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GREEK LOAN-WORDS IN THE VULGATE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE LATIN APOSTOLIC FATHERS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2019

THEODORE A. BERGREN Open the ORCID record for THEODORE A. BERGREN [Opens in a new window]
THEODORE A. BERGREN*
Affiliation:
University of Richmond
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tbergren@richmond.edu
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Abstract

Early Latin Christian documents translated from Greek (e.g., Latin translations of the Greek New Testament) contain a large number of Greek loan-words. This article attempts to collect and catalogue the Greek loan-words found in the Vulgate New Testament and the early Latin versions of the Apostolic Fathers. In this literature I have identified some 420 loan-words. The purpose of this article is to systematically categorize, analyze, and comment on these loan-words. In the main section of the article the loan-words are divided into discrete content groups based on their origin and/or meaning. These groups include: (1.) words that originated in Hebrew or Aramaic Vorlagen and that were then transliterated into Greek and then Latin; (2.) words with biblical or ecclesiological orientation that are found exclusively or predominantly in early Christian Latin writings; (3.) words that fall into distinct categories of items, persons or places (e.g., “animals,” “items of clothing,” “gems and minerals,” “human occupations”); and (4.) words of a general character that do not fit in any of the above categories. In this section of the article are listed, for each loan-word: first, the Latin word; second, the Greek Vorlage; third, the meaning(s) of the Latin word; and fourth, one example of a passage in the Vulgate New Testament or the Latin Apostolic Fathers in which the Latin word may be found. Loan-words with special characteristics (e.g., Latin hapax legomena) are commented on individually.

Keywords

GreekLatinloan-wordstranslation literatureChristian literatureNew TestamentApostolic Fathers
Type
Research Article
Information
Traditio , Volume 74 , 2019 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University 2019 

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Footnotes

I am indebted to Profs. H. A. G. Houghton and Rebekah Smith for their invaluable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

References

1 For discussion of Greek loan-words in Latin texts, see: Weise, F. O., Die griechischen Wörter im Latein (Leipzig, 1882)Google Scholar; Deroy, L., L'emprunt linguistique 2nd ed. (Paris, 1980)Google Scholar, esp. 31–35; Marouzeau, J., Quelques aspects de la formation du latin littéraire (Paris, 1949)Google Scholar, esp. 125–41; Mohrmann, C., “Les emprunts grecs dans la latinité chrétienne,” Vigiliae Christianae 4 (1950): 193–211Google Scholar; eadem, Études sur le latin des chrétiens, 4 vols., Storia e letteratura 65, 87, 103, 143 (Rome, 1961–77); L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language (London, 1954) (esp. 184–86); Burton, P., The Old Latin Gospels: A Study of their Texts and Language (Oxford, 2000), 137–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Biville, F., “Grec et Latin: Contacts linguistiques et création lexicale; Pour un typologie des hellenismes lexicaux du latin,” in Lavency, M. and Longrée, D., eds., Actes du Ve Colloque de Linguistique latine (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1989), 29–40Google Scholar; Schrijnen, J., Charakteristik des altchristlichen Latein (Nijmegen, 1932)Google Scholar; and Gäbel, H. and Weise, C., “Zur Latinisierung griechischer Wörter,” Archiv für lateinische Lexicographie und Grammatik 8 (1893): 339–68Google Scholar.

2 Schmoller, Alfred and von Tschischwitz, Beate, eds., Handkonkordanz zum griechischen Neuen Testament (Stuttgart, 2014)Google Scholar; Kraft, Heinrich, ed., Clavis Patrum Apostolicorum (Darmstadt, 1963, 1998)Google Scholar.

3 See note 1.

4 For the sake of completeness, I have included some Latin words that could be considered “borderline” cases in this regard, e.g., hiems < χειμών (Matt. 24:20 et al.).

5 Latin loan-words found in the Greek New Testament and the Greek Apostolic Fathers include: δεπόσιτα (Ign. Poly. 6:2); δηνάριον (Matt. 18:28 et al.); ἐξεμπλάριον (Ign. Eph. 2:1 et al.); κῆνσος (Matt. 22:19 et al.); κοδράντης (Mark 12:42 et al.); κολωνία (Acts 16:12); λεγιών (Matt. 26:53 et al.); μάκελλον (1 Cor. 10:25); πραιτώριον (Matt. 27:27 et al.); σικάριος (Acts 21:38); σουδάριον (Luke 19:20 et al.); σπεκουλάτωρ (Mark 6:27); στατίων (Herm. 54:1–2); τίτλος (John 19:19–20); φραγέλλιον (John 2:15); and φραγελλόω (Matt. 27:26 et al.).

