TIP OF THE DAY 111: Speaking with style - figures of omission

MJ. Smith

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QUESTION: Give some examples of the tagging of figures of omission in the Bible.

ANSWER: Drawn from the list of common Biblical figures and tropes shared earlier.

Ellipsis: Omission of words for effect.

Example: Matthew 2:10

figureofSpeech:name:Ellipsis

(d) Where the omission of Connected Words is to be supplied by repeating them out of a preceding clause[1]

Aposiopesis: Sudden breaking off of speech.

Example: Genesis 3:22

figureofSpeech:(description:Sudden-Silence AND name:Aposiopesis)

Bullinger: “Here the exact consequences of eating of the tree of life in his fallen condition are left unrevealed, as though they were too awful to be contemplated: and the sudden silence leaves us in the darkness in which the Fall involved us. But we may at least understand that whatever might be involved in this unspoken threatening, it included this fact:—I will drive him away from the tree of life![2]”

Meiosis: Diminishing or lessening for effect.

Job 25:6

figureofSpeech:(description:"a Be-Littleing" AND name:Meiosis)

Bullinger: “Ps. 22:6.—“I am a worm, and no man.” Here, as elsewhere, this figure is used to denote a much greater depth of humility and affliction than words can express.[3]”

Zeugma: Using one word to modify two or more words in different ways.

Mark 13:26

figureofSpeech:(description:"Unequal Yoke" AND name:Zeugma)

Bullinger: “Here in the Greek the adjective is put between the two nouns, thus: “Power, great, and glory,” and it applies to both in a peculiar manner. This Zeugma calls our attention to the fact that the power will be great and the glory will be great: and this more effectually emphasizes the greatness of both, than if it had been stated in so many words.[4]”

Brachylogia: Concise or abrupt statement.

Genesis 25:32

figureofSpeech:name:Ellipsis

Bullinger: “Gen. 25:32.—“And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” There must be supplied, the thought, if not the words:—“I will sell it.” So with the next verse. “And Jacob said, Swear to me this day [that thou wilt sell it me]; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.”[5]”

Notice that in the figures of omission, just as in the figures of word usage, the analysis of the text must make explicit the function of the figurative language in moving from the literal text to the meaning of the text. In my experience, this is one of the most glossed over steps of exegesis.

QUESTION: What subdivisions does Bullinger make in the figure of ellipsis?

ANSWER: from Bullinger, Ethelbert William. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898.

Ellipsis is of three kinds:—

Absolute Ellipsis,

Relative Ellipsis, and the

Ellipsis of Repetition:—

A. Absolute, where the omitted word or words are to be supplied from the nature of the subject alone.

B. Relative, where the omitted word or words are to be supplied from, and are suggested by the context.

C. The Ellipsis of Repetition, where the omitted word or words are to be supplied by repeating them from a clause which precedes or follows.

These three great divisions may be further set forth as follows:—

A.Absolute Ellipsis, where the omitted word or words are to be supplied from the nature of the subject.

I.Nouns and Pronouns.

1.The Nominative.

2.The Accusative.

3.Pronouns.

4.Other connected words.

II.Verbs and Participles:—

1.When the verb finite is wanting:

a.especially the verb to say.

2.When the verb infinitive is wanting:

a.after יָכֹלto be able.

b.after the verb to finish.

c.after another verb, personal or impersonal.

3.When the verb substantive is wanting.

4.When the participle is wanting.

III.Certain connected words in the same member of a passage.

IV.A whole clause in a connected passage:—

1.The first clause.

2.The latter clause or Apodosis (Anantapodoton).

3.A comparison.

B.Relative Ellipsis—

I.Where the omitted word is to be supplied from a cognate word in the context.

1.The noun from the verb.

2.The verb from the noun.

II.Where the omitted word is to be supplied from a contrary word.

III.Where the omitted word is to be supplied from analogous or related words.

IV.Where the omitted word is contained in another word: the one word comprising the two significations—(Concisa Locutio, Syntheton or Compositio, Constructio Prægnans).

C.Ellipsis of Repetition—

I.Simple: where the Ellipsis is to be supplied from a preceding or a succeeding clause.

1.From a preceding clause.

a.Nouns and Pronouns.

b.Verbs.

c.Particles.

i)Negatives.

ii)Interrogatives.

d.Sentences.

2.From a succeeding clause.

II.Complex: where the two clauses are mutually involved, and the Ellipsis in the former clause is to be supplied from the latter, and at the same time an Ellipsis in the latter clause is to be supplied from the former. (Called also Semiduplex Oratio).

1.Single words.

2.Sentences.[6]

QUESTION: What subdivisions does Bullinger make in the figure of aposiopesis?

ANSWER: from Bullinger, Ethelbert William. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898.

The name of this figure may be represented in English by SUDDEN-SILENCE. The Latins named it RETICENTIA, which means the same thing. It is the sudden breaking off of what is being said (or written), so that the mind may be the more impressed by what is too wonderful, or solemn, or awful for words: or when a thing may be, as we sometimes say, “better imagined than described.”

Its use is to call our attention to what is being said, for the purpose of impressing us with its importance.

It has been divided under four heads, according to the character of the subject:—

1.Promise.

2.Anger and Threatening.

3.Grief and Complaint.

4.Enquiry and Deprecation.[7]

[1] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 96.

[2] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 152.

[3] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 156.

[4] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 134.

[5] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 47–48.

[6] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 2–4.

[7] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 151.