[B-Greek] Future Tense and Imperfective Aspect?

Rolf Furuli furuli at online.no
Tue Sep 12 02:41:27 EDT 2006


Dear Yancy,

Your question regarding the combination of future reference and the 
imperfective aspect seems to be based on the English definition of aspect 
(incomplete/completed). Please see my recent post to Con, where I argue that 
this opposition is neither found in ancient Greek nor in Classical Hebrew. 
The writers of the NT reasoned on the basis of Hebrew (or possibly Aramaic), 
and their choice of verbs is often colored by their mother tongue. One 
problem in connection with this is that we do not know whether their 
reasoning was based on Classical Hebrew, which I view as tenseless, or on a 
language that resembled the later Mischnaic Hebrew (Rabbinic Hebrew), which 
has tenses. In any case, classical Hebrew uses both the imperefective and 
perfective aspect with future reference, and any semantic difference is 
difficult to detect. In Mischnaic Hebrew imperfect (the imperfective aspect) 
had turned into future tense, and any imperfectivity is impossible to 
detect. So I do not think that aspectual considerations will be of much help 
when we consider the English meaning (translation) of a Greek verb having 
future reference.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "yancywsmith" <yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 2:38 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Future Tense and Imperfective Aspect?


> This is a side track from the discussion of Imperfect and Aorist
> aspects.
>
> Ron said:
>> Broman Olsen defines future perfect as a
>> combination of future tense and the perfective aspect and
>> pluperfect as a
>> combination of past tense and the perfective aspect.
>
> I am wondering whether sometimes, with Semitic speakers of Greek
> during the NT period, we wouldn't get a future tense with an
> imperfective aspect. Consider, for example, the verb EPITELEW in Phil
> 1:6: πεποιθὼς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅτι ὁ
> ἐναρξάμενος ἐν ὑμῖν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν
> ἐπιτελέσει ἄχρι ἡμέρας Χριστοῦ
> Ἰησοῦ·
> PEPOIHQWS AUTO TOUT, hOTI hO ENARXAMENOS EN hUMIN ERGON AGAQON
> EPITELESEI ACRI hHMERAS CRISTOU IHSOU.
>
> I notice that the NRSV editors were insistent upon giving it a
> perfective translation "bring it to completion by the day of Christ."
> But Louw and Nida suggest the following translation, "‘(God), who
> began (this) good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished
> in the day of Christ Jesus’" in keeping with their appartent
> understanding of the use of ACRI here and EPITELESEI as imperfective.
> What is striking about this example is that the "verbal semantics" of
> the action, in English at least, would seem to demand a "perfective"
> aspect. Nevertheless, imperfective seems to fit the context better.
>
> I notice that the translation of the Society for the Distribution of
> Hebrew Scriptures uses an imperfective form and not vav with the
> perfect:
> גמ הוא יכלנו
>
>
>
> Yancy Smith
> yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
> 5636 Wedgworth Rd.
> Fort Worth, TX 76133
> 817-361-7565





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