Saturday, July 1, 2023

Sean A. Adams and Seth M. Ehorn on what constitutes a "Composite Citation"

  

Working Definition of Composite Citation

 

A definition of a composite citation must address both the noun and its adjectival modifier. For the purpose of this volume we will consider a citation of the following factors:

 

·       The text must be marked as a citation in some manner, either with: (1) an explicit attribution to an author or speaker; (2) the use of an introductory formula; (3) a noticeable break in syntax between the citation and its new literary context; or, (4) if the citation is well-known in antiquity or cited elsewhere by the same author is well-known in antiquity or cited elsewhere by the same author it can reasonably be considered a citation.

·       More allusive examples of literary borrowing, while offering potential information on citation techniques, must only be considered with caution.

 

The composite nature of the definition is equally important:

 

·       Within the citation, two or more texts must be fused together.

·       This fusing tother must not include conjunctions that break between the two fused texts (e.g., και, και παλιν, etc.). In some instances, the presence of a conjunction within a citation will need to be examined more closely in order to determine if the syntax is broken.

·       Prior to or following a list of citations, if the citing author refers to a plurality of sources, the citation should not be considered composite.

 

These culminate in the following working definition: a text may be considered a composite citation when literary borrowing occurs in a manner that includes two or more passages (from the same or different authors) fused together and conveyed as though they are only one. (Sean A. Adams and Seth M. Ehorn, “What is a Composite Citation? An Introduction,” in Composite Citations in Antiquity, ed. Sean A. Adams and Seth M. Ehorn, 2 vols. [Library of New Testament Studies 525; London: T&T Clark, 2016], 1:3-4)

 

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