SECTION A: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1. Framework
3. Methodology
3.4 Patterns of Use
In my analysis of the evidence from ancient use, it was quickly apparent that very few potential Atticist markers fitted neatly into an X : Y pattern of use, where X is the form used exclusively (or predominantly) in Classical Attic authors and Y the form used exclusively (or predominantly) in non-Atticising Koine texts. In order to make my assessment of Achilles’ choices for each marker more objective, I developed a rubric that would help me to determine whether use of a particular form should be described as
“mildly or strongly Atticising”, “mildly or strongly avoiding Atticism”, or more accurately “Attic-leaning” or “Koine-leaning”. Table 3.1 outlines the rubric, illustrating what I will refer to as different “Patterns of Use”.
141 In Thomas’ book on Linguistic Purism, he addresses the problems with applying purely statistical analyses to puristic behavior. He says that a quantitative analysis “ignores the fact that in a linguistic system some features are central and others peripheral” and that it does not account for the fact that language is “an open system”, which does not at any point have a fixed set of “pure” and “impure”
markers (Thomas 1991: 162-163).
44 Table 3-1 Patterns of Use Rubric
Attic norm
Koine
norm Use of X Use of Y
X Y Simple Atticism Simple Avoidance/
Koine Preference
Xy Y Mild Atticism Strong Koine-Leaning
XY Y Moderate Atticism Mod Koine-Leaning
xY Y Hyper-Atticism Mild Koine-Leaning
X Xy Mild Attic-Leaning Strong Avoidance of Atticism X XY Moderate Attic-Leaning Moderate Avoidance of Atticism X xY Strong Attic-Leaning Mild Avoidance of Atticism Xy xY Moderate Attic-Leaning Moderate Koine-Leaning
X X Neutral Neutral
Xy Xy Neutral Neutral
In my rubric, X and Y refer to the two main variant forms of the Atticist marker in question. X generally refers to the variant that has a strong association with the Attic dialect and Y the alternate variant usually associated with the Koine. For example, for the -ττ-/-σσ- marker, X would represent -ττ- and Y would represent -σσ-. Similarly, for the Attic declension marker, X would represent an Attic declension form like νεώς and Y the Koine form ναός.
I use upper and lower case X and Y to represent the degree to which a particular form seems to have been used by the dialect in question, with upper case indicating that it is the dominant form and lower case indicating that it occurs less frequently. Xy, in the Attic column, then, means that a form is found predominantly as the “more Attic”
variant in the Attic authors, but that the alternate form also occurs on some occasions.
When both letters are in uppercase, it means that the two variants occur in very similar numbers.
The descriptive phrases I have given under the headings “Use of X” and “Use of Y” are the standardised ways in which I will refer to use of a particular form in Achilles’ text based on the patterns of use for that marker.
45 The first and most simple pattern of use is X : Y, where there is a clear preference for the one form in Attic and the other in the Koine. Use of X by an Atticising author in this case can be described as “simple Atticism”, as the author has intentionally used a form that was found in Attic authors and no longer occured in the Koine. The use of Y is
“simple avoidance of Atticism” or “simple Koine preference”.
An example of this would be the γίγνομαι versus γίνομαι forms, where γίγν- forms dominate in Attic texts and γίν- in Koine texts.142 Use of γίγνομαι, then, counts as simple Atticism and of γίνομαι as simple avoidance.
The next three patterns of use are situations where both forms occur in Attic but only one is continued into the Koine. Use of X in these cases can be seen as Atticism (intentional use of a non-Koine form) but I interpret the degree of Atticist intent as dependant on the pattern of use of the two variants in Attic texts. The fewer examples of X and more of Y found in Attic texts, the stronger the Atticist intent because it points to the author making a decision to use the non-Koine form, even when the Koine form occurs as often (XY) or more often (xY) in Attic. Use of X in an xY : Y situation I refer to as “hyper-Atticism” because the author has used a form that only occasionally occurred in Attic, perhaps to show off his knowledge of this rare unusual variant. I describe use of Y in these situations (the only form found in the Koine, but one that is found to some degree in Attic) as “Koine-leaning”. The less Y occurred in Attic, the stronger the degree of Koine-leaning.
