Imperative of OIDA and EIMI

Sylvia Schmitz Sylvia.Schmitz at t-online.de
Tue Jan 2 05:27:15 EST 2001


Carl W. Conrad schrieb:
> At 1:39 PM +0100 1/1/01, Sylvia Schmitz wrote:
> >Dear B-Greekers,
> >
> >while studying Machen (Paradigms p.250-251 - § 602 and 603) I wondered
>  whether
> >the imperative forms of OIDA and EIMI 2. Singular Imperative Indicative are
> >identical:
> >ISQI.
> >
> >Nor in Lesson 28 neither in Lesson 33 there is a hint, that this form is
> >identical.
> >
> >Could someone answer this question for me?
>
> They are identical in spelling and pronunciation; only the context will
> clearly distinguish their usage. Originally, to be sure, they were
> different, but loss of weak consonants (digamma in the case of OIDA, sigma
> in the case of EIMI) has led to their identity of form and pronunciation:
> (note that here W represents Digamma, normally represented by F)
>
> OIDA:  WI-DQI --> WIS-QI --> ISQI  (D of root WID assimilated to Q)
> EIMI:  SIS-QI --> IS-QI  --> ISQI  (root of EIMI alternated btw/ SE and ES;
> what's probably happened in this instance is vocalic assimilation between
> the E and the I of QI; and of course you can tell that this is mere
> guesswork, very possibly wrong).
>
> -- 
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics/Washington University
> One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
> Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
> cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
> WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

Thank you for this reply. When I asked this question, I didnot expect such an 
interesting reply. While I did my studies as a graduate translator, I studied a 
lot about exactly this context. So far, I didnot think about the fact, that 
in New Testament Greek, the same principles are to be found as in the transition 
between Latin and Italian. 

Sylvia Schmitz

Sylvia.Schmitz at t-online.de
Mainz, Germany






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