Troubles identitaires en grec classique: la séquence pronom personnel + ὅστις
Résumé
In this paper, we examine a puzzling usage of the relative ὅστις. In spite of its indefinite semantics, it can show up with definite terms, an issue first raised a long time ago. We claim here that these expressions [definite term + ὅστις] actually come in three clearly distinct types, none of which can be explained as a neutralization with ὅς, nor by means of the generalizing meaning of ὅστις. In the first case, we are dealing with a rare formula and its variants (ὅστις νῦν + passive verb) limited to the historical literature. In the second case, ὅστις means ‘whoever’. We focus on the third case in this study. The ὅστις relative clause plays a role at two levels. First it determines the noun to which it is attached (as ὅς may), second it is an argument in favor of a disputable speech act (an option not available to ὅς). We argue that this pragmatic usage is just an instance of the more general, non identificational semantics of ὅστις.