[B-Greek] Question about tense stems and what they are.

JMonte2000 at aol.com JMonte2000 at aol.com
Fri Sep 17 17:25:44 EDT 2004


 
 
Hi Steve thanks
    So, your saying a Word like LUW, the tense stem LU  in present will 
change as you go to other tense stems, like Present to  Future? Not that our 
example might be a good one since I know from the lessons  some don't change, they 
use the same stem.
What I am asking is, that there are not just class' of roots or tense stems  
that are used in only one way, they change the tense stem as you need be, 
right?  Like say, aorist, to present to future and so on? I was thinking that LU 
is a  present tense stem only, and say AKOU for another tense stem. I guess I 
was not  understanding it properly.
Am I getting now?
Jimmy Montesano
 
 
In a message dated 9/17/2004 12:42:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
slovullo at mac.com writes:

On Sep  17, 2004, at 9:21 AM, Mitch Larramore wrote:

> I think an  oversimplified answer is probably best at
> this time (and as far as I  can take it). The ROOT of a
> verb is generally that part of the verb  that carries
> its MEANING. The STEM is that part (maybe better  to
> say "form") of a verb that is used for a particular
> TENSE  (Present, Aorist, Perfect, etc). So, LU- is the
> FORM of the ROOT LU-  used in the Present TENSE (notice
> they look exactly the same), while  LELU is the FORM of
> the ROOT LU- used in the Perfect TENSE (ROOT and  STEM
> look different).

Hi Mitch:

The LE- is actually  reduplication, in which the initial consonant is 
duplicated in the  formation of the perfect and pluperfect tenses. The 
following section from  Stevens' grammar may interest you and Jimmy:

The final component of the  Greek verb is the lexical, the information 
found in a Greek dictionary.  For this, we must understand roots, verb 
stems, and tense  stems.

Root. In the hierarchy of word formation, including verbs, the  first 
level is the root . This is the base for all related word forms. The  
second level is the stem , in which the root forms a trunk for creating  
related nouns, adjectives, and verbs through noun stems, adjective  
stems, and verb stems. "Cognates" are word forms related to the same  
root, whether noun, adjective, verb, etc.

Verb Stem. A verb  stem  is that particular form in which a word root 
manifests itself  as a verb. Verb stems communicate the fundamental 
"action," the verb  ("know," "teach," "have," "receive," "send"). To 
illustrate, the word root  GNO- can grow into the noun cognate GNWSIS 
("knowledge"), the adjective  cognate GNWSTOS ("known"), and the verb 
cognate GINWSKW ("I  know").

Tense stems.  The third level of hierarchy is for verbs,  because verbs 
have the additional job of forming separate tenses. The  third level, 
then, is a verb stem’s several different tense stems.  A  tense stem  is 
a limb coming off the trunk of a verb stem that  through formatives 
(prefixes, suffixes, infixes) creates a distinct verb  tense. One verb 
stem can have up to six different tense stems. How will  one know this 
basic verb stem?

Omega Form. The -W form of a verb is  the typical lexical form of 
thematic verbs. For quite a number of verbs,  dropping the -W from this 
lexical form provides the basic verb stem.   This basic stem is the 
building block of conjugations. The verb LUW is a  good example. 
However, this procedure is not applicable to all  verbs.

Hidden Verb Stems. Dropping the -W from the lexical form of a  verb does 
not always  provide the verb stem. The lexical entry is the  present 
tense of the verb. Yet, the present tense is one of the most  irregular 
forming tenses in the entire Greek verb system! The verb stem  often is 
modified  in forming the present tense stem. As a result,  the present 
tense spelling represents the present tense stem, not the  spelling of 
the original verb stem.  We call these "hidden" verb  stems, a 
descriptive term, simply because they are not immediately obvious  in 
the verb’s first lexical entry.

For example, the verb stem of  BAPTIZW is BAPTID-, not  BAPTIZ-. The 
verb stem of KHRUSSW is KHRUK-,  not  KHRUSS-. The verb stem of GINWSKW 
is GNO-. How will you know?  Vocabulary will indicate hidden stems. 
Also, such stems are pointed out in  your lexicons, because the lexicon 
will give the formations in other  tenses, indicating the present tense 
stem is not the verb stem. These  "hidden" verb stems are important, so 
note them carefully to be able to  specify conjugations correctly.


In summary, then, for some verbs,  the verb stem does  give the present 
tense stem. So LUW has the verb  stem LU-, which also is the present 
tense stem. This is because LUW  belongs to a large class of verbs that 
does not modify the verb stem to  create the present stem. However, for 
other verbs, the verb stem does  not  give the present tense stem. So 
GINWSKW has the verb stem GNO-,  which is modified significantly in 
generating the present  stem.

Hope this helps, guys.
============

Steven Lo  Vullo
Madison, WI





Grace and  Peace to You, Jimmy



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