HETEROSIS.
HETEROSIS; or, EXCHANGE OF
ACCIDENCE.
Exchange of one Voice, Mood, Tense, Person, Number, Degree, or
Gender, for another.
Het '-e-rô '-sis, etrepos (heteros), another, different. It is the name given to that form
of Enallage1 which consists of an exchange, not of actual parts of speech, but of the
accidence of a part of speech.
It includes an exchange of one Form of the Verb for another (e.g., intransitive for
transitive); one Mood or Tense for another; one Person for another; one Degree of
comparison for another; one Number or Gender for another.
When the exchange is of one Case for another, it has a separate name-Antiptôsis
(see above), and when the exchange is of one Part of Speech for another, it is called
Antirnereia (see above).
The following are the various forms of Heterosis
HETEROSIS.
I. Of FORMS and VOICES.
A. Intransitive for Transitive.
B. Active for Passive.
C. Middle for Passive.
II. Of Moods.
A. Indicative for Subjunctive.
B. Subjunctive for Indicative.
C. Imperative for Indicative.
D. Imperative for Subjunctive.
E. Infinitive for Indicative.
F. Infinitive for Imperative.
III. Of TENSES.
1 In rhetoric, a figure of syntactic substitution in which one grammatical form (person, case, gender,
number, tense) is replaced by another (usually ungrammatical) form. Also known as the figure of
exchange.
Enallage is related to solecism (a deviation from conventional word order). Enallage, however, is usually
regarded as a deliberate stylistic device, whereas a solecism is commonly treated as an error of usage.
Nonetheless, Richard Lanham suggests that "the ordinary student will not go far wrong in using enallage
as a general term for the whole broad range of substitutions, intentional or not" (Handbook of Rhetorical
Terms, 1991).
2
A. Past for Present.
B. Past for Future.
C. Aorist (Indefinite) for Past.
D. Aorist (Indefinite) Present.
E. Present for Past.
F. Present for Future.
G. Present for Paulo post futurum (i.e., a
H. Future for Past.
I. Future for Present.
J. Future for Imperative.
IV. Of PERSONS.
A. First Person for Third.
B. Second for Third.
C. Third for First or Second.
D. Plural for Singular.
E. Singular for Plural.
V. Of ADJECTIVES (DEGREE) and ADVERBS.
A. Positive for Comparative.
B. Positive for Superlative.
C. Comparative for Positive.
D. Comparative for Superlative.
E. Superlative for Comparative.
VI. Of NOUNS (NUMBER), ADJECTIVES, and PRONOUNS.
A. Singular for Plural.
B. Plural for Singular.
C. Plural for Indefinite Number or one of ma
VII. Of GENDER.
A. Masculine for Feminine.
B. Masculine for Neuter.
C. Feminine for Neuter.
D. Neuter for Masculine or Feminine,
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VII. HETEROSIS OF GENDER.
As the Hebrew (like French) has no neuter gender, sometimes the masculine is
used, and sometimes the feminine.
And this is seen in the Greek of the New Testament, notwithstanding that the
Greek has the neuter gender.
There are, however, other exchanges of gender besides this.
1. The Masculine for the Feminine.
Act8 ix. 37.—" Whom when they had washed." Here, though Greek) the
masculine " they" is put, women are meant.
Heb. ix. x6, 17.—" The testator," (oJ diaqevmeno" (ho diatheminos): the
covenant-maker, is masculine; but the word for sacrifice, to it refers, is feminine: yet
the masculine is used, because the cc was Christ Himself; otherwise it would have
been feminine to with sacrifice (hJ quvsia, her thusia). Thus, though the Greek is
feminine, the Heb. word jb~z# is masculine, og diaqevmino" agrees with the Heb.
thought, rather than with the Greek word. (See pages and 493).
2. The Masculine for the Neuter.
Gen. ii. i8.—" He is not good" i.e., it is not a good thing for (man) to be alone.
See also Ps. cxix. 65. Isa. v. 20; vii. 15.
John xvi. 13.—" When HE—the Spirit of truth—is come, Ha I guide you into all
truth, for HE shall not speak of Himself; but atsoever HE shall hear that shall HE
speak, and HE will show you ings to come." Here, though the word "Spirit" is
neuter, the pronouns are masculine, and this is so put in order to show and impress
upon us that the Holy Spirit is a Person.
3. The Feminine for the Neuter.
Gen. 1. 20.—" Ye thought evil (fern.) against me, but God meant it unto good
(fern.)." While the masc. ir is generally used for moral evil, its feminine TTj is used
for the consequence of that—viz., physical evil. So here, the feminine denotes
mischief, hurt: "Ye meant me harm; but God meant it (masc.) for good": i,e., meant
to turn it to good. So also Job v. 9. Ps. xii. 3; xxvii. 4.
534 FIGURES OF SPEECH.
Also for the use of pronouns (see Gen. xv. 6; xliii. 32. Ex. x. 11, Num. xxiii. 23. Ps.
cxviii. 23. Matt. xxi. 42. Mark xii. 11.
4. The Neuter for the Masculine or Feminine.
Matt. i. 20.-" For that (neut.) which is conceived (or begotten in her." So Luke i.
4
35: "that holy thing."
Matt. xviii. zx.—" For the Son of Man is come to save that (neut.) which was
lost": i.e., lost sinners, of both sexes.
John i. 46 (7).—" Can there any good thing (neut.) come out Nazareth?" The
words were spoken with reference to Christ.
John iii. 6.—" That (neut.) which is born of the flesh is flesh and that (neut.)
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The neuter I used to agree with the word
"thing," though person is meant: because that which is born of the flesh or spirit is
rather the fleshly or spiritual nature, than the man as an individual: but also, because
I includes men and women.
Heb. vii. 7.—" And without all contradiction the less (neut.) is blessed of the
better."
Se also Luke xvi. 15. John vi. 39 (compare verse 40). 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.
I John i. x.—" That which was from the beginning," etc.: i.e., Him who was.
Compare John i. 1, 14.
I John V. 4.—" For whatsoever (neut.) is begotten of God." That this refers to
persons is clear from verses 1.5 : but it is put neuter both on account of the spiritual
or new nature which is referred to (spirit being neuter), as well as from the fact that
both men and women are included.
I John v. 8.—" There are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit (neut.), and the
water (neut.), and the blood (neut.), and these (masc.) three are one." Because
persons are meant, the pronoun is masculine, though the other words are neuter.
WHAT PERSONS?????????????
