Conceptualizing Variation in Greek Exodus and Postclassical Greek

Abstract

This project frames Jewish translation practice within Greek diachrony and the broader realities of bilingual cognitive processing. Often, linguistic research on the Greek of the Pentateuch has focused on isolated lexemes, resulting in an overemphasis on a ‘literal’ translation process representative of lexeme-for-lexeme matching. This scholarship stresses the text’s characteristic ‘isomorphism,’ suggesting that the translator(s) rendered nearly every Hebrew morpheme with a corresponding morpheme in Greek. In fact, this lexical pairing was even more important than conveying meaning, for meaning was not the translator(s) ‘intention.’ Although these sentiments still abound, recent studies in variationist linguistics paint a more complex picture of language production. Specifically, variation in argument realization indicates that such intentional cross-linguistic lexical pairing was unlikely. In light of documentary texts, Greek literature, and epigraphy, this project positions allative (motion toward) and ablative (motion from) arguments in Greek Exodus within the history of Greek. While acknowledging cross-linguistic influence, this project also offers an important corrective to the concept of ‘translation technique.’ Though the Hebrew source text lays the metaphorical path, several subconscious factors including cross-linguistic priming and event conceptualization drive production in Greek. This nuanced perspective creates an avenue for Septuagint research to move beyond otherizing the language use of Jewish populations in antiquity. Instead, the translators of the Greek Pentateuch may be situated within the broader linguistic and cultural world of Ptolemaic Egypt.