Aorist (Ancient Greek)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Aorist.
In the grammar of Ancient Greek, including Koine, the aorist (pronounced /ˈeɪ.ərɪst/ or /
ˈɛərɪst/) is a class of verb forms that generally portray a situation as simple or
undefined, that is, as having aorist aspect. In the grammatical terminology of classical
Greek, it is a tense, one of the seven divisions of the conjugation of a verb, found in
all moods and voices.

Contents

 1Terminology
 2Morphology
o 2.1First
 2.1.1Compensatory lengthening
 2.1.2First aorist endings
o 2.2Second
 2.2.1Zero-grade
 2.2.2Reduplication
 2.2.3Second aorist endings
 2.2.4Second aorist passive
o 2.3Root
 3Syntax
o 3.1Aspectual variations
 3.1.1Ingressive
 3.1.2Resultative
o 3.2Indicative mood
 3.2.1Narrative
 3.2.2Complexive
 3.2.3Past-in-the-past
 3.2.4Gnomic
 3.2.5Dramatic
o 3.3Indicative mood with particle
 3.3.1Unattainable wish
 3.3.2Past potential
 3.3.3Iterative
 3.3.4Unreal
o 3.4Participles
o 3.5Non-indicative moods
o 3.6Optative mood
 3.6.1Potential
 4See also
 5Notes
 6Bibliography
Terminology[edit]
In traditional grammatical terminology, the aorist is a "tense", a section of the verb
paradigm formed with the same stem across all moods. By contrast, in theoretical
linguistics, tense refers to a form that specifies a point in time (past, present, or future),
so the aorist is a tense-aspect combination.
The literary Greek of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Attic Greek, was the
standard school-room form of Greek for centuries. This article therefore chiefly
describes the Attic aorist, describing the variants at other times and in other dialects as
needed. The poems of Homer were studied in Athens, and may have been compiled
there; they are in Epic or Homeric Greek, an artificial blend of several dialects, not
including Attic. The Homeric aorist differs in morphology from Attic, but the educated
Athenians imitated Homeric syntax.[citation needed]
Conversely, Hellenistic or Koine Greek was a blend of several dialects after the
conquests of Alexander; most of the written texts that survive in Koine imitate the Attic
taught in schools to a greater or lesser extent, but the spoken language of the writers
appears to have simplified and regularized the formation of the aorist, and some of the
features of Attic syntax are much less frequently attested.

Morphology[edit]
A verb may have either a first aorist or a second aorist: the distinction is like that
between weak (try, tried) and strong verbs (write, wrote) in English. A very few verbs
have both types of aorist, sometimes with a distinction of meaning: for
example ἵστημι (to set up or cause to stand) has both ἕστησα and ἕστην as aorists, but
the first has a transitive meaning ("I set up") and the second an intransitive meaning ("I
stood").
First[edit]
The stem of the first aorist is often marked by -σα- in the active and middle voice,
[1]
 and -θη- in the passive voice.[2] Because of the σ (sigma), it is also called sigmatic
aorist.
Compensatory lengthening[edit]
Compensatory lengthening affects first aorist forms whose verbal root ends in
a sonorant (nasal or liquid: ν, μ, ρ, λ).[1]
In Attic and Ionic Greek (also in Doric, with some differences), the σ in the first aorist
suffix causes compensatory lengthening of the vowel before the sonorant, producing a
long vowel (α → η or ᾱ, ε → ει, ι → ῑ, ο → ου, υ → ῡ).
In Aeolic Greek (which contributes some forms to Homeric), the σ causes compensatory
lengthening of the sonorant instead of the vowel, producing a double consonant
(ν → νν, λ → λλ).
The present stem sometimes undergoes sound changes caused by a suffix — for
instance, -ι̯- (IPA: /j/, English consonantal y). In this case, the aorist is formed from the
verbal root without the present-stem sound changes.
 present aorist

