Re: The Three Alphas

From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Thu May 28 1998 - 17:41:18 EDT


inlingua Vienna wrote:

> What corresponds to the aorist imperative in MG, i.e.
> what is now the subjunctive imperative, usually refers to a one-time
> command. The indicative (corresponding to pres. imp. in Koine) gives the
> general rule.
 
Warren

Thank-you. I suspected as much, because of the sharper sound of the
XE relative to the CE. I could just 'see' those kids on the beach!
And the difference seems to be aspectual ~ Sharp punctularity vs
ongoing conversational...

I do not know exactly what to make of this usage in MG as a help in
understanding the KG [or AG or HG for that matter] ~ The immediate
present force of the [formerly aorist] verb form in the MG subjunctive
imperative at least seems to show an evolution of sorts. Have you
tried working backwards to the Koine meaning of the aorist? I don't
wish to revive the controversy, but am simply interested in making
sense of the ancient aorist, with augment, and how to approach
understanding it, and then how to translate it. My previous
conviction that it is 'dirt simple' has been eroding... thanks to some
excellent and generous scholarship on this list. :-)

George Blaisdell



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