Paronomasia
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PARONOMASIA (Gr. παρονομασία, Lat. annominatio).*—A play on words of similar sound. This linguistic use, which in the present day is usually confined to humorous writing, is found in ancient, and especially Oriental, works in the most serious passages.[1]
Paronomasia. A type of *wordplay based on the similarity between two words or word forms. It is frequently used in the Hebrew Bible, especially in prophetic rhetoric: for example, “If you do not believe [ta’aminu], you will not stand firm [te’amenu]” (Isa. 7:9); when Jeremiah saw a rod of almond (shaqed), he was reassured that the Lord is awake (shoqed) (Jer. 1:11–12). Proper names are very often the object of wordplay, as for example, Isaac (Heb. yitzhaq; cf. tzahaq, “to laugh,” Gen. 18:12–15) and Peter (Gk. petros; cf. petra, “rock,” Matt. 16:18). Puns are almost impossible to translate but, for a reader who knows both Greek and Hebrew, there is probably one on the name Malta (Heb. melita, “escape”) in Acts 28:1.[2]
Scott Noegel has written a monograph on wordplay in ANE texts[3].
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Fulford, H. W. “Paronomasia.” A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels: Aaron–Zion, edited by James Hastings, vol. 2, T&T Clark; Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906, p. 321.
- ↑ Sawyer, John F. A. “Paronomasia.” A Concise Dictionary of the Bible and Its Reception, 1st ed., Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p. 194.
- ↑ Scott B. Noegel, "Wordplay in Ancient Near Eastern Texts," 2021.