meaning
original original
Attic Attic Aeolic
form form

μέν-ω[3] *μεν-σα ἔ-μεινα *ἔ-μεννα stay, wait for

*στέλ-ι̯ω στέλλω[4] *στελ-σα ἔ-στειλα ἔ-στελλα prepare, send

*ἔ-
*φάν-ι̯ω φαίνω[5] *φαν-σα ἔ-φηνα show
φαννα

Kiparsky analyzes the process as debuccalization of s (σ) to h in Proto-

Greek, metathesis of h and the sonorant so that h comes before the sonorant,
and assimilation of h to the vowel (Attic-Ionic-Doric) or to the consonant (Aeolic). [6]

 men-sa → men-ha (debuccalization) → mehna (metathesis)
→ mēna or menna (compensatory lengthening)
First aorist endings[edit]
Most of the active and middle forms of the first aorist contain an α. The indicative forms
are similar to the imperfect, and the other moods, except for the subjunctive, are similar
to the present, except with an α in the endings instead of an ο or ε. The first person
singular indicative active, second person singular imperfect middle, the second person
singular imperatives, infinitive active, and masculine nominative singular of the participle
(bolded), however, do not follow this pattern. The subjunctive active and middle have
endings identical to the present active and mediopassive, while the passive has endings
identical to the present active.
Most of the passive forms of the first aorist have endings similar to those of the root
aorist.

λύω "release
indicativ subjunctiv infinitiv
", optative imperative participle
e e e
aor. λυσ(α)-

active ἔλυσα λύσω λύσαιμι — λῦσαι λύσας

ἔλυσας λύσῃς λύσαις λῦσον λύσασα
ἔλυσε λύσῃ λύσαι λυσάτω λῦσαν
ἐλύσαμεν λύσωμεν λύσαιμεν —
ἐλύσατε λύσητε λύσαιτε λύσατε
 ἔλυσαν λύσωσι λύσαιεν λυσάντων/λυσάτωσαν

ἐλυσάμην —
λύσωμαι λυσαίμην
ἐλύσω λῦσαι λυσάμενο
λύσῃ λύσαιο
ἐλύσατο λυσάσθω ς
λύσηται λύσαιτο λύσασθα
middle ἐλυσάμεθ — λυσαμένη
λυσώμεθα λυσαίμεθα ι
α λύσασθε λυσάμενο
λύσησθε λύσαισθε
ἐλύσασθε λυσάσθων/λυσάσθωσ ν
λύσωνται λύσαιντο
ἐλύσαντο αν

λυθείην
ἐλύθην λυθῶ λυθείης —
ἐλύθης λυθῇς λυθείη λύθητι
λυθείς
ἐλύθη λυθῇ λυθείημεν/λυθεῖμ λυθήτω
passive λυθῆναι λυθεῖσα
ἐλύθημεν λυθῶμεν εν —
λυθέν
ἐλύθητε λυθῆτε λυθείητε/λυθεῖτε λύθητε
ἐλύθησαν λυθῶσι λυθείησαν/λυθεῖε λυθέντων/λυθήτωσαν
ν

Second[edit]
The stem of the second aorist is the bare root of the verb,[7] or a reduplicated version of
the root.[8] In these verbs, the present stem often has e-grade of ablaut and adds a nasal
infix or suffix to the basic verb root, but the aorist has zero-grade (no e) and no infix or
suffix.
Zero-grade[edit]
When the present has a diphthong (e.g., ει), the second aorist has the offglide of the
diphthong (ι).

 present λείπω "leave", aorist λιπ(ο⁄ε)- (e-grade in present, zero-grade in aorist)

When there is no vowel in the present stem besides the e of ablaut, the aorist has no
vowel, or has an α from a vocalic ρ or λ.

 present πέτομαι "fly", aorist πτ(ο⁄ε)- (e-grade in present, zero-grade in aorist)

 present τρέπω, aorist τραπ(ο⁄ε)- (e-grade ρε in present, zero-grade ρ → ρα in
aorist)
Reduplication[edit]
Present stems of verbs with a reduplicated aorist often do not have e-grade or an infix
or suffix.

 present ἄγω "lead", aorist ἄγαγ(ο⁄ε)- (bare stem in present, reduplicated stem in

aorist)
Second aorist endings[edit]
The endings include an ο or ε (thematic vowel). In the indicative, endings are identical to
those of the imperfect; in non-indicative moods, they are identical to those of
the present.

