Hellenistic Greek and the New Testament: A Stylometric Perspective

Abstract

New Testament texts are compared with texts from the Septuagint and from writers of Standard Hellenistic Greek (SHG). The aim is to identify which texts are similar in style to which, and which texts differ most from each other. The criteria which are used are 30 very common words and word-endings: prepositions, conjunctions, connectives, particles and some genitive endings. Such items are good stylistic markers in Greek and other languages. Results show first that texts in a more Semitic Greek (Revelation, 4 Kingdoms) differ most from Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Polybius, who make much more use of δέ, πɛρί, κατά and the genitive endings. Some might call this a difference of dialect. Luke–Acts lies between these extremes. There is also a second major type of difference between narratives and argumentative epistles, as the latter make much greater use of ἀλλά, γάρ, οὐ̑ν, ɛἰ, οὐ, μή. Speeches and treatises lie between these extremes. This second difference is one of genre or register.