RE: Aspect Specifics

From: S. M. Baugh (smbaugh@adnc.com)
Date: Tue Apr 15 1997 - 11:49:38 EDT


Carl Conrad wrote:
>Strictly as a matter of idiom, it seems to me that I have frequently >seen in Plato the simple EMAQON in the sense, "Oh, now I get it" or
>"Now I see." I would suppose this is resultative, but if one wanted to
>count up thousands of categories, one might call it "aorist of action
>completed a moment ago."

This is a good illustration of something which makes this aspect
business so interesting (and at least to me, complicated if not
downright confusing). We have these neat categories of "statives"
"activities" "performances" etc. but a particular verb sometimes flits
about freely from one category to another unmindful of its proper place.
Is "to learn" a state of mind? Or is it an "unbounded" process? In this
idiom, (similar perhaps to NT particle IDOU "See here"--a frozen
imperative from EIDON, not really a "command" or "imperative" but an
exclamation or a marker of emphasis of some sort). I would say EMAQON is
"resultative" (always loath to create endless grammatical labels and
categories), but it is a very interesting example.

Xariti,

S. M. Baugh
New Testament
Westminster Theological Seminary
1725 Bear Valley Parkway
Escondido, CA 92027



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