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Abstract

The Corpus Ignatianum, usually included in the works of the Apostolic Fathers, is made up of seven letters in koiné Greek, probably written by Saint Ignatius of Antioch. These texts, which have a complicated literary history, are very interesting and original from a linguistic and stylistic point of view. A lexical analysis of the Corpus Ignatianum, in particular, allows identifying first of all a noteworthy lexical creativity. There are indeed some hapax, unusual words and neologisms, which are often compound words. Moreover, in these texts some words already used in classical Greek are first attested in Christian literature. There are also some latinisms. Another noteworthy lexical characteristic of the Corpus Ignatianum is the presence of words and metaphors which are typical of Hellenistic philosophy, especially of Stoicism, and which are present also in Christian literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

Annalisa Dentesano
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Abstract

The Epistle of Barnabas, usually included in the works of the Apostolic Fathers, is an anonymous text written in koiné Greek. It was probably composed between the end of the First and the beginning of the Second Century in an Egyptian or Syro-Palestinian setting. The text is made up of two parts: the first one has an anti-Judaic apologetic nature; the second one is instructive and paraenetical. The Latin version of the Epistle (L), which is useful in the constitutio textus of the original too, concerns the first of the two parts. An analysis of the language and of the technique of translation allows asserting that L was probably compiled in Rome between the end of the Second and the beginning of the Third Century. Moreover, its main features may be identified in the literality and in the linguistic and stylistic popularity. The literality is both quantitative and distributional: the changes are usually narrow (except expressions which introduce Biblical quotations) and concern parts which may be considered accessory by a semantic point of view. The popular style is due to the attention the translator pays to the needs of the sociocultural situation of the readers and is confirmed by the presence of rhetorical figures as alliteration. These two characteristics, which are typical of Latin translations of Greek Patristic texts compiled between the end of the Second and the beginning of the Third Century, are due to stylistic choices which are homogeneously and congruently applied. Moreover, in L these characteristics are strictly bound, because the sermo humilis characterizes the Greek text too.

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Authors and Affiliations

Annalisa Dentesano

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