By way of example, for the -αι-/-ι- variation, the forms αἰετός and ἀετός both occur in Attic, but the ι-inclusive form is more common. In the Koine, the ι-less form dominates with very few cases of the ι-inclusive form. This marker has an Xy : Y pattern of use.
Use of X can be described as “mild Atticism” and use of Y as “strong Koine-leaning”.
On the other hand, for the ξυν-/συν- marker, συν- is the dominant form, even in Attic although ξυν- occurs on occasion in Attic and almost never in the Koine. This marker
142 There are minor exceptions to this, as will be true for all simple X : Y markers, but when they make up a small enough number of the total forms used to be negligible, I discount them. If I did not do this, almost every marker would have X and Y in both Attic and the Koine and my analysis would be uninformative.
46 falls into the xY : Y pattern of use where use of X can be described as “hyper-Atticism”
and use of Y as “mild Koine-leaning”.
The next three patterns of use refer to situations where Attic consistently has only one of the two variants but the Koine retains use of X alongside different degrees of Y. Use of Y in these situations I describe as “avoidance of Atticism” (or, more fully, “a Koine preference with avoidance of Atticism”) because it seems that the author has avoided use of X, despite it still being current, in order to prevent any accusation of Atticist intent. I am aware that this suggests a decision on the part of the author which may not have been conscious or intentional, but if I am examining whether an author is trying to Atticise or not, it makes sense to say that in these cases he has avoided the Atticist choice. In cases where the Koine has more instances of Y than X (i.e. X: xY) I describe this as “mild avoidance of Atticism” because it is not unexpected that he has chosen the more commonly occurring Koine form. Cases where X is still the dominant form in the Koine and Y relatively new (X : Xy), I describe as “strong avoidance of Atticism” as here it seems that he has more intentionally made use of the rare Koine form in order to avoid the form that was used in Attic. The use of the X variants in these cases, I describe as “Attic-leaning” because the continuance of X in the Koine means X is not a purely Attic (and therefore Atticising) form. Again the strength of Attic-leaning depends on how little or how much X is still used in the Koine. If X is rare in the Koine, it has a stronger Attic-leaning association than if it is still common in the Koine.
By way of example, for the -ρρ-/-ρσ- variable, the noun ἄρρην is found almost exclusively with -ρρ- in Attic. This variation continues in the Koine but the -ρσ- form comes to dominate. This falls into a X : xY pattern of use where X can be described as
“strong Attic-leaning” and use of Y as “mild avoidance of Atticism”.
The final pattern of use, Xy : xY, refers to cases where both forms are found in both varieties but the one dominates in Attic and the other in the Koine. I describe the use of X in these cases as “moderate Attic-leaning” and Y as “moderate Koine-leaning”. The terms “Atticist” and “avoidance of Atticism” cannot apply in these cases as neither form is exclusively Attic.
47 Any situation where the pattern of use is identical in Attic and the Koine such as Xy : Xy; XY : XY and xY : xY must be described as “neutral” because neither form has a particular preference in either dialect, and these give no information on the Atticist intent of the author.
The 8 patterns of use given here are, of course, not the only possible patterns that can occur. Some markers have more than two variants such as an Ionic form that is occasionally found in the Koine, a spelling alternative or a synonym used in favour of (or alongside) the normal variant form. These third variations I usually identify as “Z”
and the way I use them will be elaborated on as and when they come up. Most additional patterns of use are similar enough to the standard ones given that I can treat them as sub-varieties of these patterns. Table 3-2 gives a summary of the alternate patterns which will come up.
Table 3-2 Patterns of Use Addendum Regular
pattern
Alternate
patterns First element Second element
XY : Y XZ : X Moderate Atticism Mod Koine-Leaning
xY : Y XY : Yz Hyper-Atticism Mild Koine-Leaning
X : Xy X : Xyz X : Xz Mild Attic-Leaning Strong Avoidance of Atticism X : XY X : XZ Y : YZ Moderate Attic-Leaning Moderate Avoidance of Atticism
X : xY X : xyZ Y : yZ Strong Attic-Leaning Mild Avoidance of Atticism -- Xy: XY Xy:xy Slight Attic bias Neutral
-- X : x?y? Uncertain degree of Attic-leaning
Uncertain degree of avoidance of Atticism
X : X Y : Y(xz) Neutral Neutral