The origins of ERCOMAI
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Jun 3 22:07:45 EDT 2002
At 6:39 PM -0700 6/3/02, Ty wrote:
> --List Members:
>
>I am willing to accept that occasionally a word can go through such a
>transition that it becomes unrecognizable when compared to its lexical form,
>especially in the 2nd Aorist, but I am really curious what transition could
>have taken place to make ERCOMAI develop the variations it has. I can see
>ERCHOU and ERCESQE in the imperative, HRCOMHN in the imperfect is also
>logical but what about ELEUSOMAI(fut), ELHLUQA(pf), HLQON (2nd aorist) and
>HLQA (1st aorist). Does anyone know if this is due to a historical change
>in the stem and, if so, how it took place?
>
>I guess I could just accept that that is the way it is but such acceptance
>does not satisfy my curiosity and curiosity is at the heart of a desire to
>learn.
No, you should NOT suppose that the root ERC appearing in the present
system of this verb somehow metamorphosizes into the root appearing in the
other systems. In fact, that root ERC appears ONLY in the present system;
the other (wholly unrelated) root has three forms, (all originally preceded
by initial digamma which I'll omit from the account here): ELEUQ-, ELOUQ-,
ELUQ-, the last form appearing in Homeric aorist HLUQON, but in later Greek
the U is usually syncopated out so that it becomes the more familiar
2nd-aorist stem ELQ-.
The future tense is formed from ELEUQ-S-O/E- with standard assimilation and
simplification of Q-S before vowel to -S-; the perfect stem is what's
called "Attic reduplication": the first syllable of ELUQ is reduplicated
with lengthening of the second -E- to ELHLUQ-.
In older Greek the future was supplied by a verb EIMI (usually identified
as EIMI 'ibo' to distinguish it from EIMI 'sum'; the root of EIMI 'ibo'
alternates between a strong form EI- and a weak form I-. Some scholars have
voiced the hypothesis that in an early form of the Greek language there
were different roots for the present system, the aorist system, and the
perfect system.
At any rate, ERCOMAI is not alone in requiring different roots to complete
its full complement of verbal systems:
hORAW ("see") uses the root OP- for the future and for an archaic perfect
tense OPWPA as well as for the aorist "passive" WF-QHN, while the aorist is
supplied by the root fID (1sg sg. indic. EIDON).
TRECW ("run" uses the root DROM/DRAM for its aorist EDRAMON and perfect
DEDROMHKA; ESQIW uses FAG for a future FAGOMAI and aorist EFAGON; etc., etc.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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