6 The acknowledged master in this field is the renowned Dutch Latinist Christine Mohrmann. Her article, “Les emprunts grecs dans la latinité chrétienne” (see n. 1 above) is seminal in this field. Likewise, vol. 3 of her collected essays (Études sur le latin des chrétiens, Storia e letteratura 103 [Rome, 1965]) contains a wealth of relevant information (consult the subject index). Another important source is Matti A. Sainio's Semasiologische Untersuchungen: Über die Entstehung der christlichen Latinität (Helsinki, 1940), which features extended analyses of many of the lexemes featured in this article (see the following notes). Other relevant reference works include Matzkow, Walter, De vocabulis quibusdam Italae et Vulgatae Christianis: Quaestiones lexicographae (Berlin, 1933)Google Scholar; and Rönsch, Hermann, Itala und Vulgata: Das Sprachidiom der urchristlichen Itala und der catholischen Vulgata (Marburg, 1875)Google Scholar.

7 Interestingly, as Philip Burton notes (Gospels, 147), the earliest Latin translations of the New Testament do sometimes translate Greek technical terms with native Latin equivalents, only to have these supplanted by Greek loan-words in later translations. See also Coleman, R. G. G., “The Formation of Specialized Vocabularies in Philosophy, Grammar, and Rhetoric: Winners and Losers,” in Actes du Ve Colloque de Linguistique latine, ed. trans., and Lavency, M. and Longrée, D., (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1989), 77–89Google Scholar, here 78–79.

8 See Mohrmann, Études, 3.141.

9 See Rönsch, Itala, 257.

10 See Mohrmann, Études 1.47, 156; 3.60, 144, 201; 4.22; Rönsch, Itala, 256.

11 See Rönsch, Itala, 257.

12 See Mohrmann, Études 1.47; 3.104; 4.23.

13 See Rönsch, Itala, 245.

14 See Rönsch, Itala, 249.

15 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.16.

16 See Burton, Gospels, 145; Mohrmann, Études 3.52.

17 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.130; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 54–55.

18 See Mohrmann, Études 1.42, 43, 62; 3.130; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 54–55; Rönsch, Itala, 248; Burton, Gospels, appendix 1.

19 See Mohrmann, Études 3.49, 60–61; 4.18.

20 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 55–56.

21 See Mohrmann, Études 1.11; 3.52, 60; 4.20; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 12–18.

22 See Mohrmann, Études 1.43, 62; 2.238; 4.20.

23 See Mohrmann, Études 1.44; 2.238; 3.60, 64; 4.20.

24 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 56.

25 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 25–32; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 33–35.

26 See Mohrmann, Études 4.334; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 25–32; Rönsch, Itala, 270; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 33–35.

27 See Mohrmann, Études 1.44; 2.27, 238; 3.113; 4.20; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 57–58; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 33–35.

28 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 25–32; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 33–35.

29 See Mohrmann, Études 1.42, 44, 62; 3.60, 113.

30 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60, 101, 113.

31 See Mohrmann, Études 3.113.

32 See Rönsch, Itala, 248; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 32–35.

33 See Mohrmann, Études 4.336.

34 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60–61.

35 See Mohrmann, Études 1.47; 2.238; 3.51, 60–61, 132, 205–6; 4.20, 23; Rönsch, Itala, 465.

36 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 38–45; Rönsch, Itala, 262.

37 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 40–42; Rönsch, Itala, 329.

38 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 3.61, 130, 140; 4.337; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 58; Burton, Gospels, 146.

39 See Mohrmann, Études 1.43, 62; 2.17; 3.104, 121, 205; 4.20, 334.

40 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 58–59.

41 See Mohrmann, Études 1.26; 2.238, 335; 3.113; 4.20; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 42–46.

42 See Mohrmann, Études 2.17, 238; 3.60–61; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 26–29.

43 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 46–49; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 26–29.

44 See Mohrmann, Études 2.17; 3.60–61, 104, 131; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 46–49; Rönsch, Itala, 248; Matzkow, Vocabulis, 26–29.

45 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.50–51, 60, 113, 121; 4.19; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 49–50.

46 See Rönsch, Itala, 243.

47 See Rönsch, Itala, 243.

48 See Mohrmann, Études 1.160; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 60.

49 See Burton, Gospels, 146 and table 3.11; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 108.

50 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238.

