[B-Greek] Non-indicative aorists without past temporal reference

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Tue Aug 2 07:54:29 EDT 2005


While I don't think that what I said about the non-indicative aorist  
forms is really in question, I've been asked for an illustration that  
may be of interest to others on the list:

On Aug 1, 2005, at 6:28 PM, Dan and Jody Oberer wrote:

> Prof. Conrad-
>
> This is an off-list question but could you please give an example  
> of an
> aorist subjunctive, aorist imperative, aorist infinitive, and aorist
> participle that is used but is not in the past.  You mentioned this  
> and I
> was hoping you had an example, a NT example if possible.

Here's MT 24:26 with two subjunctives:

EAN OUN EIPWSIN hUMIN: IDOU EN THi ERHMWi ESTIN, MH EXELQHTE.
"If they tell you, "Hey! He's in the wilderness," don't go out (there).
EIPWSIN is aor subj 3d pl. active and refers to a possible future  
action; EXELQHTE is an aorist subjunctive functioning as an  
imperative with MH

Here's Lk 8:50 with an aorist imperative:

hO DE IHSOUS AKOUSAS APEKRIQH AUTWi: "MH FOBOU, MONON PISTEUSON, KAI  
SWQHSETAI."
"But when Jesus heard it, he replied to him, "Don't continue in fear,  
just BELIEVE, and he will be saved."
You might note here the antithesis between the present negative  
imperative MH FOBOU and the aorist imperative PISTEUSON

Here's Jn 20:29 with tw aorist participles:

hOTI hEWRAKAS ME PEPISTEUKAS? MAKARIOI hOI MH IDONTES KAI PISTEUSANTES
"You've come to faith because you've seen me? Blessed are the ones  
who don't see me and come to faith."
It could be argued that IDONTES and PISTEUSANTES must refer to seeing  
and coming to faith antecedent to the declaration that the persons  
indicated are to be congratulated, but this is really a declaration  
about the faith of those who in generations yet to come will come to  
belief without seeing what Thomas has seen.

I had written:

> "...  it is only the
> INDICATIVE of the aorist that necessarily or normally concerns the
> past. Subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, and participle of the
> aorist do NOT necessarily refer to a past event."
>
> Carl W. Conrad


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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