λείπω "leave
indicativ subjunctiv infinitiv participl
", optative imperative
e e e e
aor. λιπ(ο⁄ε)-

ἔλιπον λίπω λίποιμι —

ἔλιπες λίπῃς λίποις λίπε
λιπών
ἔλιπεν λίπῃ λίποι λιπέτω
active λιπεῖν λιποῦσα
ἐλίπομεν λίπωμεν λίποιμεν —
λιπόν
ἐλίπετε λίπητε λίποιτε λίπετε
ἔλιπον λίπωσιν λίποιεν λιπόντων

ἐλιπόμην
λίπωμαι λιποίμην —
ἐλίπου λιπόμενο
λίπῃ/ει λίποιο λιποῦ
ἐλίπετο ς
λίπηται λίποιτο λιπέσθω
middle ἐλιπόμεθ λιπέσθαι λιπομένη
λιπώμεθα λιποίμεθα —
α λιπόμενο
λίπησθε λιποίεσθε λίπεσθε
ἐλίπεσθε ν
λίπωνται λίποιντο λιπέσθων
ἐλίποντο

ἐβλάβην βλαβείην
—
ἐβλάβης βλαβῶ βλαβείης
βλάβητι
ἐβλάβη βλαβῇς βλαβείη
βλαβήτω βλαβείς
ἐβλάβημε βλαβῇ βλαβείημεν/βλαβεῖμ βλαβῆν
passive — βλαβεῖσα
ν βλαβῶμεν εν αι
βλάβητε βλαβέν
ἐβλάβητε βλαβῆτε βλαβείητε/βλαβεῖτε
βλαβέντων/βλαβήτωσ
ἐβλάβησα βλαβῶσι βλαβείησαν/βλαβεῖε
αν
ν ν

Second aorist passive[edit]

A second aorist passive is distinguished from a first aorist passive only by the absence
of θ. A few verbs have passive aorists in both forms, usually with no distinction in
meaning;[9] but ἐφάνην "I appeared" is distinguished from ἐφάνθην "I was shown".
There is no correlation between the first/second aorist distinction in the active and the
passive: a verb with an active second aorist may have a passive first aorist or vice
versa.
Root[edit]
The root aorist is characteristic of athematic verbs (those with a present active in -μι).
Like the second aorist, the stem is the bare root, and endings are similar to the
imperfect in the indicative, and identical to the present in non-indicative moods. It is
sometimes included as a subcategory of the second aorist [10] because of these
similarities, but unlike the second aorist of thematic verbs, it has no thematic ο⁄ε.

γιγνώσκω, root aorist stem γνω-, γνο-

subjunctiv infinitiv
indicative optative imperative participle
e e

γνοίην
ἔγνων γνῶ —
γνοίης
ἔγνως γνῷς γνῶθι
γνοίη γνούς
activ ἔγνω γνῷ γνώτω
γνοῖμεν, γνῶναι γνοῦσα
e ἔγνωμεν γνῶμεν —
γνοίημεν γνόν
ἔγνωτε γνῶτε γνῶτε
γνοῖτε, γνοίητε
ἔγνωσαν γνῶσι γνόντων
γνοῖεν, γνοίησαν

The singular aorist indicative active of some athematic verbs

(τίθημι, ἔθηκα; δίδωμι, ἔδωκα) uses a stem formed by the suffix -κα and takes first aorist
rather than root aorist endings.[11]

