[B-Greek] Pluperfect tense
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Feb 17 13:05:58 EST 2003
At 12:25 PM -0500 2/17/03, <bertdehaan at gosympatico.ca> wrote:
>Hi. In Luke 23:35 it says; KAI hEISTHKEI hO LAOS QEWRWN.
>What is the significance of the pluperfect tense of hEISTHKEI? It usually
>does not get translated with any pluperfect sense,and it would hardly fit
>either.Thank you.
>Bert de Haan
As the verb hISTAMAI indicates the process of coming to a standing position
(from a seated or reclining position) or coming to a halt (from a moving
status), the only way to indicate the standing state is with the perfect
tense form; hESTHKA means "I am standing" and is equivalent to a present
tense; hEISTHKEIN or hEISTHKH means "I was standing" and is eequivalent to
an imperfect. The same is true of OIDA, a perfect tense used in the sense
of a present, "I know" and the pluperfect EIDEIN used in the sense of an
imperfect, "I knew."
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list