[B-Greek] Heb 11:40 together or not apart?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Aug 16 14:57:42 EDT 2006


On Aug 16, 2006, at 10:49 AM, Craig J wrote:

>> If it's any help, I think that in the Greek
>> phrase MH CWRIS hHMWN we have a standard
>> rhetorical ploy -- so standard that
>> it has a name ("litotes") designating it:
>> emphasizing a positive point by
>> negating the negative point.
>>
>> LITOTES as a rhetorical device is "no less
>> common" in English than it is in Greek, if
>> you catch my meaning.
>>
>> Carl W. Conrad
>
> Carl, I did not know that it is called a litotes. You have a better
> understanding of grammatical terms so that others would not know  
> that it is
> called a litotes apart from you. (If you catch my meaning :-)

No, I really didn't invent it:

===========
li·to·tes: A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in  
which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in  
This is no small problem.

American Heritage Dictionary
==========
litotes

n : understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing  
an affirmative by negating its contrary); "saying `I was not a little  
upset' when you mean `I was very upset' is an example of  
litotes" [syn: meiosis]

WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
=========

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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