These may serve as specimens of the difference between the vocabulary of the NT and that of the classie writers. But it must be remembered that our imperfect knowledge makes it impossible to say how many such words, apparently late, are merely old words reappearing after a period of disuse—a phenomenon often exemplified in our own vernacular; or how far, again, they ma. have been long current in colloquial speech, al- though remaining foreign to the language of litera- ture, as, for example, the swarm of everyday deities catalogued by Augustine in his de Civitate Dei, iv. 8, 11, 21, are alien to the Jupiter, Juno, and the rest that make up the literary ‘properties’ of the poets.
But this list of specimen words brings to view certain general characteristics of the NT vocabul- ary; for example, its employment of terms which in the earlier Greek are distinctly literary and even poetic. To some such already given may be added the following: ἀγέλη, ἀδάπανος, ddnuovéw, αἰσθητήριον, ἀλυσιτελής, dudw, ἄμεμπτος, ἀμέριμνος, ἀναθάλλω, ἀνακράζω, ἀνήμερος, ἀπαλλοτριύω, ἀπέραντος,
LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TEST. 33
ἀπόδημος, ἀποφθέγγομαι, ἀποτομία (-μως), ἀποψύχω, ἀσάλευτος, ἀσχήμων, ἄτακτος, ἀτιμάζω, αὐγάζω, αὐθάδης, αὔξω, αὐτόχειρ, αὐχέω, ἄφαντος, ἀφρίζω, βαρέω, βαστάζω, βρέχω, βρώσιμος, γενετή, δέσμιος, διαυγής, διηνεκής, δόλιος, ἔκδηλος, ἐκμάσσω, ἐκτελέω, ἐμβατεύω, ἐμ- παίζω, ἐμφανίζω, ἐνάλιος, ἐπαιτέω, ἐπακροάομαι, ἐπικέλλω, ἐπισφαλής, ἐρείδω, ἐριθίζω, ἐσθής, εὐδία, εὐσχημοσύνη, εὐφροσύνη, ἤπιος, ἠχέω (ἦχος), θανάσιμος, θεοστυγής, θύελλα, θυμομαχέω, ἱκμάς, ἱμείρομαι (ὁμ.), κακόω, καύ- χημα, κενόω, κλαυθμός, κλέος, κλύδων, κολλάω, κραταιός, κυρόω, λάμπω, μαγεύω, μαστίζω, μητρολῴας, μόχθος, μυελός, μωμάομαι, νυστάζω, ὀδύνη, οἰκτιρμός, ὅρασις, οὐρανόθεν, πανοικεί, πανπληθεί, παραλογίζομαι (etc.), παροτρύνω, πενιχρός, πιάζω, πολυποίκιλος, προπετής, ῥιπίζω, ῥυπαρός, σαπρός, σκορπίζω, συμπαθής, τηλαυγῶς, τρόμος, τρύβλιον, τυρβάζω, ὑπερήφανος, φαντάζω, φέγγος, φιμόω, χειμάζομαι, χειραγωγέω, χλιαρός, ὠδίνω.
Conspicuous in it also is the later Greek fond- ness (agreeably to the popular striving after strong expressions) for compounded and sesquipedalian words. Of these the following may serve’as addi- tional representatives: ἀνεκδιήγητος, ἀνεκλάλητος, ἀνεξερεύνητος, ἀνεπαίσχυντος, ἀνταποκρίνομαι, δυσβά- στακτος, ἐμπεριπατέω, ἐξαγοράζω, ἐξακολουθέω, ἐξανα- Tw, ἐξομολογέω, ἐπιγαμβρεύω, ζωογονέω, καταβραβεύω, καταδυναστεύω, κατασοφίζομαι, κατισχύω, λιθοβολέω, ματαιολογία, μετοικεσία, οἱκοδεσποτέω, ὀλιγόψυχος, πατροπαράδοτος, προσαναβαίνω, προσαναπληρόω, προσ- ανατίθημι, προσκαρτερέω, προσπορεύομαι, συναναμίγνυμι, συνευωχέομαι, συνκαταψηφίζω, συναντιλαμβάνομαι, συνυ- ποκρίνομαι, συνυπουργέω.
The biblical writers indulge this partiality still further; as witness such words as the following: ἀγενεαλόγητος, αἱματεκχυσία, ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος, ἀνεξί- κακος, ἀνθρωπάρεσκος, διενθυμέομαι, ἐκζητέω, ἐκμυκτη- ρίζω, ἐκπειράζω, ἐξαστράπτω, ἐπαναπαύω, ἐπιδιατάσσομαι, ἐπιδιορθόω, ἐπισκευάζω, ἐπισυντρέχω, ἱερουργέω, κατα- κληροδοτέω, κατακληρονομέω, καταλιθάζω, κατεξουσιάζω, κατεφίστημι, κατοικητήριον, μισθαποδοσία, ὀρθοτομέω, ὁρκωμοσία, ὀχλοποιέω, παραπικραίνω, περιαστράπτω, ποταμοφόρητος, προενάρχομαι, συναιχμάλωτος, ὑπερεκ- περισσῶς, ὑπερεντυγχάνω, χρηστολογία, χρυσοδακτύλιος. Moreover, not a few decomposite words are found in it—as in general in the later Greek—which have been formed by prefixing a preposition (as ἐπί, διά, παρά, πρό, πρός, σύν, ὑπέρ) to a word already in use. Conversely, simple verbs are sometimes substituted for their compounds more usual in the classie period; as, ἐρωτάω for ἐπερωτάω (Mk 8°), κρύπτω for ἀποκρύπτω (Mt 11>), ἀθροίζω for συναθροίζω (Lk 24°), δειγματίζω for παραδειγματίζω (Mt 1°), ὀχλέω for ἐνοχλέω (Ac 5"), τρέφω for ἀνατρέφω (Lk 415).
