[B-Greek] Finding Verbal Roots (more on rules and paradigms)

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 16 20:48:57 EDT 2008


Knowing the roots of words can in some cases be quite enlightening though perhaps not specifically leading to an enhanced ability in reading Greek.  In the case of εἶδον [EIDON] it is somewhat informative.  It was ἔ-ϝιδον [E-(digamma)IDON] which in Latin produced video which I'll leave to each to connect to today's lexicography.  In other words, it produces some understanding but is probably beyond most first year students.  If they ask privately, it might be good to mention the details, but I think a basic statement that both Latin and Greek developed from Indo-European might be sufficient.  Or, perhaps one example such as the one here cited to illustrate the connection then dropping the subject until they get more knowledgeable in the language. [There are also connections such as the connection between the Sanskrit and the Greek Ζευς Πατηρ [ZEUS PATHR] and the Latin Jupiter] 

 george
gfsomsel 


… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
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----- Original Message ----
From: Kenneth Litwak <javajedi2 at yahoo.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 6:13:10 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Finding Verbal Roots (more on rules and paradigms)


  One of the things that Mounce (BBG) emphasizes is verbal roots.  He asserts that the notion of "irregular" forms is wrong. Rather, the forms of a verb are modifications of the verbal root. Fine. The question is, where do we find verbal roots for every verb?  He talks about this concept in relation to Second Aorist verbs.  He shows the root for EIPON, with a digamma.  I'm not sure how much value there is in telling a student, "You can understand how the second aorist of LEGW is formed by knowing this root, which contains a letter we never use."  For other verbs, like EIDON, he does not even give the root. If knowing the root is so important, where would a student go to find a list of them?  I never learned about this in Beginning Greek, but since I'm teaching out of BBG, I need to be able to do something more than wave my hands and say "these are important."  I need a resource for students to use or I need to skip the topic. Anyone who teaches
 Greek in
favor of skipping the topic of verb roots?  Thanks.


Ken



      
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