BETWEEN INTIMACY AND ALIENATION: THE PROTOTYPICAL SENSE OF KSÉNOS IN GREEK AND ITS LITERARY EXPLOITATION IN EPIPHANIUS’ SERMON ON HOLY SATURDAY
BETWEEN INTIMACY AND ALIENATION: THE PROTOTYPICAL SENSE OF KSÉNOS IN GREEK AND ITS LITERARY EXPLOITATION IN EPIPHANIUS’ SERMON ON HOLY SATURDAY

Summary/Abstract: This work looks at the way the polysemic network of the term ksénos, meaning GUEST-FRIEND, HOST and STRANGER in Ancient Greek, is literarily exploited by the 4th century Christian writer Epiphanius, in a sermon on Holy Saturday. The text is of particular interest, given that it makes a proliferate use of the term in a passage that occupies a central place in his work. The analysis first gives a representation of the gestaltist theory that underlies the conceptualisation of the term, understanding the latter as an emergent concept within a network of conceptual integration. In turn, it contextualises synchronically the sermon by giving a rather fine-grained semantic coding of the extant instances of the term, found in Greek papyri between 250 and 450 AD. Finally, it looks at the actual uses of the term in Epiphanius’ text, locating each of the uses within ksénos’ integration network and exploring their function at a textual level.

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