[B-Greek] verbal aspect of the Greek perfect

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Jul 12 11:10:44 EDT 2008


On Jul 12, 2008, at 8:35 AM, Carlton Winbery wrote:

> L. Tichy wrote.
>
>> What do the B-Greekers think of C. R. Cambell's theory that the Greek
>> perfect (in both indicative and non-indicative forms) shares the
>> imperfective aspect of the present tense. For me, it is a claim  
>> outside
>> reality.
>>
>> L. Tichy
>>
> ---
> Hear I go again. I think this puts in print what many think about the
> Perfect and I think it is wrong to a degree. The difference in the
> Perfect and present is that in the present the action tends to
> continue, whereas, in the perfect the result continues. Of course, in
> the Helenistic period the language was often used loosely. The
> perfect sometimes acts like the aorist and sometimes like the
> present. HGAPHKA SE. I have loved you. We would not say that the act
> of loving does not continue, but most likely the speaker is thinking
> about what resulted from the act of loving. The need as Carl has said
> often is to sense what the writer/speaker was thinking. Translation
> can be done later if it is necessary to English that meaning.

I don't know the work of Campbell(?) referred to here, but I wonder  
whether what's being referred to here may be the particular usage of  
OIDA and its compounds and hESTHKA and its compounds -- these perfect- 
tense forms are used as presents and there is, in fact, no other way  
to say, "I am standing" than hESTHKA. hISTAMAI means "I am rising to a  
standing position" or "I am coming to a standstill."


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






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