Take the case of ἀνήρ. In the NT. it occurs 212 times, and of these no less than 125 appear in St. Luke’s works (26 in G. and 99 in Acts), i.e. 58 per cent. Still more remarkable is the result when we compare ἀνήρ and ἄνθρωπος. Whereas the other Evangelists use ἄνθρωπος very frequently indeed (218 times), they employ ἀνήρ only 20 times. St. Luke also (especially in the Gospel) uses ἄνθρωπος frequently (93 times), but he has ἀνήρ 26 times (cf. Mt. 8 times, Mk. 4 times, Jn. 8 times). If we take both Lukan writings, the usage of ἄνθρωπος and ἀνήρ is roughly equal, whereas in the rest of the NT. it is as 9 is to 2. We can say, therefore, that St. Luke shows a liking for ἀνήρ, whereas Mt. Mk. and Jn. markedly prefer ἄνθρωπος. However, the word is so common that we can lay no stress on the fact that it occurs in i. 34, where the connexion demands it. We can only note its congruity with a Lukan liking. Καὶ ἀποκριθείς is also interesting, though not, of course, in any way decisive. In Lk. the phrase occurs 14 times; in Mt. it is found 6 times; in Mk. 8; never in the Fourth Gospel, and never in the Acts. It occurs, that is to say, in those parts of the New Testament in which sources, probably Aramaic,(53) are employed. This is in line with the view expressed by Moulton and Milligan with regard to the aorist passive forms of the verb.(54) They say that they incline to the opinion that ἀπεκρίθην “belongs only to early Hellenistic, whence it was taken by the LXX translators to render a common Hebrew phrase, passing thence into the narrative parts of NT. as a definite ‘Septuagintalism’ ”. It is in keeping with this view that καὶ ἀποκριθείς ... εἶπεν should appear in that part of St. Luke’s Gospel where most of all we have reason to posit Semitic sources, whether oral or documentary. As we have seen, half the record of this expression in the New Testament, apart from Lk. i. 35, is in the Third Gospel. The presence, then, of καὶ ἀποκριθείς in Lk. i. 35 is congruous with these facts; more, perhaps, we cannot say. A word like πῶς has no bearing on our present investigation, and the same is true of ἄγγελος, δύναμις (otherwise, however, of δ. in combination with nouns, &c., in the gen.), ἅγιος (very frequently in Lk.), εἶπεν (with dat.),(55) and υἱὸς θεοῦ. Μαριάμ (of the mother of Jesus) occurs more often in Lk. than in other NT. writers (9 times and probably 10 in the G., once in Acts); the form Μαρία appears but once (ii. 19 is doubtful). In Mk. Μαρία occurs once, Μαριάμ never; in Mt. we find Μαρία 3 times and Μαριάμ probably twice. The use of the form Μαριάμ in i. 34 is therefore in agreement with St. Luke’s usage, but of course this does not preclude the hand of an interpolator, since every instance of Μαριάμ (of the mother of Jesus) in the Third Gospel occurs in the first two chapters.