[B-Greek] you command

Herb Picoski pic3lite at telus.net
Sat Jan 9 19:48:30 EST 2010


On Jan. 7, Carl Conrad answered:
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).

> 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, ind. 2nd pers. sing?

Yes.

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

Thank you, Carl, for the resourse and a very clear explanation? 
It sounds like an elementary lesson that I've missed. 2 short questions, please.
1) Why could  Perseus Search tools not list this verb? ENETEILW
2) Could ENETEILW be spelled/pronounced HNTEILW, considering these same rules as a liquid, aorist verb?



More information about the B-Greek mailing list