[B-Greek] Verb components
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Feb 20 12:13:17 EST 2004
At 6:29 AM -0800 2/20/04, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>A statement made by Dr. Conrad the other day has me
>wondering just how to think of the components of a
>verb. Here is Mounce on EGENOMHN
>
>E = augment
>GEN = Aorist Active Tense Stem
>O = Connecting vowel
>MHN = Secondary Passive Personal Ending
>
>Dr. Conrad, I think you disagree with Mounce on
>calling GEN the Aorist ACTIVE Tense Stem. If so, why?
Have you ever seen an aorist active of this verb? I personally don't
believe in deponents and would say of GINOMAI that it's a very which in
most tenses is middle by nature. There is a perfect tense "active" form
GEGONA, older Greek GEGAA. The ROOT of the verb is GEN/GON/GN; I don't
understand how a verb that's not active can have an active aorist stem.
Of course, from a linguistic perspective, it would probably be more
accurate to understand the "active" forms as the default forms, unmarked
for voice, and to understand the middle-passive endings as marked. So far
as this root is concerned, however, the only real active/causative stem is
GENNA- as seen in GENNAW: cause to come into being.
>Also, could you please provide me/us with how you
>would recommend one go about memorizing verbs? I noted
>when you listed the Second Aorist Middles (not Second
>Middle Aorists as I misidentified them), you listed
>the Personal Endings with the connecting vowels. Do
>you recommend learning verb endings as if connecting
>vowels and personal endings form a unit?
I would learn the principal parts of all verbs that have any unpredictable
forms (that's about 50-60, and perhaps half of those are predictable in
terms of the kinds of irregularity they have); I would then distinguish the
tense STEMS, which would include any alterations to the root that adapt it
to the particular tense, including reduplication and stem-elements
characterizing particular tenses: for instance GI(G)NOMAI has a
reduplicated present stem GI(G)N from the zero-grade of the root
GEN/GON/GN. Then I'd note whether it is thematic (has a linking variable
O/E vowel) or athematic (non-thematic) and attaches endings directly to the
tense stem. Ward Powers' 8-slot-system is perhaps a useful clarification of
the range and precise nature of the sorts of elements that can constitute
particular verb forms, but I'm not going to try to describe that here. I
have a couple charts on verb formation that I distributed to my students
over the last 15 years or so of my teaching and that I might make available
via PDF files on my web-site; they are among items that I have in mind
publishing someday under a title such as, "Beginning Greek: the Missing
Appendix."
--
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/
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