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What is the difference between ἐδύνατο and ἠδύνατο?

Posted: August 16th, 2018, 10:01 pm
by Jacob Rhoden
It is used both ways in Mark 6, BDAG seems to imply the correct form for the imperfect uses the η, however accordance tags both as 3rd person singular imperfect.
Mark 6:5 καὶ οὐκ ἐδύνατο ⸂ἐκεῖ ποιῆσαι οὐδεμίαν δύναμιν⸃, εἰ μὴ ὀλίγοις ἀρρώστοις ἐπιθεὶς τὰς χεῖρας ἐθεράπευσεν.

Mark 6:19 ἡ δὲ Ἡρῳδιὰς ἐνεῖχεν αὐτῷ καὶ ἤθελεν αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο·

δύναμαι (Hom.+) dep.; pres. 2 sg. δύνῃ and δύνασαι; impf. ἠδυνάμην

Re: What is the difference between ἐδύνατο and ἠδύνατο?

Posted: August 17th, 2018, 10:22 am
by Barry Hofstetter
Both augments are attested for both the imperfect and the aorist. This is simply a formal difference, nothing else. Variations like this are not uncommon in Hellenistic Greek.

Re: What is the difference between ἐδύνατο and ἠδύνατο?

Posted: August 17th, 2018, 3:09 pm
by MAubrey
As an English analogy:

Some people spell 'gray' and other people spell 'grey'. Both are correct. The difference used to be dialectal, but with the growth of cross-dialectal interaction, but get used by the same people from time to time.

Re: What is the difference between ἐδύνατο and ἠδύνατο?

Posted: August 17th, 2018, 6:33 pm
by Stephen Carlson
In my view, δύναμαι ~ ἠδύνατο is an analogical remodeling based on θέλω ~ ἤθελον, except that the quantitative augment is actually etymologically correct for the latter.