[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/




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