Aorist (Ancient Greek)
Encyclopedia
In the grammar of Ancient Greek
, including Koine
, the aorist (icon; is a class of verb
forms that generally portray a situation as simple or undivided, that is, as having perfective aspect
. In the grammatical terminology of classical Greek, it is a tense, one of the seven divisions of the conjugation
of a verb, found in all moods
and voices
.
across all moods
. By contrast, in theoretical linguistics
, tense
refers to a form that specifies a point in time (past, present, or future).
The literary Greek of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Attic Greek
, was the standard school-room form of Greek for centuries. This article therefore chiefly describes the Attic aorist, describing the variants at other times and in other dialects as needed. The poems of Homer were studied in Athens, and may have been compiled there; they are in Epic or Homeric Greek
, an artificial blend of several dialects, not including Attic. The Homeric aorist differs in morphology from Attic, but the educated Athenians imitated Homeric syntax.
Conversely, Hellenistic or Koine Greek
was a blend of several dialects after the conquests of Alexander; most of the written texts that survive in Koine imitate the Attic taught in schools to a greater or lesser extent, but the spoken language of the writers appears to have simplified and regularized the formation of the aorist, and some of the features of Attic syntax are much less frequently attested.
of the first aorist is marked by -σα- in the active and middle voice, and -θη- in the passive voice. Because of the σ (sigma
), it is also called sigmatic aorist.
affects first aorist forms whose verbal root ends in a sonorant
(nasal
or liquid
: ν, μ, ρ, λ).
In Attic
and Ionic Greek
(also in Doric
, with some differences), the σ in the first aorist suffix causes compensatory lengthening
of the vowel before the sonorant, producing a long vowel (α → η or ᾱ, ε → ει, ι → ῑ, ο → ου, υ → ῡ).
In Aeolic Greek
(which contributes some forms to Homeric
), the σ causes compensatory lengthening of the sonorant instead of the vowel, producing a double
consonant (ν → νν, λ → λλ).
The present stem sometimes undergoes sound changes caused by a suffix — for instance, -ι̯-
(IPA
: /j/, English consonantal y
). In this case, the aorist is formed from the verbal root without the present-stem sound changes.
Kiparsky
analyzes the process as debuccalization
of s (σ) to h in Proto-Greek
, metathesis
of h and the sonorant so that h comes before the sonorant, and assimilation
of h to the vowel (Attic-Ionic-Doric) or to the consonant (Aeolic).
Most of the passive forms of the first aorist have endings similar to those of the root aorist.
of the verb, or a reduplicated
version of the root. In these verbs, the present stem often has e-grade of ablaut
and adds a nasal infix
or suffix to the basic verb root, but the aorist has zero-grade (no e) and no infix or suffix.
(e.g., ει), the second aorist has the offglide of the diphthong (ι).
When there is no vowel in the present stem besides the e of ablaut, the aorist has no vowel, or has an α from a vocalic
ρ or λ.
.
The singular aorist indicative active of some athematic verbs (τίθημι, ἔθηκα; δίδωμι, ἔδωκα) uses a stem formed by the suffix -κα and takes first aorist rather than root aorist endings.
.
The narrative aorist has the same force, of an undivided or single action, when used by itself:
Herodotus introduces his story of Cyrus playing with:
The aorist is also used when something is described as happening for some definite interval of time; this particular function can be more precisely called the temporal aorist:
or continuing action, the aorist may express the beginning of the action or the entrance into the state. This is called ingressive aorist (also inceptive or inchoative).
The gnomic aorist is regarded as a primary tense
in determining the mood of verbs in subordinate clauses. That is to say, subordinate clauses take the subjunctive instead of the optative.
and comedy
, the first person
singular
aorist or present expresses an action performed by the act of speaking, like thanking someone (see performative utterance
), or, according to another analysis, a state of mind. This is called tragic or dramatic aorist. The aorist is used when the action is complete in the single statement; the present when the speaker goes on to explain how or why he is acting.
εἴθε or εἰ γάρ "if only" (eíthe, ei gár). This is called the aorist of unattainable wish.
An unattainable wish about the present uses the imperfect. A wish about the future uses the optative with or without a particle; an optative of wish may be unattainable.
particle
ἄν án, Homeric
κέ(ν) ké(n), may express past potentiality, probability, or necessity.
) with ἄν án may express repeated or customary past action. This is called the iterative indicative. It is similar to the past potential, since it denotes what could have happened at a given point, but unlike the past potential, it is a statement of fact.
. This is called the unreal indicative. This construction is used in the consequence
of past counterfactual conditional sentence
s.
to the main verb.
Aorist in indirect discourse refers to past time relative to the main verb, since it replaces an aorist indicative.
An imperative, subjunctive or optative in an independent clause usually refers to future time, because the imperative express a command, the subjunctive expresses urging, prohibition, or deliberation, and the optative expresses a wish or possibility.
In dependent clause
s (temporal, conditional
, etc.), the time (past
, present
, or future
) of an aorist subjunctive, optative, or imperative is based on the function of the mood. The subjunctive is used with main verbs in the present and future tenses (primary sequence
), and the optative is used with main verbs in the past tenses (secondary sequence) and to express potentiality in the future.
