INTENSIFYING STRATEGIES IN ANCIENT GREEK MAGICAL TEXTS

Bohdan V. Chernyukh,

Email: bohdan.chernyukh@lnu.edu.ua

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0927-0512

Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2026.28.156-170

PDF  (UKRAINIAN)

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes linguistic means of intensification in Ancient Greek magical texts. The study’s material is the corpus Papyri Graecae Magicae. The relevance of the study is caused by the insufficient attention paid to a systematic linguistic description of these texts, which are traditionally examined within religious or cultural studies. The aim is to identify and classify intensifying devices that ensure the maximum perlocutionary effect of magical utterances.

The methodological framework is based on a comprehensive approach that combines linguistic analysis with speech act theory and the anthropological interpretation of ritual discourse. Intensification is viewed as a means of strengthening the illocutionary force of an utterance.. The analysis is conducted at formal, semantic, and pragmatic levels, taking into account the performative nature of the magical text.

It has been established that intensification in magical texts is complex in nature and realized through heterogeneous means. At the formal level, repetition (lexical, syntactic, and morphemic) predominates, performing functions of rhythmization, insistence, and reinforcement of the speech act. An important role is played by voces magicae–acoustically marked “magical words” that enhance the suggestive and sacral character of the text. At the semantic level, intensification is achieved through the accumulation of divine names and epithets, the use of superlatives, and strategies of identification of the speaker with the deity. The pragmatic level is represented by imperative constructions and prefixed verbs, which strengthen the utterance’s categorical and directive force. All these means function within a clear structural model of the magical text (invocation – amplification – command – culmination).

Intensification in Ancient Greek magical texts is a multi-level phenomenon encompassing all linguistic levels and performing not only a stylistic but primarily a pragmatic function. It is aimed at maximizing illocutionary force and ensuring the effectiveness of the magical act. Redundancy and repetition appear not as stylistic flaws but as necessary conditions for the efficacy of ritual discourse.

Keywords: intensification, magical discourse, ancient Greek, repetition, accumulation, performativity, illocution.

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