) hoplopoiein tekmerion (3 Macc.) paradoxos (Judith, Sir., 2, 4 Macc.) philanthropos
In 2 -- 4 Maccabees the reader finds himself at length face to face with the full richness of the Alexandrian literary style, as it was written by cultured Hellenists of the second and first centuries B.C. The writers, especially the writer of 4 Maccabees, may be said to revel in the use of compound words, many of which may have been of their own coinage. Specimens follow.
2 MACCABEES.
agoranomia euapantetos
akariaios theomachein
akropolis thorakismos
akroteriazein kateuthektein
allophulismos lelethotos
analempteos litaneia
apeuthanatizein hoplologein
archegenetes patroos
asulia polemotrophein
authairetos polupragmonein
barbaroun prosanalegesthai
deilandrian prosupomimneskein
deuterologein splanchnismos
diastalsis summisoponerein
doxikos sunekkentein
duspetema teratopoios
epeulabeisthai psuchagogia
doxikos sunekkentein
duspetema teratopoios
epeulabeisthai psuchagogia
3 MACCABEES.
alogistia anephiktos
amnesikakia asines
aneikastos barueches
anepistreptos buthotrephes
graphikos neanikos
demoteles panodurtos
dikaiokrites paranaginoskein
dusaiaktos poludakrus
eukatallaktos prokataskiroun
kissophullon siderodesmos
laographia hupomastiaios
libanoun hupophrikos
megalokrator phoberoeides
megalomeres charteria
mierophagia cheironomia
misubris psuchoulkein
4 MACCABEES.
haimoboros hieroprepes
anamochleuein isopalis
aposkuthizein kallipais
arthrembolos kerogonia
asthenopsuchos malakopsuchein
asures xiphephoros
autodespotos orophoitein
galaktopoiein pathokrateisthai, -tia
galaktotrophia paidocharakter
eidolothutos pedaliouchein
enankalisma prosepikatateinein
enaposphragizein sumpatheia
epirogologeisthai sunagelazein
heptametor philometor
eulogistia philostorgia
thanatephoros photagogein
In the style of the originally Greek books there is little to remind us of the Semitic origin of the writers. The Wisdom of Solomon follows generally the parallelisms of Hebrew poetry, and its language is moulded to some extent by the LXX., of the Psalms and of Proverbs. In 1 -- 4 Maccabees the influence of the canonical books appears in the retention of transliterated names such as Abraam, Israel, Daniel. But Ierousalem, has become Ierosoluma, and Eleazar is usually Eleazaros. Of Hebrew constructions or modes of thought there is only an occasional instance, whilst it is obvious that the writers lose no opportunity of exhibiting their skill in the literary style of contemporary Alexandrian Greek.
LITERATURE. F. W. Sturz, De dialecto Macedonica et Alexandrina (1808); H. W. J. Thiersch, De Pentateuchi versione Alexandrina, libri iii. (1841); Z. Frankel, Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta (1841); F. W. A. Mullach, Gramm. d. Vulgarsprache in historischer Entwicklung (1856); G. v. Zezschwitz, Profangräcität u. hellenist. Sprachgeist (1859); E. Reuss, art. Hellenistisches Idiom (in Herzog-Plitt, vi., 1880); W. Schmid, Der Atticismus . . . von Dionysius v. Halikarnass bis auf d. zw. Philostratus (Stuttgart, 1889 -- 97); K. Meisterhans, Gramm. d. Attischen Inschriften (1881); R. C. Jebb, App. to Vincent and Dickson's Handbook to modern Greek (1881); E. Hatch, Essays in Biblical Greek (1889), pp.1 -- 130; H. A. A. Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek (1895); G. A. Deissmann, Bibelstudien (1895), and Neue Bibelstudien (1897), -- also his art., Hellenistisches Griechisch, in Hauck, vii. p.627 ff. (Leipzig, 1899), where a full bibliography will be found. Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck (1820); W. G. Rutherford, The new Phrynichus (1881); Du Cange, Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Graecitatis (Lyons, 1688); J. C. Biel, Novus thesaurus philologicus, sive lexicon in LXX. (The Hague, 1779); J. F. Schleusner, Novus thesaurus philologico-criticus . . . V. T. (Leipzig, 1820); E. A. Sophocles, Greek Lexicon for the Roman and Byzantine periods² (1888); H. Anz, Subsidia . . . e Pentateuchi vers. Alex. repetita (in Diss. philolog. Hal. xii. Halle, 1894); J. Viteau, Étude sur le Grec du N.T. comparé avec celui des Septante (Paris, 1896); E. Hatch and H. A. Redpath, Concordance to the Septuagint (1897); Th. Zahn, Einleitung in das N. T., i., pp.24 ff. (1897); Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892 ff.); Archiv für Papyrusforschung (Leipzig, 1899 ff.); G. A. Deissmann, Die sprachl. Erforschung der griech. Bibel, and Die Sprache der griech. Bibel (Th. Rundschau i., p.463 ff.); A. Thumb, Die griechische Sprache im Zeitalter des Hellenismus (Strassburg, 1901).
Much information on points of grammar and orthography may also be gleaned from the N.T. grammars -- A. Buttmann, Grammatik d. NTlichen Sprachgebrauchs (Berlin, 1859); Winer-Moulton, Treatise on the Greek of the N.T.^8 (1877); Winer-Schmiedel, Grammatik d. NTlichen Sprachidioms, Theil i. -- ii. (1894 -- 8); F. Blass, Grammatik d. NTlichen Griechisch (1896, or the same translated by H. St J. Thackeray, 1898); A. R. Jannaris, Historical Greek Grammar (1897); and from the Introduction and Appendix to Westcott and Hort's N. T. in Greek (Intr., pp.302 -- 313, App., pp.148 -- 180). The Gramm. Untersuchungen über die biblische Gräcität of K. H. A. Lipsius is limited to such matters as accentuation, punctuation, and the abbreviations used in Biblical Greek MSS.; but within its own scope it is a serviceable book.
