[B-Greek] Verb components

Terry and Gail Cook cookie99 at fuse.net
Fri Feb 20 12:45:41 EST 2004


Carl said:
"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".
>From the peanut gallery:
 I would like to see that :)
Terry Cook
sDg

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
To: "Mitch Larramore" <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
Cc: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Verb components


> 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/
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
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