51 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 2.238; 3.102, 104, 131; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 50–51.

52 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 60–61.

53 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60, 99, 113, 338–39; 4.224–25.

54 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 2.238; 3.131; 4.334; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 61–63.

55 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.113; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 108.

56 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; Burton, Gospels, 144.

57 See Mohrmann, Études 1.47, 205–7; 2.22, 117, 238; 3.51, 60, 201; 4.23.

58 See Sainio, Untersuchungen, 63.

59 See Mohrmann, Études, passim; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 63–64.

60 See Mohrmann, Études 3.122.

61 See Mohrmann, Études, passim.

62 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60–61.

63 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.60–61, 104, 113.

64 See Mohrmann, Études 3.52, 60–61, 113, 119.

65 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60; Rönsch, Itala, 251.

66 See Mohrmann, Études 3.131; 4.337, 351.

67 See Sainio, Untersuchungen, 64.

68 See Mohrmann, Études 3.131; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 64.

69 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60.

70 See Mohrmann, Études 1.42, 62; 2.17; 3.113.

71 See Mohrmann, Études 2.17; 3.113.

72 See Mohrmann, Études 3.121; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 51–52.

73 See Mohrmann, Études 1.43; 3.205; 4.216.

74 See Mohrmann, Études 3.75.

75 See Rönsch, Itala, 267.

76 See Rönsch, Itala, 254.

77 See Rönsch, Itala, 243.

78 See Rönsch, Itala, 272.

79 See Rönsch, Itala, 244.

80 See Rönsch, Itala, 462.

81 See Rönsch, Itala, 244.

82 See Rönsch, Itala, 215.

83 See Rönsch, Itala, 259.

84 See Rönsch, Itala, 271.

85 See Mohrmann, Études 4.225, 230; Rönsch, Itala, 326.

86 See Mohrmann, Études 3.190.

87 See Burton, Gospels, 145.

88 See Mohrmann, Études 2.238; 3.61; 4.337; Burton, Gospels, 145.

89 See Rönsch, Itala, 107.

90 See Mohrmann, Études 2.106; 3.129.

91 See Mohrmann, Études 2.114.

92 See Rönsch, Itala, 167.

93 See Mohrmann, Études 1.62; 3.121, 130, 133; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 38.

94 See Mohrmann, Études, passim.

95 See Mohrmann, Études 3.113.

96 See Rönsch, Itala, 257.

97 See Rönsch, Itala, 133.

98 See Mohrmann, Études 4.230.

99 See Mohrmann, Études 1.156.

100 See Mohrmann, Études 1.334.

101 See Mohrmann, Études 3.62.

102 See Rönsch, Itala, 224.

103 See Rönsch, Itala, 91.

104 See Mohrmann, Études 3.50–51, 60, 121; 4.20; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 35–36.

105 See Rönsch, Itala, 247.

106 See Rönsch, Itala, 247.

107 See Rönsch, Itala, 274.

108 See Mohrmann, Études 1.45; 2.121; 3.61, 105, 144, 205–6, 208.

109 See Rönsch, Itala, 235.

110 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 3.132, 190.

111 See Mohrmann, Études 3.105; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 108; Rönsch, Itala, 239.

112 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 3.115–16, 130, 141; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 36–37.

113 See Mohrmann, Études 3.410.

114 See Rönsch, Itala, 312.

115 See Rönsch, Itala, 312.

116 See Rönsch, Itala, 36.

117 See Rönsch, Itala, 215.

118 See Mohrmann, Études 3.60, 121; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 48–49.

119 See Sainio, Untersuchungen, 67–68.

120 See Mohrmann, Études 1.62, 99, 243–45; 2.32, 102; 3.131, 189.

121 See Mohrmann, Études 3.64; Burton, Gospels, 146 and table 3.13.

122 See Mohrmann, Études 1.45, 117; 3.60, 113, 132, 190.

123 See Mohrmann, Études 2.206–7.

124 See Burton, Gospels, chap. 10.

125 See Rönsch, Itala, 257.

126 See Mohrmann, Études 3.105; Sainio, Untersuchungen, 108.

127 See Mohrmann, Études 1.117; 3.132.

128 See Mohrmann, Études 3.132; Rönsch, Itala, 248.

129 See Rönsch, Itala, 255.

130 See Rönsch, Itala, 190.

131 See Mohrmann, Études 1.42, 62.

132 See Mohrmann, Études 3.38.

133 See Rönsch, Itala, 249.