(rl) Correction of Markan phraseology in Mt. or Luke. — The Second Gospel is distinguished hy a rough and unpolished style, reflecting the Greek commonly spoken by the Jews in the 1st century. In the parallels of the other Synoptics there are numerous instances of toning down and pruning Mark's unliterary forms of speech.
As an example, take Mk.'s frequent use of diminutives, often altered in Mt., almost always in Luke. Such are dvyarpLov 5^ 7^ (not elsewhere in NT) = ^irydT7;p Mt. Lk. (no Lukan parallel to 7^) ; Traidiov, Kopa.<nov (the latter a late colloquial word condemned hj the Atticists) 5^^- = Kopaaiov Mt. bis = Tra'is Lk. ; TratSia 10''^ (so Mt. ) = ^p€((>ri Lk. ; IxOi'dia 8' — Mt. has it once, but soon corrects to IxOvas (not in Lk. ) ; TrXoidpiov 3^ (so Jn. ), not in Mt. and Lk. (all the best MSS in Mk 4^ have TrXora as in Mt. and Lk., not TrXotdpta as TR) ; urrdpiov KBD M^*" (also in Jn.) = u)Tioj' Mt. =of's Lk. ; waidiaKT] 14*"^- ^^ (so Mt. Lk. once, but Mt. soon changes it to dW-rj, Lk. to erepos) ; Kwdpia 7^'' (so Mt., no Lukan parallel); ^/-tX'a 7^ (so Mt. , no Lukan parallel ; i/.tx''^*' ^^ Lk 1621 is not in the best MSS).
(e) Other roUoqnia.Usms are frequent in Mark. These are often corrected in Mt., oftener still in Luke. [Those here marked with an asterisk are
expressly condemned by the Atticists]. Such are Kpd^^aros* or Kpa^arros* 2^- "• n (Mt. and Lk. K\lvy), Lk. also KKiviSiov) and 6=* (Mt. omits, Lk. has no parallel, Jn. also has the word) ; crvfi^ovXiov ediooiv [cv.ll. ewoiricTav, eTrot'oi'j'] 3", a. iroLrjaavres 15^, neither elsewhei"e in XT (Mt. has cr. Xa/x^dveiv five times, Lk. difl'erent) : opKi^w* 5", avoided by Mt. and Lk. (Mt 26"^ has e^opKifw) ; iaxdrws cx^l* 5^, corrected byMt. and Lk. (Jusephus has ev iaxdroLs eluai, Ant. IX. viii. 6) ; o-0rpis* [best reading] 8^-'^ (so Mt.), colloquial for ffirvpis (see Deissmann, Bibf. Stiul. p. 158, Eng. tr.); ^Xeirere airo 8'^ 12^, probably colloquial or coined by Mark, corrected or avoided in Mt. and Lk. ; /j.ov6<pea\fjLos* 9*' (so Mt., Lk. has no piirallel) ; TpvuaXLo. pa(pi5os 10^ = Mt. rprj/xa p.-= Lk. Tpfjixa /SeXcifTjs best text {rpv/x. is a late rare word, doubtless colloquial; pacpis* is colloquial); KoWv^iarrj^ * 11'^ (so Mt. and Jn. ; Lk. omits; Jn 2^^- has KepfjuiTiar-ris in addition) ; eKecpaXidicrai' 12^, OTT. \ey. in Gieek, altered in Mt. and Lk. (see § iii. 5 and § vii. below) ; dypevaioaiv 12'* ( = Mt. TrayLdevauicriv, both ott. Xe7. in XT ; Lk. lias €iri\di3(iii'Tai) ; KardXip-a 14" (so Lk., but Mt. omitsi, a colloquialism, though the verb KaraXvti} is classical in the sense of ' halting to rest ' ; eh \-ofl' (/tara) eh H'" (altered in Mt., no parallel in Lk., a colloquialism, eh being made an indeclinable immeral, or else Kara an adverb, see Deissmann, Bib/. Stud. p. 138) ; cvaarifjiov* 14" ( = Mt. ff-^fj-elov); pdiricxp.a* \\^^ (so Jn., but altered in Mt. and Lk.) ; eiVx'?M'=»'* 1 j"*^ in the sense ' rich ' or ' of honourable estate' (altered in Mt. and Lk. ). It is noteworthy, however, that Luke is more particular Avhen cor- recting Mark than when composing his later treatise, for we find KpdSarros in Ac 5'^ 9***, opKi^u in Ac 1913 (cf. I Th o-'" h'opKi^w best text), and evffxvf^^v in tlie above sense in Ac IS''" \~,^'-.
(f) ^Mark's so-called Latinisms must probably be reckoned as Vjeing in reality colloquialisms ; see § iv. below. Such are KevTvpiusv centurio 15'**- ** ( = eKaT6vTapxos, eKarovTapxv^ ^It. Lk. ); ^e<TTTj% sex- tarius ",*, not in the best text of 7* (^It. omits, abbreviating ; no parallel in Lk. ) ; cnreKorXdrup speculator 6-' air. Xey. in Greek (omitted in Mt., no parallel in Lk. ); Kodpdvrrjs quadrans 12^ (omitted in Lk., no parallel in Mt., but the word is found in Mt 5-'^) ; Xeyii^v or Xeyediv legio 5®- 1*, i.e. ' a large number,' which seems to have been its meaning in colloquial Greek (the ji Lk 8=^ has it, but ! Mt 8-^- ^ omits it ; Mt 26^ has the word in its literal, mili- tary sense) ; k^j'o-os census 12" (so Mt., but Lk. (popos) ; TO iKavbv woLelv satisfacere 15" (omitted in Mt. and Lk., cf. Ac 17^ Xa^ovrei to 'iKavov satis a€- cipientes). To these must be added B-qvapiov dena- rius 6^ 121' J45 j^j,(j ^d5ios modius 4-i , which both the other Synoptics have retained.
(g) Thf. Aramaic transliterations in Mk. are a source of some perplexity when we ask the cause of their presence (see below, § v.). But in this connexion they are significant, because almost all of them have been removed by the other Synop- tists. Even in Mk. they are nearly alwajs accom- panied by an interpretation ; the other Evangelists, writing later, probably thought it useless to retain them. They are marks of an early hand, desirous of retaining the ipsissima verba .spoken.
(h) Corrections of grammar, au:kward and dif- ficidt phrases, etc. — L'nder this head we note many instances of smoothing an unpolished style. Thus in 31^* Mark \\Tites Kai 'ldKw3ov, k.t.X., forgetting that he had added a clause about Peter after (XBC*, etc.) /cat ewoi-qaev roi's dJideKa (Westcott-Hort insert a bracket in endeavouring to make Mk. grammatical — surely a desperate expedient) — the difficulty dis appears in Mt. and Lk. : in 4" vfuv to fivo-TTipioo dedoTai is awkward — in Mt. and Lk. yvdvai is in- serted and makes the phrase easy — this probably is not a correction proper, but a case of taking a