Attic reduplication

I am seeing something called Attic reduplication at least that is what I have heard commentaries, lexicons and Greek grammars say about 1 John 1:1. And to make matters worse I did not remember reduplication from my Biblical Greek studies in seminary. I am not familiar with Attic and do not have any Attic resources in my library. In 1 John 1:1, I can see the base word ἀκηκόαμεν is derived from ἀκούω. I base this on my study of grammars and interlinears. It is parsed as perfect, active, indicative. I know that some verbs beginning in a vowel reduplicate the entire first syllable. Based on Mounce’s grammar, A.T. Robertson's grammar and LSJ my understanding is that when a verb starts with a vowel, the ἀ would get longer, but the initial vowel plus consonant (ἀκ) would not repeat. Is that the case? How can I use Logos Bible Software to determine if this is in fact Attic reduplication? I asked a friend of mine who took Greek in seminary and he said it was a strange case and could not explain it further. Would this resource in Logos be helpful to my question? English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language by S. C. Woodhouse https://www.logos.com/product/15748/english-greek-dictionary-a-vocabulary-of-the-attic-language

I went through each of these factbook entries. https://beta.app.logos.com/search?kind=factbook&layout=one&q=%22Attic+reduplication%22&resources=allResources&source=searchPanel&syntax=v2

https://beta.app.logos.com/search?kind=all&layout=one&q=%22Attic+reduplication%22&resources=allResources&source=searchPanel&syntax=v2 got 14 hits

https://beta.app.logos.com/search?case=ignore&engine=lexical&form=all&kind=books&layout=one&q=%22Attic+reduplication%22+NEAR+John&ref=default&resources=allResources&source=searchPanel&syntax=v2&view=book got 0 hits

https://beta.app.logos.com/search?case=ignore&engine=lexical&form=all&kind=books&layout=one&q=%22Attic%22+NEAR+%221+John%22&ref=default&resources=allResources&source=searchPanel&syntax=v2&view=book Got 2 hits

https://beta.app.logos.com/search?kind=all&layout=one&q=%22Attic%22+AND+%22+1+John%22&resources=allResources&source=searchPanel&syntax=v2 Got 53 hits but when restricted to 1 John 1 only got 3 hits.

ieul-article-p41_3.pdf This is something I read as well.

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Comments

Phil Quigley

If you have Mounce's The Morphology of Biblical Greek, there's a discussion about Attic Reduplication (https://beta.app.logos.com/books/LLS%3AMORPHBBCLGRK/references/page.72). It also uses ἀκηκόαμεν as an example.

DMB

Logos also has a Grammar of Johnine Greek, which includes reduplication, and John 1.1 specifically.

MJ. Smith

Ask Gemini "How and where does proto-Indo-European reduplication show in early Greek?" and check Wikipedia to get your Hellenic languages history correct including the relationship of Koine Greek to Alexander the Great.

[quote]

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) left its mark on early Greek through reduplication, a process where the initial part of a word is copied and used at the beginning. Here's how we see it in action:

Verb Tenses:

Perfect Tense: PIE used reduplication with the vowel "e" to mark the perfect (past) tense. This influence is visible in Ancient Greek. For instance, compare "λύω (lúō)" meaning "I free" with its perfect tense form "λέλυκα (léluka)" meaning "I have freed."
Present Tense: PIE also used reduplication, but with the vowel "i," for the imperfective aspect (ongoing or repeated action). Early Greek preserved this pattern in some verbs. A common example is "δίδωμι (dídōmi)" meaning "I give" (present) contrasting with its perfect form "δέδωκα (dédōka)" meaning "I have given."

Reduplication Patterns:

It's important to note that PIE reduplication wasn't a simple copy-paste. The reduplicated portion followed specific rules:

Consonant Clusters: The exact form of the copied consonant depended on its features. This complexity is still seen in the way Greek handles consonant clusters at the beginning of verbs undergoing reduplication.

Examples and Resources:

For a deeper dive, you can explore these resources:

Wikipedia article on Reduplication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication
Article on Indo-European reduplication: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/113772

Reduplicative Futures – Koine-Greek may be of interest (intensive desideratives in PIE)

The Reduplicative System of Ancient Greek and a New Analysis of Attic Reduplication | Linguistic Inquiry | MIT Press

The Perfect System: Part I – Ancient Greek for Everyone (pressbooks.pub) rules of reduplication

in short google "koine Greek reduplication" should get you many articles of interest

Your all search yields more results if you remove the quote marks.

Christian Alexander

Logos also has a Grammar of Johnine Greek, which includes reduplication, and John 1.1 specifically.

I am not referring to the Gospel but to the 1st letter of John. Does it discuss that passage?

If you have Mounce's The Morphology of Biblical Greek, there's a discussion about Attic Reduplication (https://beta.app.logos.com/books/LLS%3AMORPHBBCLGRK/references/page.72). It also uses ἀκηκόαμεν as an example.

I do not own this resource. Can you copy the discussion if it is short enough to be under fair use?

Thanks for the links MJ.

Rick Brannan

Attic reduplication basically describes a phenomenon where word formation changed over time. I can't imagine it being relevant at the lexical level.

Look in your LXX, and instead of γινομαι (Koine) as a lemma you'll see γιγνομαι. And instead of γινωσκω (Koine) you'll see γιγνωσκω. That extra little gamma is in there thanks to attic reduplication, which (for that word family, anyway) elided out over time (γιγν is harder to say than γιν).

To my understanding, "attic reduplication" helps explain word formation (especially hard phoneme repetition) and differences or similarities between the Greek of other eras, basically.

Phil Quigley

Logos also has a Grammar of Johnine Greek, which includes reduplication, and John 1.1 specifically.

I am not referring to the Gospel but to the 1st letter of John. Does it discuss that passage?

If you have Mounce's The Morphology of Biblical Greek, there's a discussion about Attic Reduplication (https://beta.app.logos.com/books/LLS%3AMORPHBBCLGRK/references/page.72). It also uses ἀκηκόαμεν as an example.

I do not own this resource. Can you copy the discussion if it is short enough to be under fair use?

Thanks for the links MJ.

§32.6 Attic reduplication. This is a special form of reduplication that applies only to certain words in the perfect. If one of these verbs began with α, ε, or ο followed by a single consonant, the vowel and consonant were both reduplicated, and the original stem vowel was then lengthened (α } η). In other words, the word underwent both a reduplication and a lengthening. Cf. Smyth §446, Funk §344. ἀκούω *ακου } ακακου } ἀκήκοα v-1a(8)

William D. Mounce, The Morphology of Biblical Greek, ed. Verlyn D. Verbrugge (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 72–73.

Christian Alexander

Thanks Rick. It seems to be very logical.

Look in your LXX, and instead of γινομαι (Koine) as a lemma you'll see γιγνομαι. And instead of γινωσκω (Koine) you'll see γιγνωσκω

Confirmed.

What are a good source on word formation in biblical Greek?

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