Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik 7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE)
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7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE)

  • Geoffrey Horrocks
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Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek

Abstract

This chapter examines the phenomenon of interference from contemporary Medieval Greek in the classicising register of Greek traditionally used in the Byzantine period for literary genres with an ancient heritage (examples are taken from the fifth/sixth and thirteenth/fourteenth centuries). The focus lies on expressions of futurity and modality, and it is argued that, while authors are careful to replicate ancient morphology, which was consciously mastered and deployed, the actual uses of the relevant forms are heavily influenced by contemporary syntactic and semantic categories, which, being far more abstract, were subconsciously employed in even the most ancient-looking texts. Such interference was in fact almost inevitable in the absence of any thorough description of Classical Greek syntax in the grammatical tradition. Accordingly, Atticised Greek of the medieval period is best seen as a register of Medieval Greek in which the abstract syntactic and semantic properties of the contemporary language are conventionally realised by means of certain superficially obvious formal adaptations and the systematic substitution of ancient morphology.

Abstract

This chapter examines the phenomenon of interference from contemporary Medieval Greek in the classicising register of Greek traditionally used in the Byzantine period for literary genres with an ancient heritage (examples are taken from the fifth/sixth and thirteenth/fourteenth centuries). The focus lies on expressions of futurity and modality, and it is argued that, while authors are careful to replicate ancient morphology, which was consciously mastered and deployed, the actual uses of the relevant forms are heavily influenced by contemporary syntactic and semantic categories, which, being far more abstract, were subconsciously employed in even the most ancient-looking texts. Such interference was in fact almost inevitable in the absence of any thorough description of Classical Greek syntax in the grammatical tradition. Accordingly, Atticised Greek of the medieval period is best seen as a register of Medieval Greek in which the abstract syntactic and semantic properties of the contemporary language are conventionally realised by means of certain superficially obvious formal adaptations and the systematic substitution of ancient morphology.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgments V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of contributors XI
  5. The Greek Alphabet XV
  6. List of abbreviations XVII
  7. 1 Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches 1
  8. Part I: VARIETIES OF POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
  9. 2 Tracking down lects in Roman Egypt 17
  10. 3 Idiolect in focus: Two brothers in the Memphis Sarapieion (II BCE) 39
  11. 4 Imposing psychological pressure in papyrus request letters: A case study of six Byzantine letters written in an ecclesiastical context (VI–VII CE) 75
  12. 5 Greek in Egypt or Egyptian Greek? Syntactic regionalisms (IV CE) 115
  13. 6 In search of an Egyptian Greek lexicon in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 141
  14. 7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE) 163
  15. 8 From highly classicizing to common prose (XIII–XIV CE): The Metaphrasis of Niketas Choniates’ History 179
  16. 9 Back to the future: Akritic light on diachronic variation in Cappadocian (East Asia Minor Greek) 201
  17. Part II: DIMENSIONS OF VARIATION IN POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
  18. 10 Tense variation in Ptolemaic papyri: Towards a grammar of epistolary dialogue 243
  19. 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE) 265
  20. 12 Orthographic variation and register in the corpus of Greek documentary papyri (300 BCE–800 CE) 299
  21. 13 The Greek phonology of a tax collector in Egypt in the first century CE 327
  22. 14 Metrical variation in Byzantine colophons (XI–XV CE): The example of ἡ μὲν χεὶρ ἡ γράψασα 353
  23. 15 Arguing and narrating: Text type and linguistic variation in tenth-century Greek 369
  24. 16 The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Linguistic upgrading from the third century BCE to the tenth century CE 381
  25. Index locorum 415
  26. Index nominum 423
  27. Index rerum 425
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110614404-007

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgments V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of contributors XI
  5. The Greek Alphabet XV
  6. List of abbreviations XVII
  7. 1 Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches 1
  8. Part I: VARIETIES OF POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
  9. 2 Tracking down lects in Roman Egypt 17
  10. 3 Idiolect in focus: Two brothers in the Memphis Sarapieion (II BCE) 39
  11. 4 Imposing psychological pressure in papyrus request letters: A case study of six Byzantine letters written in an ecclesiastical context (VI–VII CE) 75
  12. 5 Greek in Egypt or Egyptian Greek? Syntactic regionalisms (IV CE) 115
  13. 6 In search of an Egyptian Greek lexicon in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 141
  14. 7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE) 163
  15. 8 From highly classicizing to common prose (XIII–XIV CE): The Metaphrasis of Niketas Choniates’ History 179
  16. 9 Back to the future: Akritic light on diachronic variation in Cappadocian (East Asia Minor Greek) 201
  17. Part II: DIMENSIONS OF VARIATION IN POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
  18. 10 Tense variation in Ptolemaic papyri: Towards a grammar of epistolary dialogue 243
  19. 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE) 265
  20. 12 Orthographic variation and register in the corpus of Greek documentary papyri (300 BCE–800 CE) 299
  21. 13 The Greek phonology of a tax collector in Egypt in the first century CE 327
  22. 14 Metrical variation in Byzantine colophons (XI–XV CE): The example of ἡ μὲν χεὶρ ἡ γράψασα 353
  23. 15 Arguing and narrating: Text type and linguistic variation in tenth-century Greek 369
  24. 16 The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Linguistic upgrading from the third century BCE to the tenth century CE 381
  25. Index locorum 415
  26. Index nominum 423
  27. Index rerum 425
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Heruntergeladen am 3.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110614404-007/html?lang=de
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