Syntax[edit]
The aorist generally presents a situation as an undivided whole, also known as
the perfective aspect.[12][13][14][15][16]
Aspectual variations[edit]
The aorist has a number of variations in meaning that appear in all moods.
Ingressive[edit]
In verbs denoting a state or continuing action, the aorist may express the beginning of
the action or the entrance into the state. This is called ingressive aorist (also inceptive
or inchoative).[17]
 βασιλεύω "I am king" (present) — ἐβασίλευσα "I became king" or "I ruled" (aorist)
basileúō — ebasíleusa
Resultative[edit]
The resultative aorist expresses the result of an action. [18] Whether this is truly
distinguishable from the normal force of the narrative aorist is disputable.

 ἐβούλευον "I was deliberating" is imperfect; ἐβούλευσα "I decided" is aorist.

Indicative mood[edit]
The aorist usually implies a past event in the indicative, but it does not assert pastness,
and can be used of present or future events.

 ἀπωλόμην ἄρ᾽, εἴ με δὴ λείψεις, γύναι.

I am undone if you will leave me, wife.
Euripides, Alcestis 386
Narrative[edit]
The aorist and the imperfect are the standard tenses for telling a story. The ordinary
distinction between them is between an action considered as a single undivided
event and the action as a continuous event. Thus, for example, a process as a
whole can be described in the imperfect, while the individual steps in that process
will be aorist.
 ἔπαιζε ἐν τῇ κώμῃ ταύτῃ ... μετ᾽ ἄλλων ἡλίκων ἐν ὁδῷ. καὶ οἱ παῖδες
παίζοντες εἵλοντο ἑωυτῶν βασιλέα εἶναι τοῦτον δὴ ... ὁ δὲ αὐτῶν διέταξε τοὺς
μὲν οἰκίας οἰκοδομέειν, τοὺς δὲ δορυφόρους εἶναι, τὸν δέ κου τινὰ αὐτῶν
ὀφθαλμὸν βασιλέος εἶναι, τῷ δὲ τινὶ τὰς ἀγγελίας φέρειν ἐδίδου γέρας,...
[Cyrus] was playing in this village... in the road with others of his age. The boys
while playing chose to be their king this one.... Then he assigned some of them
to the building of houses, some to be his bodyguard, one doubtless to be the
King's Eye; to another he gave the right of bringing him messages;....
Herodotus, Histories 1.114
Here the imperfect ἔπαιζε "was playing" is the whole process of the game (which
continues past these extracts); the aorists the individual steps. [19]
The narrative aorist has the same force, of an undivided or single action, when used
by itself:
 ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶδον αὐτὸν οἵπερ πρόσθεν προσεκύνουν, καὶ τότε προσεκύνησαν,
καίπερ εἰδότες ὅτι ἐπὶ θάνατον ἄγοιτο.
And when the men who in former days were wont to do him homage saw him,
they made their obeisance even then, although they knew that he was being
led forth to death.
6.10
Were wont to do him homage is the imperfect, made their obeisance the aorist,
of προσκυνῶ "kowtow".
Complexive[edit]
On the other hand, if the entire action is expressed, not as a continuous action,
but as a single undivided event, the aorist is used: [19]
Herodotus introduces his story of Cyrus playing with:
 καὶ ὅτε ἦν δεκαέτης ὁ παῖς, πρῆγμα ἐς αὑτὸν τοιόνδε γενόμενον ἐξέφηνέ μιν·
Now when the boy was ten years old, the truth about him was revealed in
some such way as this:
Herodotus, Histories 1.114
The aorist is also used when something is described as happening for some
definite interval of time; this particular function can be more precisely called
the temporal aorist:
 Οὑμὸς πατὴρ Κέφαλος ἐπείσθη μὲν ὑπὸ Περικλέους εἰς ταύτην γῆν
ἀφικέσθαι, ἔτη δὲ τριάκοντα ᾤκησε.
My father Cephalus was persuaded by Pericles to come to this land
and lived (there) thirty years.
Lysias, Against Eratosthenes 4
Past-in-the-past[edit]
The other chief narrative use of the aorist is to express events before the time of
the story:[20]
 τούς τε Ἱμεραίους ἔπεισαν ξυμπολεμεῖν καὶ αὐτούς τε ἕπεσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν
νεῶν τῶν σφετέρων ναύταις ὅσοι μὴ εἶχον ὅπλα παρασχεῖν (τὰς γὰρ
ναῦς ἀνείλκυσαν ἐν Ἱμέρᾳ)
they persuaded the Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only to go with
them themselves but to provide arms for the seamen from their vessels (for
they had beached their ships at Himera)
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.1.3
It thus often translates an English or Latin pluperfect: the Greek pluperfect has
the narrower function of expressing a state of affairs existing at the time of the
story as the result of events before the time of the story.
Gnomic[edit]
The gnomic aorist expresses the way things generally happen, as in proverbs.
[21]
 The empiric aorist states a fact of experience (ἐμπειρίᾱ empeiríā), and is
modified by the adverbs often, always, sometimes, already, not yet, never, etc.
[22]
 (English tends to express similar timeless assertions with the simple present.)
The gnomic aorist is regarded as a primary tense in determining the mood of
verbs in subordinate clauses.[23] That is to say, subordinate clauses take the
subjunctive instead of the optative.

