[B-Greek] you command
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Jan 9 20:36:38 EST 2010
On Jan 9, 2010, at 7:48 PM, Herb Picoski wrote:
> 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
I don't know; I've never thought it useful to use the parsing tool. If one knows the principal parts of all irregular verbs, there shouldn't be any difficulty in recognizing such a form. I had the impression, however, that such tools worked by holding the cursor over a form. Is the LXX available in the Perseus collection?
> 2) Could ENETEILW be spelled/pronounced HNTEILW, considering these same rules as a liquid, aorist verb?
Well, there wouldn't be any difference in NT Koine in pronunciation of H and E, I think, but I can't see that second E being syncopated out in pronunciation.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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