[B-Greek] how do we know that hIHMI is the causative of EIMI

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Nov 17 06:03:11 EST 2007


On Nov 16, 2007, at 8:12 PM, Mark Lightman wrote:

> The lexicons say that hIHMI is the causative of EIMI

What lexicon actually states that? hIHMI (ἵημι) is certainly not  
related etymologically to either EI)MI/ (εἰμί) "be" or EI)=MI  
(εἶμι) "go."

> but since the root of the former appears to be an iota and the root  
> of the later appears to be an eta with a rough breathing, how do we  
> know this.?

The root of hIHMI (ἵημι) is probably originally yH/yE, although  
for practical purposes in Greek linguistic history it is hH/hE (ἡ/ 
ἑ). The root of EI)MI/ (εἰμί) "be" is SE/ES (σε/εσ); the  
root of =MI (εἶμι) "go" is EI/I (ει/ι). The present-tense form  
of hIHMI (ἵημι) is not the root but a reduplicated stem hIH (ἱη/ 
ἱε)) derived from a probable original yIyH/yIyE. What the three  
verbs have in common is not the root but the fact(s) that they are all  
MI verbs and that hIHMI and EIMI "be" have historical forms that  
involve loss of a root consonant ("S" in the case of EIMI "be", "y" --  
consonantal iota/yodh -- in the case of hIHMI. The roots are indeed  
different.

> I mean, what would the rule be?  "When the root of a Greek verb is a  
> single vowel you can make the causative by changing it to another  
> unrelated vowel and aspirating it?"  There can't be other examples,  
> can there, or do you have to go to Indo-European, or is this just a  
> theory.  It does make sense, though.  To AFIHMI sins is to cause  
> them to go away.

I'm really curious about what lexicon you got this information from.  
It is certainly true that a fundamental sense of hIHMI is "let go" in  
the sense of "project" or "emit" -- but there's no relationship  
between the Greek verb hIHMI and the Greek verb for "be" or for "go."

hIHMI and its compounds constitute a sizable headache for students of  
ancient Greek, (a) because the lost initial consonant impacts the  
phonetics of both the uncompounded and compounded forms of the verb;  
(b) because the uncompounded verb is extremely rare, while the  
compounded forms of -(h)IHMI are quite numerous; and (c) because the  
compounding of prefix and the aspirated form of the verbal root  
confounds matters all the more: one  must be able to discern that  
EFIEMAI derives from EPI and hIEMAI and that KAQIHMI derives from KATA  
and hIHMI. I remember that at one point in my undergraduate days,  
while struggling through a text from Herodotus in Ionic dialect with  
all its phonetic alternatives from Attic forms, I came to the  
conclusion that if I couldn't guess at once about a verb form  
otherwise analyzable but having indications of a hH or hE somewhere in  
the heart of things, I should look it up in the lexicon under the  
prefix involved plus hIHMI.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)




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