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3 John 13 εἶχον

Posted: May 15th, 2016, 8:25 am
by Jonathan Robie
3 John 13 wrote:Πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι σοι, ἀλλ’ οὐ θέλω διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου σοι γράφειν
How do you understand the imperfect here? How is this different from Πολλὰ ἔσχον γράψαι σοι?

Re: 3 John 13 εἶχον

Posted: May 15th, 2016, 12:00 pm
by Stephen Hughes
Jonathan Robie wrote:
3 John 13 wrote:Πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι σοι, ἀλλ’ οὐ θέλω διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου σοι γράφειν
How do you understand the imperfect here? How is this different from Πολλὰ ἔσχον γράψαι σοι?
Any type of concept of many or much tends to take an imperfective. If many is with an aorist it could well be marked.

Re: 3 John 13 εἶχον

Posted: May 15th, 2016, 7:56 pm
by Stephen Carlson
Jonathan Robie wrote:
3 John 13 wrote:Πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι σοι, ἀλλ’ οὐ θέλω διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου σοι γράφειν
How do you understand the imperfect here? How is this different from Πολλὰ ἔσχον γράψαι σοι?
States are naturally expressed in the imperfective unless there's a good reason not to.

What would be a good reason to use the aorist? Perhaps if the state was bounded, but that would imply that the writer no longer has many things to tell Gaius, which I doubt is the case.