Another characteristic of NT Greek (as of modern Greek, and indeed of popular speech in general) appears in the disproportionate number of Ἔτι δὶ diminutives its vocabulary contains : ἀρνίον, γυναικάριον, ἐρίφιον, θυγάτριον, ἰχθύδιον, κλινάριον, κλινίδιον, κοράσιον, κυνάριον, ὀνάριον, ὀψάριον, (παιδίον) παιδάριον, πινακίδιον, πλοιάριον, ποίμνιον, προβάτιον, σανδάλιον, στρουθίον, σχοινίον, φορτίον, ψιχίον, ψωμίον, ὠτάριον, ὠτίον are among them ; and even βιβλαρίδιον, a diminutive of a diminutive, occurs. Several of these words have quite lost any diminutive foree— if indeed they ever had it (cf. e.g. θηρίον, κρανίον, ete.). For ὠτάριον (Mk 1457, Jn 18”), ὠτίον (Mt 26°), Lk (22°) substitutes οὖς.
b. But not merely had later Greek, as it dis- closes itself in the NT, enlarged its vocabulary by the introduction of new words (or the revival of those long disused), it had also modified more or less the meaning of many retained from the classic
eriod. This is exemplified by the meanings sub- joined to the following words: ἀκαταστασία ‘ politi- cal disorder,’ ἀνάκειμαι and ἀναπίπτω ‘recline at table,’ ἀναλύω ‘depart (from life),’ ἀναστρέφομαι “conduct one’s self,’ ἀντίλημψις ‘help,’ ἀποτάσσομαι ‘pid farewell,’ ‘renounce,’ ddavifw ‘render un- sightly,’ γενήματα ‘fruits of the earth,’ δῶμα ‘ house-
38 LANGUAGE OF THE NEW TEST.
top,’ ἔντευξις ‘petition,’ ἐντροπή ‘shame,’ ἐρεύγομαι ‘speak out,’ ¢pwrdw ‘request,’ εὐσχήμων ‘honour- able’ of rank, εὐχαριστέω ‘thank,’ ζωοποιέω * cause | to live,’ ‘quicken,’ καταστολή ‘apparel,’ ξύλον “ἃ tree,’ τὰ περίεργα ‘magic,’ περισπάομαι ‘be dis- tracted’ (with cares, οἷο), πτῶμα (without adjunct) ‘a corpse,’ ῥύμη ‘a street,’ στέλλομαι ‘with raw,’ στιγμή ‘moment,’ συνκρίνω ‘compare,’ ‘interpret,’ συνίστημι ‘establish,’ ‘prove,’ σχολή ‘school,’ σώματα (without adjunct) ‘slaves,’ τρώγω ig. ἐσθίω, φθάνω ‘come to,’ ‘arrive at,’ χορτάζω ‘feed’ (of persons), ὑπάρχω nearly i.g. εἰμί, χρηματίζω ‘be styled’ or ‘called.’ And when the modification is not so marked as in these cases, there is at times a change in frequency of use which indicates a change at least in connotation. This is illus- trated in the use of βλέπω, θεωρέω, and dpdw to express seeing; of ἔρχομαι, πορεύομαι, and ὑπάγω to denote going ; of λαλέω arid λέγω in reference to speaking. The caste or social status, so to speak, of words* varied in ancient as it does in modern times with age and locality.
Many verbs, moreover, which in the earlier lan- guage were commonly transitive, assumed a re- flexive or neuter sense ; 8.6. ἀπέχω (Lk 1553), ἀπορίπτω (Ac 27%), αὐξάνω, αὔξω (Mt 6%, Eph 2"), ἐνισχύω (Ac 9:9), ἐπιβάλλω (Mk 457), κλίνω (LK 9"), παραδίδωμι (perh. | Mk 4”), στρέφω (Ac 7#) and its compounds. On the other hand, some neuter verbs came to be used transitively or causatively ; as, βλαστάνω (Ja 5), βλασφημέω (Mt 27%), yovureréw (Mt 1744), διψάω and | πεινάω (Mt 5°), ἐμπορεύομαι (2 P 2), εὐδοκέω (Mt 12"), μαθητεύω (Mt 28"). An interesting extension of this usage appears in 6 γὰρ ἀπέθανεν... ὃ δὲ ζῇ (Ro 6”).