 οἱ τύραννοι πλούσιον ὃν ἄν βούλωνται παραχρῆμ’ ἐποίησαν (not *ἄν

βούλοιεν)
Tyrants make rich in a moment whomever they wish.
Demosthenes 20.15
Dramatic[edit]
In dialogues within tragedy and comedy, the first person singular aorist or
present expresses an action performed by the act of speaking, like thanking
someone (see performative utterance), or, according to another analysis, a
state of mind.[24] This is called tragic or dramatic aorist. The aorist is used
 when the action is complete in the single statement; the present when the
speaker goes on to explain how or why he is acting.

 Ἀλλαντοπώλης. ἥσθην ἀπειλαῖς, ἐγέλασα ψολοκομπίαις,
ἀπεπυδάρισα μόθωνα, περιεκόκκασα.
Sausage-seller. I like your threats, laugh at your empty bluster,
dance a fling, and cry cuckoo all around.
Aristophanes, The Knights 696–697: translated by William James Hickie[25]
Indicative mood with particle[edit]
Unattainable wish[edit]
A wish about the past that cannot be fulfilled is expressed by the aorist
indicative with the particles εἴθε or εἰ γάρ "if only" (eíthe, ei gár). This is
called the aorist of unattainable wish.[26]

 εἴθε σοι, ὦ Περίκλεις, τότε συνεγενόμην.

If only I had been with you then, Pericles!
Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.2.46
An unattainable wish about the present uses the imperfect. [26] A wish
about the future uses the optative with or without a particle;[27] an
optative of wish may be unattainable.[28]
Past potential[edit]
The aorist indicative (less commonly the imperfect) with
the modal particle ἄν (án), Homeric κέ(ν) (ké[n]), may express
past potentiality, probability, or necessity.[29]


τίς γὰρ ἂν ᾠήθη ταῦτα γενέσθαι;
For who would have expected these things to happen?
Demosthenes 9.68
Iterative[edit]
The aorist indicative[30] (also the imperfect, or past
iterative in Herodotus) with ἄν án may express repeated or
customary past action. This is called the iterative indicative. It is
similar to the past potential, since it denotes what could have
happened at a given point, but unlike the past potential, it is a
statement of fact.[31][32][33]

