Friday, April 1, 2011

The Friday Figure

This week's Friday Figure comes from the book of Acts.  The figure is one of my favorites and is that of litotes

Litotes (Deminutio) (figure of thought, Rhet. Her. 4.38.50): The figure in which we say that by nature, fortune, or diligence, we or our clients possess some exceptional advantage, and, in order to avoid the impression of arrogant display, we moderate and soften the statement of it; e.g., “This, men of the jury, I have the right to say—that by our labor and diligence I have contrived to be no laggard in the mastery of military science.” (Use of “no laggard” instead of saying that he was “the best.”).

When Paul is arrested in Acts 21, he uses this figure when describing himself.
Acts 21:39 εἶπεν δὲ ὁ Παῦλος· ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος μέν εἰμι Ἰουδαῖος, Ταρσεὺς τῆς Κιλικίας, οὐκ ἀσήμου πόλεως πολίτης· δέομαι δέ σου, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν λαόν. 
 Now, look at the NRSV translation: 
Acts 21:39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.” 
 The NRSV translates  οὐκ ἀσήμου πόλεως πολίτης as "a citizen of an important city" and the sense is correct, but they have totally missed the importance of the figure of speech litotes and therefore the power of the words.  Literally, this phrase should be translated, "a citizen of a not insignificant city."  The effect is that of a double negative, essentially a positive.  Paul is claiming that his home town, Tarsus, was indeed important.  But, by using the figure litotes, Luke highlights the importance of Paul's city, the upstanding nature of Paul himself.   The fact that this figure is used draws more attention to the credentials of Paul than if no figure had been used.

9 comments:

  1. Does litotes differ from meiosis, and if so, how?

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  2. Good question. The two are similar and related. Meiosis and Litotes are both forms of understatement for a rhetorical purpose, yet whereas meiosis is usually a mere understatement, litotes usually employs the double negative, i.e., "no laggard" in the example above, and "not insignificant" in Acts. One humorous example of meiosis would be the black knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the knight says, "it's just a flesh wound."

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  3. I like this figure also. Hebrews uses it; e.g., 4:15; 6:10

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  4. Two questions:
    1. Did you make a list of all the examples of litotes in the Luke/Acts corpus? (and, is it available?)
    2. Would you consider Luke 11: 4 "and lead us not into 'peirasmos'" a litotes?

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  5. Doug,
    I am sorry, I do not have a full list of litotes in Luke-Acts. I have worked extensively with Luke and litotes is a figure that he does not use often. As to your example, I do not think it is litotes. This does not seem to be an understatement. Though, this clause, taken with the following "but deliver us from evil" is a good example of the figure antithesis.

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  6. Thanks, Keith. I didn't think Luke 11:4 was a litotes either. I heard someone characterize it as such recently in an attempt to explain the meaning of this petition, so I thought I'd check with someone more knowledgeable of rhetorical devices. Eventually I found Jeff Gibson's 1998 presentation to SBL, which offers the best construal of this phrase as any I've read.

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  7. Dr. Reich,

    Sorry, this is the only way I could manage to contact you! I have a few questions I would love to be able to ask you about teaching. I'm going to be at Baylor next year and would really appreciate your input if you have time!

    Hherritage(at)gmail(dot)com

    Sincerely,
    Hogan

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