Didache (and MI imperatives)
Clwinbery at aol.com
Clwinbery at aol.com
Thu Nov 8 19:17:14 EST 2001
In a message dated 11/8/01 2:30:02 PM Central Standard Time,
KAT at kneptune.demon.co.uk writes:
> My beginning grammar doesn't say much about MI conjugation forms, but
> lists them all in a table using DIDWMI, hISTHMI and TIQHMI. For aorist
> middle imperatives the forms of DIDWMI and TIQHMI are 'DOU' and 'QOU'
> (and aorist middle hISTHMI is not listed), is this incorrect? So I
> assumed the aorist middle imperative of DUNAMAI would be something like
> 'DUNOU' (or if it's DUNA+OU, DUNW). I wasn't thinking about contract
> vowels at all, it didn't occur to me that they are lengthened before
> Sigma - DUNHSAI not DUNASAI if it follows the W conjugation. So does
> DUNAMAI follow the MI or W conjugation in the aorist tense? Are both
> forms used with all MI verbs or do certain verbs follow the MI
> conjugation whilst others follow W?
There are forms of this verb in the form DUNAMOW (CONTRACT) "to
strengthen or make strong" and DUNATEW (contract) "to be able, strong"
> As for the meaning of the imperative, the idea I had was 'neither
> should you be powerful', meaning not forceful in getting your stuff
> back. But is the DUNAMAI imperative never used?
Not in the NT. The verb occurs in the NT in the present, imperfect, sixth
principal part QH/E and the future middle DUNHSOMAI (morphologically
speaking).
> Thanks again for the help, and for the advice about BAGD. It seems to
> get mentioned here quite a lot, and in one of my grammars and lexicons
> it constantly says 'see BAGD', and it's only the New Testament and other
> Christian literature that I read in Greek so it's perfect for my needs.
>
The revised edition BDAG is worth the price.
Carlton Winbery
Louisiana College
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