[B-Greek] OIDAMEN

Chet Creider creider at uwo.ca
Thu Oct 30 20:28:08 EST 2003


Dale Corns wrote:
Ro. 8:28. The resources that I have indicate that this verb is a form of

EIDW but none enlighten me as to what form. Ie. Voice, Tense etc. Could
someone please direct me or supply me with the details on this form? I
am
guessing Present passive Ind. 1st Plur. But I would expect that the root

form would be OID if that were so, so why EIDW? Please help. ThankyouŠ

There is a short answer and a long answer.  The short answer is OIDAMEN
is 1st plural for the irregular verb OIDA which is perfect in form but
present in meaning ("we know").  OIDAMEN is Ionic and Hellenistic; Attic
has ISMEN and Homer has IDMEN.  The word comes from Proto-Indo-European
*woida "I have seen" and the vowel gradation seen in the paradigm in
Greek is also seen in Sanskrit:

Sanskrit    Greek
veda        OIDA  (Sanskrit e is equivalent to Greek oi)
vettha        OISQA
veda        OIDE
vidma        IDMEN (Homeric) (= OIDAMEN)
vida        ISTE
vidur        ISASI

As you can see from the earlier meaning, OIDA itself is an ablaut form
of *EIDW (originally *wEIDW -- cf. Latin video) which no longer exists
in the present.  You will know the aorist EIDON.

Chet Creider






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