[B-Greek] non-augmented Aorist

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Feb 12 10:01:07 EST 2004


At 5:19 AM -0800 2/12/04, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>One grammarian I am reading indicated that in some
>early I-E languages (I assume that one he had in mind
>was a predecessor to Greek) they had a non-augmented
>Aorist. He then goes on to say about the Greek Aorist
>in particular that "with the development of tense, the
>augment was added." (Funk) If you go back far enough
>in ancient Greek, do you find non-augmented Aorists?

Yes, they're fairly common in Homeric poetry, sometimes used, sometimes
not, often depending on whether the augmented or the unaugmented form fits
more neatly into the hexameter metrical scheme. For instance, in the
opening of the Odyssey,

	ANDRA MOI ENNEPE, MOUSA, POLUTROPON hOS MALA POLLA
	PLAGCQH, EPEI TROIHS hIERON PTOLIEQRON EPERSEN ...
	"Chant to me, Muse, the versatile man who very far
	roamed, when he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy ..."

PLAGCQH is aorist of PLAZOMAI and has no augment, while EPERSEN is aorist
of PERQW and IS augmented. But these unaugmented forms could not have been
used in Homeric verse if they had not been legitimate forms in use in some
dialects (the vocabulary of the Homeric "dialect" is actually a huge
glossary of metrical jig-saw pieces that fit slots in the dactylic
hexameter line and that derive from several different spoken Greek dialects
used by the itinerant bards who chanted the verses before audiences).
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list