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, including Koine
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
, the aorist (icon; is a class of verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
forms that generally portray a situation as simple or undivided, that is, as having perfective aspect
Perfective aspect
The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
. In the grammatical terminology of classical Greek, it is a tense, one of the seven divisions of the conjugation
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
of a verb, found in all moods
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
and voices
Voice (grammar)
In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments . When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice...
.
Terminology
In traditional grammatical terminology, the aorist is a "tense", a section of the verb paradigm formed with the same stemWord stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
across all moods
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
. By contrast, in theoretical linguistics
Theoretical linguistics
Theoretical linguistics is the branch of linguistics that is most concerned with developing models of linguistic knowledge. The fields that are generally considered the core of theoretical linguistics are syntax, phonology, morphology, and semantics...
, tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
refers to a form that specifies a point in time (past, present, or future).
The literary Greek of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Attic Greek
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...
, was the standard school-room form of Greek for centuries. This article therefore chiefly describes the Attic aorist, describing the variants at other times and in other dialects as needed. The poems of Homer were studied in Athens, and may have been compiled there; they are in Epic or Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
, an artificial blend of several dialects, not including Attic. The Homeric aorist differs in morphology from Attic, but the educated Athenians imitated Homeric syntax.
Conversely, Hellenistic or Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
was a blend of several dialects after the conquests of Alexander; most of the written texts that survive in Koine imitate the Attic taught in schools to a greater or lesser extent, but the spoken language of the writers appears to have simplified and regularized the formation of the aorist, and some of the features of Attic syntax are much less frequently attested.
First
The stemWord stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
of the first aorist is marked by -σα- in the active and middle voice, and -θη- in the passive voice. Because of the σ (sigma
Sigma
Sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, and carries the 'S' sound. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 200. When used at the end of a word, and the word is not all upper case, the final form is used, e.g...
), it is also called sigmatic aorist.
Compensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengtheningCompensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda...
affects first aorist forms whose verbal root ends in a sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
(nasal
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
or liquid
Liquid consonant
In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
: ν, μ, ρ, λ).
In Attic
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...
and Ionic Greek
Ionic Greek
Ionic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek .-History:Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century...
(also in Doric
Doric Greek
Doric or Dorian was a dialect of ancient Greek. Its variants were spoken in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, some islands in the southern Aegean Sea, some cities on the coasts of Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, Epirus and Macedon. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the...
, with some differences), the σ in the first aorist suffix causes compensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengthening
Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda...
of the vowel before the sonorant, producing a long vowel (α → η or ᾱ, ε → ει, ι → ῑ, ο → ου, υ → ῡ).
In Aeolic Greek
Aeolic Greek
Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia , Thessaly, and in the Aegean island of Lesbos and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor ....
(which contributes some forms to Homeric
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
), the σ causes compensatory lengthening of the sonorant instead of the vowel, producing a double
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
consonant (ν → νν, λ → λλ).
The present stem sometimes undergoes sound changes caused by a suffix — for instance, -ι̯-
Palatal approximant
The palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is '...
(IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
: /j/, English consonantal y
Y
Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound...
). In this case, the aorist is formed from the verbal root without the present-stem sound changes.
| present | | aorist | | meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| original form | Attic | original form | Attic | Aeolic | |
| μέν-ω | μεν-σα | ἔ-μεινα | *ἔ-μεννα | stay, wait for | |
| στέλ-ι̯ω | στέλλω | στελ-σα | ἔ-στειλα | ἔ-στελλα | prepare, send |
| φάν-ι̯ω | φαίνω | φαν-σα | ἔ-φηνα | *ἔ-φαννα | show |
Kiparsky
Paul Kiparsky
René Paul Viktor Kiparsky is a professor of linguistics at Stanford University. He is the son of the Russian-born linguist and Slavicist Valentin Kiparsky....
analyzes the process as debuccalization
Debuccalization
Debuccalization is a sound change in which a consonant loses its original place of articulation and becomes or . The pronunciation of a consonant as is sometimes called aspiration, but in phonetics aspiration is the burst of air accompanying a plosive...
of s (σ) to h in Proto-Greek
Proto-Greek language
The Proto-Greek language is the assumed last common ancestor of all known varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean, the classical Greek dialects , and ultimately Koine, Byzantine and modern Greek...
, metathesis
Metathesis
Metathesis may refer to:* Metathesis , in phonology, a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word...
of h and the sonorant so that h comes before the sonorant, and assimilation
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
of h to the vowel (Attic-Ionic-Doric) or to the consonant (Aeolic).
- men-sa → men-ha (debuccalization) → mehna (metathesis) → mēna or menna (compensatory lengthening)
First aorist endings
Most of the active and middle forms of the first aorist are similar to the forms of the present, except with an α in the endings instead of an ο or ε. The first person singular indicative active, second person singular imperfect middle, the second person singular imperatives, active infinitive, and masculine nominative singular of the participle (bolded), however, differ, and the subjunctive active and middle of the first aorist have endings identical to the present ones.Most of the passive forms of the first aorist have endings similar to those of the root aorist.
| λύω "release", aor. λυσ(α)- |
indicative | subjunctive | optative | imperative | infinitive | participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| active | ἔλυσα ