TO SEE - βλεπ ιδ ορα εορακ

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Paul-Nitz
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Joined: June 1st, 2011, 4:19 am
Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

TO SEE - βλεπ ιδ ορα εορακ

Post by Paul-Nitz »

One book I have pairs the present and aorist forms:
ὁρᾶν και ιδεῖν

Another book pairs:
βλέπειν και ιδεῖν.

And then there's...
βλέπειν και βλέψαι.
ὁρᾶν και ἑωρακέναι (εορακ- used in the same way as οιδα?)

I'm sure readers see the opening for confusion here. I'm not quite sure how to phrase my question, so I'll put it in two ways:

  • 1. When you command a person ὅρα, would you then describe the action as εώρακεν ἤ εἶδεν ἤ ἔβλεψεν.
    And, when you command a person βλέπε, would you then describe the action as εώρακεν ἤ εἶδεν ἤ ἔβλεψεν.

    2. Are βλεπ- & ορα- interchangeable?
    And, are ιδ̀- εορακ- & βλεψ- interchangeable?

Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
cwconrad
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Location: Burnsville, NC 28714
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Re: TO SEE - βλεπ ιδ ορα εορακ

Post by cwconrad »

One thing to ascertain is which of these books you're consulting is describing which phase in the development/history of the language. The verb βλέπειν in classical Attic bore primarily the sense of "look at" while the verb ὄρᾶν with aorist ἰδεῖν meant "see." In NT Koine βλέπειν has come to supplant ὄρᾶν in the sense of "see" in the present tense; although it may be used in the sense "see". In NT Koine ὁρᾶν is much more frequently used in the imperative in the present tense in the sense, "watch out, beware (ὅρα μὴ ...), see to it (that ... )". ἰδεῖν is the standard aorist for "see"; the aorist βλέψαι is very rare indeed in the GNT, so that one may say that "see" in NT Koine is βλέπειν/ἰδεῖν. Youd do well to check the lexica, esp. BDAG and LSJ for ἑωρακέναι/ἑορακέναι -- it appears to me that there are instance of this indicative perfect tense that are not distinct in sense from the aorist ἰδεῖν. But do be careful when consulting reference works as to which era of Greek they're dealing with.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stephen Hughes
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Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Was their choice influenced by theories of aspect?

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Perhaps also, even within the same period, the list makers held to certain views on the nature of aspect and put together their pairs together to reflect / bring out that theoretical disctinction.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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