[B-Greek] Function of the Greek aorist
Don Dwight
dddwight1234 at sbcglobal.net
Wed Mar 12 13:42:34 EDT 2008
Request your comments on the proposition
that the function of the Greek aorist is
to specify the activity of the subject of the verb.
By specification of activity, I mean,
the kind of activity that the subject does,
as distinct from predication (what the subject is),
and from attribution (what the subject has).
In other words, for the aorist, subject is as subject does.
To illustrate with a contrived example:
The red ball bounced merrily along the pavement at noon.
Red (the subject has redness: attribution)
Ball (the subject is a ball: predication)
Bounces merrily along the pavement at noon
(what the subject does: specification)
To illustrate with an example from Lk 1,47:
KAI HGALLIASEN TO PNEUMA MOU EPI TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU,
(TO PNEUMA MOU is the kind which
HGALLIASEN EPI TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU).
Donald D.Dwight
Monterey, California
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list