[B-Greek] Aorist as an 'x' rather than a '.' (dot)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon Aug 1 18:17:04 EDT 2005


Actually a lot of different things get said about the aorist. I'm  
afraid that any effort to find a single term that expresses all that  
the aorist can do and does do is questionable. If the aorist can be  
represented as a dot, it might be best to view that in  
contradistinction to a line representing the present (and imperfect),  
the aorist representing the action as complete or as a whole, the  
present (and imperfect) representing the action as in progress or at  
least not completed).

I'm not sure why you're saying that the dot means completion; it  
certainly bears no relationship to the punctuation mark we call the  
period.

Another point: the notion of completion can be expressed by the  
aorist, and this is why the aorist is sometimes called "telic" -- an  
aorist infinitive or imperative may bear the notion of "get it done"  
as opposed to "set out to do it." Moreover, it needs to be realized  
that in Koine Greek the perfect tense is being used less frequently  
and the aorist is increasingly being used in its place.

Another thought, for what it's worth: the French tense-name "passe/  
inde/fini" or "indefinite past" seems to derive from the Greek word  
AORISTOS; oddly the French indefinite past (e.g. j'ai vu, "I saw" or  
"I have seen") appears superficially more like the English perfect,  
but it really is pretty much like the Koine Greek aorist.

On Aug 1, 2005, at 5:52 PM, Eddie Mishoe wrote:

> AORISTOS CRONOS (from hORIZW define ; unlimited,
> indefinite, or undefined time) is so named because it
> does not show the limitations (hOPOS) of continuance
> (expressed by the imperfect) or of the completion with
> permanent results (expressed by the perfect).
>
>
> This is from Smyth (p 414). Of course, Smyth is more
> so concerned with Classical Greek, but my question
> deals with why most grammarians, including Smyth
> himself, want to define the verbal aspect of the
> Aorist as a point or dot. This would seem to imply
> "completion," which seems more suitable for the domain
> of the Perfect. Why is it generally taught that the
> Aorist portrays the event in its entirety or as a
> whole? Rather than the Aorist being portrayed by a dot
> or period, which implies completion, would it not be
> more accurate to label it with an "x" ? That way, we
> avoid putting something definite with an indefinite
> concept.
>
>
> Eddie Mishoe
> Pastor
>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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