Re: Aorist Aspect

From: Revcraigh (Revcraigh@aol.com)
Date: Tue Jan 06 1998 - 18:11:33 EST


Dear b-greekers,
In a message dated 1/6/98 5:04:31 AM, Ted wrote:

> Mounce (Basics of Biblical Greek) says that the aorist is "undefined;"
>however, other texts indicate that it is punctiliar. Which is true?
>Thanks for your help.

I'll give this a shot. Both are true.

I am going out on a limb here since I do not own nor have I access to nor have
I read the work you reference. However, I believe that Mounce probably means
"undefined" with regard to the *kind* of action indicated by the verb. For
example, the imperfect indicates action as ongoing (I was reading the book
when he came in), repeated (I read the book many times throughout the years),
customary (I used to read the book whenever I was sad), etc. in the past and
the emphasis is on the action. The present indicates ongoingness also, only in
the present time, either actually (in the indicative) or relative to the main
verb (in some of the other moods). In other words, if I use the imperfect
tense, the emphasis is on the action or activity of the verb.

Aorists, on the other hand, says nothing about whether the action of the verb
was on-going, repeated, customary, etc. The emphasis is on the *occurance* of
the action of the verb (I read the book), saying nothing about how long it
took to read it, whether I refered to it many times, etc. All these things may
have been true, even though I use the Aorist, but when I use the Aorist, it is
the occurence, not the activity which I am emphasizing (i.e., the kind of
action is "undefined")

This is, in fact, what the word "punctilliar" means to communicate: the
activity of the verb, whether occuring for a long period of time, repeated, or
customary, is telescoped down into a mere statement of fact. The Aorist can
also indicate the beginning of an act or condition (I began to read the book)
but even here, the emphasis is on the point (punctilliar makes reference to a
single point in time) in time when I began to read the book, not to the
continuing activity (I may have began to read the book, but then put it down
again and began to do something else).

God Bless,
Rev. Craig R. Harmon.



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