Chrys C. Caragounis

The Development of Greek and the New Testament

Morphology, Syntax, Phonology, and Textual Transmission

Mohr Siebeck

Chrys C. Caragounis, born 1940; Professor in New Testament Exegesis at Lund University, Sweden.

ISBN 3-16-148290-5

ISSN 0512-1604 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament)

Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de.

© 2004 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany.

This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

Herausgeber / Editor

Jörg Frey

Mitherausgeber / Associate Editors

Friedrich Avemarie · Judith Gundry-Volf

Martin Hengel · Otfried Hofius · Hans-Josef Klauck

167

Σεμνῇ μνήμῃ δυοῖν εὐκλεεστάτοιν υἱοῖν Ἑλλάδος

Γεωργίῳ Χατζιδάκι

(1848–1941)

καὶ

Ἀντωνίῳ Γιάνναρῃ

(1852–1909)

οἳ τὴν περὶ τῶν γραμμάτων ἑλληνίδα ἐπιστήμην ἐκόσμησαν γλῶτταν ἀτθίδα τε καὶ ὑστέραν καὶ νεωτέραν ἀκριβῶς ἠρεύνησαν σαφὴν τὴν ἑνότητα ἁπάσης τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων φωνῆς καταδείξαντες ἡγούμενοι πᾶσι γενόμενοι τοῖς ἐς ἀεὶ μέλλουσιν ἕπεσθαι

τιμῆς ἕνεκα

ἀνατίθημι

Preface

The working title of the present investigation during the period of writing has been A Diachronic and Acoustic Approach to the New Testament. This is exactly what this book is about. Its two main strands of diachrony and acoustics, i.e. the historical development of the language morphologically and especially syntactically as well as the way the message sounded and the consequences of this for exegesis, form the heart of this volume.

The logical point of departure is the year 1528, when Desiderius Erasmus introduced the pronunciation that bears his name. This unfortunate event led to the division of the Greek language into ancient and later Greek. In this way the unity of the language was lost and scholarship became unaware of the continuity that exists between ancient and modern Greek. Since Erasmus’ time the New Testament has been interpreted in the light of classical Greek and during the past one hundred years or so also in the light of the Egyptian papyri. However, because the New Testament emerges during the time when Greek passes from its ancient to its later, modern form, many New Testament words and structures, which have acquired new meaning, cannot be ‘pressed’ through the old filter. They can be interpreted correctly only if the later developments are taken into account. The same applies to the pronunciation employed. Erasmus’ teaching on the pronunciation of Greek was not informed either by the epigraphic or the papyrological evidence; he had only Latin as his gauge. Yet the issue of pronunciation is a far ...