HELLENISM, LATINISM AND SEMITISM

HELLENISM, LATINISM AND SEMITISM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Hellenism

Κοινη, LXX, Gnosticism, Philosophy (Plato, Aristotle etc)

Latinism

One of the impact can be seen in the usage of Latin names (Aquila, Crispus, etc.) Along with these, there were financial, commercial and official names/terms used (assarion, denarion, centurion, etc).

Semitism

Semitism (Jewish) is a term which covers Aramaic influences as well as Hebrew. It is defined as a linguistic usage expression or construction typical of a Semitic language appearing in another language. ‘Hebraism’ has basically to do with Hebrew.

i.     The order of words of every Semitic language: the verb tends to come first in the sentence or a clause. This tendency is found in NT Greek (Lk. 1:51-55, Mt. 6:9-13; I Tim 3:16).

ii.   Asyndeton (unconnected/loose) is also a form of Semitism.

iii. Redundant pronoun: the Hebrew relative pronoun is indeclinable and genderless and therefore requires a personal pronoun in the clause which follows. This has influenced certain passages in the NT in which an unnecessary relative pronoun appears after a relative pronoun. (Mk. 7:25).

iv. Redundant use of the preposition are a characteristic feature of Semitic language. It is the repetition of the preposition before every noun of a series which it covers. Such a construction is intolerable in literary Greek. (Mk. 3:76; 6:56; 11:1)

v.   The use of the positive adjective for the comparative or superlative. The Semitic languages, with the exception of Arabic, have no special forms for the comparative and superlative adjectives. Instead, the positive adjective is used (Mk. 9:43; 12:28; Lk. 5:39; Jn. 2:10).

vi. Redundant use of ‘saying’: Indirect speech is unknown in Biblical Hebrew. All speech is recorded directly. So the Hebrew word most closely corresponding to the Greek participle λλεγον ‘saying’ is to introduce the quotation (Mk. 8:25; Matt. 23:1-3; Lk. 14:3)

vii.  Contrast in extreme terms: Contrast in Hebrew is often stated in extreme terms for the sake of emphasis. This was a feature of the Hebrew speech (Matt. 1:2-3; Lk. 14: 26; Matt. 10:37)

viii.                        Introductory “it came to pass”: This Semitism appears far more frequently in Luke’s writing (Lk. 2:6, 15; 3:21; 5:1, 12 etc)

ix. Adjectival substitutes: In Hebrew, the so called construct state largely largely takes the place of the adjectives. In this construction, two nouns stand together and the second noun in the genitive limits or qualifies the first one (Phil 3:21; Lk. 10:6; I Thess 5:5; Col. 1:13)

x.   Future indicate used as an imperative: This construction has probably influenced passages like Mk. 9:35; Lk. 1:13; Matt. 19:18-19.

xi. Verbs and cognate nouns expressing emphasis; The Hebrew verbs form nouns as the infinite absolute, sometimes closely associated with another form of the same verb to express emphasis. (Lk. 22:15; Mk. 21:41)

xii.  Parallelism

xiii.   Redundant use of the verb apo krinomai

xiv.   Use of idou (behold)

xv.     Pleonasms: fillers from the Greek word meaning more, too much. In this, events are described with a wealth of details. (Matt. 13:33; 25:16; Lk. 15:18 etc)

xvi.   Transliteration: This is the most obvious influence of Semitism in the NT. Many Hebrew-Aramaic words were simply transliterated into Greek such as Amen, Manna, Puscha, Gehenna, Sabbaton, Abba, Mammonas, Maranatha, Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani, talitha koumi.

xvii. Meanings: The most important kind of influence exerted by the Semitic language on the NT is in the meaning of certain theological and ethical forms. The Greek outlook on religious and moral values differ greatly from that of the Jews and Greek terms were, of course, used to refer to the Greek outlook. But the Septuagint translators used these terms to represent Hebrew words which neglected Jewish meanings and this gave these Greek terms new meanings.