[B-Greek] Periphrastic expressions
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Fri Sep 23 05:52:30 EDT 2005
On Sep 22, 2005, at 7:32 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> What new semantic feature did the periphrastic
> construction add to Ancient Greek that it (the Greek
> language) didn't already have?
I doubt we should say that periphrastic forms add anything semantic
to the language; they are simply easier to form, inasmuch as they
require less adjustment of roots and stems. Perfect middle-passives
in -NTAI in Homer are vocalized as -ATAI, e.g. GEGRAF-NTAI became
GEGRAFATAI, GEGRAMMENOI EISIN OR GEGRAMMENA ESTIN is easier. But
there's no semantic difference at all.
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/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list