[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. Thankyou
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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