ὁπότε δ’ αὖ γένοιτο κατά τινας τῶν πρόσθεν

συμμαχεσαμένων, εἶπεν ἄν
But whenever he came past any of those who had fought under him before, he
would say
Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 7.1.14
Unreal[edit]
The aorist or imperfect indicative with ἄν may express past
unreality or counterfactuality. This is called the unreal
indicative. This construction is used in
the consequence of past counterfactual conditional
sentences.[34][35][36]
Participles[edit]
Outside of indirect discourse, an aorist participle may
express any time (past, present, or rarely future) relative to
the main verb.[37]
Non-indicative moods[edit]
Outside of the indicative mood, sometimes the aorist
determines time (often past time), and sometimes the
function of the mood determines it. When the aorist does
not determine time, it determines aspect instead. [38]
Aorist in indirect discourse refers to past time relative to
the main verb, since it replaces an aorist indicative.
An imperative, subjunctive or optative in an independent
clause usually refers to future time, because the imperative
express a command, the subjunctive expresses urging,
prohibition, or deliberation, and the optative expresses a
wish or possibility.
In dependent clauses (temporal, conditional, etc.), the time
(past, present, or future) of an aorist subjunctive, optative,
or imperative is based on the function of the mood. [38] The
subjunctive is used with main verbs in the present and
future tenses (primary sequence), and the optative is used
with main verbs in the past tenses (secondary sequence)
and to express potentiality in the future.
Optative mood[edit]
Potential[edit]
In the potential optative, the aorist expresses aspect, and
the potential optative implies future time.[39]

See also[edit]
 Aorist
 Perfective aspect

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:    Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §§  542–45:
a b

first (sigmatic) aorist active and middle.

2. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  585: first passive
(first aorist and first future passive).
3. ^ μένω. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English
Lexicon at the Perseus Project
4. ^ στέλλω in Liddell and Scott
5. ^ φαίνω in Liddell and Scott
6. ^ Paul Kiparsky, "Sonorant Clusters in Greek", Language, Vol.
43, No. 3, Part 1, pp. 619–35: Sep. 1967
7. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §§  546, 547: second
aorist; in o-verbs.
8. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  549: aorist of verbs
with simple presents.
9. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  595.
10. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  550: second aorist
active and middle of  μι-verbs.
11. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  755: first aorist active
and middle in  -μι verbs.
12. ^ Bernard Comrie, 1976, Aspect: An introduction to the study of
verbal aspect and related problems, Cambridge University Press.
13. ^ Stanley Porter, 1992, Idioms of the Greek New
Testament, Continuum International.
14. ^ Östen Dahl & Eva Hedin, 2000, "Current relevance and event
reference", in Dahl, ed., Tense and Aspect in the Languages of
Europe, Walter de Gruyter.
15. ^ Gary Alan Long, 2006, Grammatical Concepts 101 for Biblical
Greek, Hendrickson.
16. ^ Maria Napoli, 2006, Aspect and Actionality in Homeric Greek: A
contrastive analysis,Franco Angeli.
17. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1924: ingressive
aorist.
18. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1926: resultative
aorist.
19. ^ Jump up to:a b Rijksbaron, §6.1
20. ^ Rijksbaron, §6.3.1; last clause trans. following Rijksbaron
21. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1931: gnomic aorist.
22. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1930: empiric aorist.
23. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1858: primary and
secondary tenses.
24. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1937: dramatic aorist.
25. ^ Aristophanes, W. J. Hickie. The Comedies of Aristophanes,
Volume 1. H. G. Bohn, 1853. p. 83.
26. ^ Jump up to:a b Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1780:
unattainable wish.
27. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1814: optative of
wish.
28. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1818: unattainable
future wish.
29. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1784: past potential.
30. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1933: iterative aorist.
31. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1790: iterative
indicative.
32. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1791: comparison
with past potential.
33. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1792: modal particle
with iterative in Herodotus.
34. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1786: unreal
indicative.
35. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1787: connection with
past potential, use in unreal conditions.
36. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1788: different tenses
in this construction.
37. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1872.c: aorist
participle not in indirect discourse.
38. ^ Jump up to:a b Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1852.d:
tense in subjunctive, optative, and imperative.
39. ^ Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges.  §  1824: potential
optative.