Contact-induced insubordination in the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint and the New Testament

This paper discusses the puzzling usage of εἰ/ἐάν (μή) with future/subjunctive to express what has been called a Hebraistic oath formula in grammars. In particular, we critically examine the hypothesis that these sentences, though formally a subordinate clause, have become independent main clauses through insubordination, the diachronic conventionalization of formally subordinate clauses as main clauses. We argue that these constructions are forms of contact-induced insubordination, since (i) the Hebrew source constructions are generally also insubordinate, suggesting that we may have an instance of polysemy copying, (ii) the constructions show morphosyntactic variation typical of their Early Postclassical Greek origins (e.g. interchange between conditional subordinators, and between the subjunctive and future indicative), and (iii) the constructions have their own subordinate clause, display polarity reversal and are pragmatically versatile in both languages.