Parechesls; or, Foreign Paronomasia
The Repetition of Words similar in Sound, but different in Language
Par-ee-che-sis. Greek, : from (para), beside, and (eechee), a sound, a sounding of one word beside another.
Parechesis is a Paronomasia, when the repeated words of similar sound are in another tongue.
The examples of Paronomasia which we have given are such only in the Hebrew and the Greek, not in the English rendering of them There is no figure in the English Translation; except when it may be possible to reproduce the similar words in translation (as is done in Rom 10:19, disobedience and obedience, etc.). So far as the English is concerned, and as related to it, all the examples of Paronomasia are really Parechesis, because they exist in another language and not in the translation of it.
Similarly, as the New Testament (if not originally written in Hebrew, and then at a very early date translated into Greek) is at least full of Hebrew thought and idiom. (See under Idiom.) So that, though there may be no Paronomasia in the Greek words, there may be in the Hebrew thought, or in the Hebrew words which the Greek words represent. In these cases, where the Paronomasia is in the Hebrew thought, it is called Parechesis so far as the Greek is concerned. And it is only when we go to the Hebrew thought that we can hear the Hebrew words sounding beside the Greek words.
To put the difference in a simpler form: Two words similar in sound are a Paronomasia with regard to their particular language, both words being in the same language. But a Parechesis is found when the two words are not in the same language.
The Greeks also called this figure
PAROMOSIS, from , very much alike; and
PARISON or PARISOSIS, from (para), beside, and (isos), equal to.
So that words equal to other words in one language are seen to be similar to those in another language when placed beside them.
It follows, from what we have said, that all the examples of Parechesis must occur in the New Testament:
Mat 3:9.-God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Here, there is no Paronomasia either in the Greek or the English, but there is in the Hebrew thought. Hence, these would be this Parechesis:-
(abanim), stones. (banim), children.
God is able of these abanim to raise up banim unto Abraham.
Mat 10:30.-The very hairs of your head are all numbered. , mene, and , manyan.
Mat 11:17.-We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced (, rcheesasthe): we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented (, ekopsasthe).
There is a Homoteleuton in these two Greek words but no Paronomasia. The Parachesis is seen by the Syriac, referring to which the Lord doubtless used. There we see a beautiful example of Paronomasia, for the word danced would be , rakedton, and the word lamented would be , arkedton.
In the English it would be:-We have piped unto you and ye did not leap: we have mourned unto you, and ye do not weep.
Mat 11:29.-I am meek, and ye shall find rest.
In the Peshito we have (nich), and (nyacha), and better still in the Lewis-Codex (venichkon), i.e., I shall give you rest, i.e., I am neech and veneechkn.
Mar 8:32.-The words of Peter to Jesus are rendered in the Lewis-Codex:-As if he pitied him: be it far from thee. This is , haes; , chas.
Luk 7:41-42.-See Rom 13:8.
Joh 1:5.-The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
In Syriac the word darkness would be , keval, and comprehend would be , kabbel.
Joh 10:1.-He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold would be , min tara letra.
Rom 13:8.-Owe no man anything but to love one another.
In the Greek (as in the English) these words are very different: but, to a Hebrew, the two words would immediately be, in the mind, (), achb and , chab. Chv, be debtor to no man, but achb one another. The same is seen in Luk 7:41-42.
Rom 15:4.-That we through patience might have hope. This would be , sabbar and , subar (from the same root).
That we through sabbar might have saubar.
1Co 1:23-24.-We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Here, there is a beautiful combination of words. By a simple change of letters, the words signify cross, stumbling-block, foolishness, power, and wisdom:-
(maskal) is cross.
(michshl) is stumbling-block.
(sechel) is foolishness.
(haschil) is power: i.e., prosperity or success resulting from power in doing anything.
(sechel) is wisdom (1Ch 22:12; 1Ch 26:14. Pro 12:8).
So that the whole passage would sound, in reading, thus:-We preach Christ, maskal, to the Jews michshl, and to the Greeks sekel, but to them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the haschil of God and the sechel of God.
2Co 11:17.-But as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
Here, foolishness and boasting are (from the same root)-
(hithallel) and
(hithlel).
(d) With a different sound (but similar sense)
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