Ellipsis — Relative
Relative Omission
Relative Ellipsis is Bullinger’s second principal category. The missing word is to be supplied from the context — a related, contrary, or analogous word in the vicinity suggests what is missing. The figure thus leans on something present in the sentence itself, in contrast to Absolute Ellipsis (supplied “from the nature of the subject alone”) and Ellipsis of Repetition (which literally takes words from neighbouring clauses).
For the general workings of Ellipsis see the overview at Ellipsis (parent).
I. Supply from a cognate word (pp. 56-57)
1. The noun from the verb (p. 56)
When a verb is present and the corresponding noun (object or subject) is omitted, because it is directly derivable from the verb. Example: with a verb to sow, the object seed need not be uttered — the cognate noun follows automatically.
2. The verb from the noun (p. 57)
The reverse pattern: a noun is present, the corresponding verb is omitted.
II. Supply from a contrary word (pp. 58-60)
In an antithetical formulation, when one member is explicit and the other would be its opposite, that opposite is omitted because the contrary word sufficiently suggests it. Bullinger gives examples where the figure is missed by the A.V.
III. Supply from an analogous or related word (p. 61)
Between Cognate (strong relation) and Contrary (opposition) lies an intermediate class where the analogy is less direct but still sufficient to indicate the missing word.
IV. Supply from another word — figures-within-figures (pp. 62-69)
The fourth sub-classification has its own Latin names because of its peculiar character — the missing word is contained in another word, not added to it:
- Syntheton — a combination in which two meanings converge in a single word
- Compositio — a composition in which the shorter member summarises the longer expression
- Concisa locutio — an abbreviated expression whose full form can be reconstructed from context
- Constructio praegnans — a “pregnant construction”: a verb that simultaneously bears two meanings (e.g. “to flee from” as “to flee in fear from”)
Bullinger illustrates constructio praegnans extensively in this sub-section. The verb does double duty: the literal action and its implication are expressed simultaneously by one word.
Hermeneutical note
Relative Ellipsis is for Bullinger the most dangerous type for readers who fail to recognise the figure — because the context suggests the missing word, translators can easily supply a wrong word when several candidates compete. Bullinger therefore gives example after example where the A.V. has supplied the Ellipsis incorrectly or not at all.
Related Figures
- ellipsis — parent overview
- absolute — sister category A
- repetition — sister category C
- zeugma — related figure in which one verb unequally serves two objects — Bullinger sometimes treats Zeugma under Constructio Praegnans
Source
E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1898), pp. 56-69.