[B-Greek] you command

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu Jan 7 05:18:42 EST 2010


On Jan 6, 2010, at 8:24 PM, Herb Picoski wrote:
> Hello and Happy New Year,
> 
> I have a question that I am unable to answer myself, regarding the usage of this verb "command" in Psalm 119:4.
> σὺ ἐνετείλω τὰς ἐντολάς σου φυλάξασθαι σφόδρα 
> 
> SU ENETEILW TAS ENTOLAS SOU FULAXASQAI SFODRA
> 
> Is ENETEILW 1st aor. mid, active ind. 2nd pers. sing?

Yes.

> If so, why does it end with _LW, instead of _SW?

You should also have asked where the -I- before the -LW came from.
In fact, verbs with stems in M, N, L, and R (μ, ν, λ, ρ) all regularly combine with the aorist marker -S- and lengthen the preceding vowel to a diphthong. These four consonants or semi-consonants are called "liquids" and vowels that have liquid stems are termed "liquid verbs."

ENTELLW has aorist stem ENTELS(A); the -S- evanesces after the L and the preceding -E- is lengthened into the "spurious" diphthong EI, with the result that the verb stem becomes ENTEIL(A).
Similar are HGGEILA aor. 1 sg. of AGGELLW, DIEFQEIRA, aor. 1 sg. of DIAFQEIRW.
Similar too is EGHMA, aor. 1 sg. of GAMEW; in this instance the putative form was EGAMSA, the -S- evanesced, and the A lengthened -- but long alpha in Attic-Ionic dialect changes to H, so that the aorist stem of this verb becomes GHM(A).

You'll find a good discussion of these verbs in Smyth §544 "Liquid Verbs" -- scroll down the page at:

http://artflx.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.9:4:18.perseusmonographs
= http://tinyurl.com/ylj7njx

> Are there exceptions to the rules for tense endings?

There are some standard types; you have to learn the principal parts of verbs that do not conform to the reasonably simple pattern of verbs such as LUW or PAIDEUW. 

> This is not my first dumb question. Feel free to answer.
> 
> Herb the Student

It's not a dumb question. Learning the ins and outs of Greek verbs is the lion's share of learning the mechanics of ancient Greek.

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






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