[B-Greek] aorist infinitives

greek-list at emailias.com greek-list at emailias.com
Mon Feb 10 12:11:20 EST 2003


I'm having some trouble reconciling the idea of the aorist as simple past (which is the way it is explained in Mounce) with the idea of aorist infinitives. Perhaps this is because English has no concept analogous to aspect. 
Mounce stresses the idea that the infinitive has no time significance whatsoever. The difference therefore between present and aorist is one of aspect. In other words, if the aorist tense represent simple past (ELUSA = I loosed), what is the meaning of the aorist infinitive? Mounce again defines both LUEIN and LUSAI as 'I loose', with the caveat the 'continue to' can be inserted into the definition of the present infinitive to distinguish from the aorist.
How is this difference reflected in translation? 

Thanks, 
Matthew E. Ferris


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