PLEONASM
PLEONASM
PLEONASM is usually said to be employed, where the language is so abundant in respect to one or two words (e.g., A Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, etc.), that even without those words the sense would be complete: e.g.-the Substantive is redundant, when the notion of it lies hid in the Adjective,-Rom 12:11, . The repetition is not inelegant, as BAUER very well observes, in whose work you may see several examples of Pleonasm. [Philol. Th. Paull. ch. 10, p. 202, etc.]
It is also PLEONASM, when anything is expressed in a number of words and phrases, which, in the ordinary usage of speech, signify much the same thing; for instance,-Luk 18:34, , , .-Joh 1:20, , .-Act 13:45, , .-Php 1:23, . Nor, however, are such redundant expressions altogether idle or useless; since they EITHER set forth the subject more fully, OR impart EMPHASIS, OR prove the feeling of the speaker, OR mark distribution of the members of a sentence, OR are so employed in accordance with the usage of the sacred language. [GLASSIUS Philol. S. L. IV., Tract. II. concerning PLEONASM, Obs. XIII.] Pleonasm is of use both towards augmenting the force, and towards ornament, and yet not always so; but it is sometimes EITHER in accordance with the simplicity of the most ancient language, of which class there are several Pleonasms in the Hebrew tongue, and thence in that of the New Testament; OR from whatever other cause, it has arisen in the usage of speech, and is employed even by elegant speakers: for which reason it cannot be arraigned as a fault, and yet at the same time it ought not to be twisted so as to be made indicative of force or ornament. [ERNESTI Instit. Interpr. N. T. P. II. c. 10, 10, p. 194.] Let us see some examples: Luk 18:34, The sacred writer indicates how great was the ignorance of the disciples; but the Gnomon on the passage observes a Gradation in the several phrases, and we must altogether confess, that the very copiousness of the words here has the effect of making the narrative more perspicuous and forcible.-Joh 1:20, The Pleonasm makes the language more powerful.-Act 13:45, The repetition of the verb is owing to a Hebraism. Comp. the Gnom. on the passage.-Php 1:23, The accumulated Comparative is not without emphasis. See the Gnom. on this passage, and on 2Co 7:13; and comp. BAUERS Philol. Th. P. c. 6, 2, p. 67.-Another figure, which is called HENDIADYS, has in it something similar to Pleonasm. As to Hendiadys see above.