morphology of μαρτυρει

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Chris Engelsma
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morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by Chris Engelsma »

I am looking at μαρτυρει. The process is this:
  • The stem is μαρτυρε-
    Add the connecting vowel; μαρτυρεε
    The contraction takes place; μαρτυρει
    Add the primary ending; μαρτυρειι ???? here is where everything falls to pieces. :(
cwconrad
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Re: morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by cwconrad »

Chris Engelsma wrote:I am looking at μαρτυρει. The process is this:
  • The stem is μαρτυρε-
    Add the connecting vowel; μαρτυρεε
    The contraction takes place; μαρτυρει
    Add the primary ending; μαρτυρειι ???? here is where everything falls to pieces. :(
This verb belongs to one of three special categories of -ω verbs: the contract-verbs. There are -έ-ω verbs, -ά-ω verbs, and there are -ό-ω verbs. What you really need to do is to learn each of these categories as a pattern. μαρτυρέω in the present indicative active goes like this: μαρτυρῶ, μαρτυρεῖς, μαρτυρεῖ, μαρτυροῦμεν, μαρτυρεῖτε, μαρτυροῦσι(ν). Alternatively you can learn -- and probably should learn -- the table of standard contractions of vowels and diphthongs. The six forms I've just give you are formed on the basis of the following phonetic rules: έ + ω = ῶ, έ + ει = εῖ (in 2d sg. -εῖς, 3d sg. -εῖ, 2nd pl. -εῖτε, έ+ ο = οῦ (in 1 pl.), -έ + ου = -οῦ- (3d pl. -οῦσι(ν).

Somewhere in your textbook you should have a paradigm and explanatory notes for epsilon contract verbs. It will display something like this:
φιλέ-ω --⟩ φιλὼ
φιλέ-εις --⟩ φιλεῖς
φιλέ-ει --⟩ φιλεῖ
φιλέ-ομεν --⟩ φιλοῦμεν
φιλέ-ετε --⟩ φιλεῖτε
φιλέ-ουσι(ν) --⟩ φιλοῦσι(ν)

All of your epsilon-contracts are going to follow this pattern -- and there are really lots of epsilon contract verbs. You need to learn them as a special variety of omega (-ω) verbs.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stephen Carlson
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Re: morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Chris Engelsma wrote:I am looking at μαρτυρει. The process is this:
  • The stem is μαρτυρε-
    Add the connecting vowel; μαρτυρεε
    The contraction takes place; μαρτυρει
    Add the primary ending; μαρτυρειι ???? here is where everything falls to pieces. :(
What Carl said, but what's wrong with the way you're doing it here, is that you need to add the primary ending, then contract it.

Stephen
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Chris Engelsma
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Re: morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by Chris Engelsma »

sccarlson wrote:
Chris Engelsma wrote:I am looking at μαρτυρει. The process is this:
  • The stem is μαρτυρε-
    Add the connecting vowel; μαρτυρεε
    The contraction takes place; μαρτυρει
    Add the primary ending; μαρτυρειι ???? here is where everything falls to pieces. :(
What Carl said, but what's wrong with the way you're doing it here, is that you need to add the primary ending, then contract it.

Stephen
Ok....I guess this is where I am going wrong. Is there an "order of operations" here? How do I know when the vowels are going to contract? Why would the vowels contract after the primary ending comes in and not before? Am I viewing this in too sequential a way?
cwconrad
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Re: morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by cwconrad »

Chris Engelsma wrote: Ok....I guess this is where I am going wrong. Is there an "order of operations" here? How do I know when the vowels are going to contract? Why would the vowels contract after the primary ending comes in and not before? Am I viewing this in too sequential a way?
I have no idea what textbook you are using; it really ought to present all the information you need to know about contract verbs (-άω, -έω, -όω verbs), how they are conjugated and the kinds of contractions that are involved in these paradigms. A couple points you might note: (1) you won't see uncontracted verb forms in a text -- the lexicon gives the basic form of these verbs, e.g., as ποιέω, ἀγαπάω, σταυρόω, and they do this only to show that these are contract verbs -- but the comparable forms you'll see in texts are always ποιῶ, ἀγαπῶ, σταυρῶ; (2) one sure sign that you're dealing with a contract verb is that the final syllable of the verb-form shows a circumflex accent in the 1 sg., 2 sg., 3 sg., and 3 pl., or the penult (second-to-last syllable) shows a circumflex in the 1 pl. and 2 pl.

If you feel that your textbook doesn''t adequately explain the conjugation of contract verbs, I suggest that you consult and give close attention to the discussion in Funk's BIGHG, Lesson 24, §§368ff.· http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/project/f ... on-24.html
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: morphology of μαρτυρει

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Chris Engelsma wrote:Ok....I guess this is where I am going wrong. Is there an "order of operations" here? How do I know when the vowels are going to contract? Why would the vowels contract after the primary ending comes in and not before? Am I viewing this in too sequential a way?
Historically, contraction was one of the last changes to occur. Older texts like Homer and even Herodotus often have uncontracted forms. (Of course, contraction occurred at different times and in different dialects, so broad generalizations are going to ignore some details.)

Mounce gives a series of steps to apply for contract verbs. He believes that his (apparently arbitrary) rules are easier to remember than paradigms. For some students that may even be true, and you might be one of them. (Personally, I don't like memorizing rules until they refer to actual historical changes, which Mounce's rules don't always do.)

Ultimately, however, you're just going to have to read enough Greek until you're used to (if not sick and tired of) of seeing them. Fortunately, contract verbs are pretty common, so it won't have to take a ton of Greek to see them in action.

Stephen
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
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