[B-Greek] John 9.25c WN ARTI
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue May 8 05:38:52 EDT 2007
On May 7, 2007, at 11:21 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> hEN OIDA, hOTI TUFLOS WN ARTI BLEPW
>
> --- "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> More simply, the present participle can take the
>> place of an
>> imperfect as well as a present indicative. This is:
>>
>> "That (though) I was blind, I now see."
>>
>
> What is going on within the language that allows this
> substitution from a Present Participle WN to an
> Imperfect finite HMHN? And is it common?
This has to do with the fact that the Finite verb tenses
are generally temporal in nature, while the participle
and infinitive are aspectual.
You know that an aorist participle can have the
force of a perfect or pluperfect participle: e.g.,
TAUTA POIHSAS, APHLQEN =
"Having done that, he left" or
"When he had done that, he left."
The participle used in narrative formulations
can represent anything that a finite verb in
that tense/aaspect system can.
Alternatively for TUFLOS WN ARTI BLEPW
you might English the construction as:
"Having been blind all my life, I now see."
I.e., WN means "continually being" but doesn't
indicate when the "being" started. It might be
up to the present moment or recent moment
indicated by ARTI. If Rod Decker would
care to comment on this or any other of what
we used to call the "aspect geeks" (back in
97 or 98), they might be able to deal with
this more clearly -- I've never been one to
talk very adequately about aspect.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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