Grammar of New Testament Greek. By Friedrich Blass, D.Phil. Translated
by Henry St. John Thackeray, M.A. (Macmillan and Co. 14s. net.)—Hellenistic Greek is, in the author's opinion, "9. pure language which is governed by regular laws of its own." These laws make the subject of his book. Of course, the language was touched by special influences,—by Latin, and by Hebrew or Aramaic. The form Xpmmavoi is the most familiar instance of the former ; the use of reigeSexow may stand for an example of the second. The most interesting and important of the vast mass of facts which Professor Blass has here collected are those which concern the Hellenistic use of tenses, the figures of speech used by the New Testament writers, the solecisms, and the traces of literary culture. The instances of paronomasia are highly inter- esting. So we have zararop..hy and repro/hi in Phil. iii., and
in Gal. v. 7, 12 ?V‘KOLI/EP and a ft
_rotc_e, °NM. The solecisms are most remarkable in the Apocalypse. Professor Blass draws the conclusion that the author of the book was not the writer of St. John's Gospel Most anacolutha are really instances of constructio ad unsure, but this cannot be said of those found in the Apocalypse. Our author is rightly contemptuous of the attempt to find verses or fragments of verses in the New Testament. (Some commentator speaks of Elf tc6htuaa 9opit6pou as the "end of a noble iambic.") He makes an exception, however, of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he finds the following among others :- seal rpoxas iveas ITOliCraTE Tole IrOcrlv Lihav 18). tCpEiTTOUY TOOVerTfp .704ALEYOt 1%;11, anAwy (i. 4). 85 aVT1 lf puKE i,U11.11c xapar Oa 2).
He does not, however, go beyond saying that "one does not feel so certain in this Epistle as elsewhere, that one is merely dealing with purely fortuitous cases of rhythm." The whole work is one of monumental industry and accuracy, which will be of the greatest use to the student.
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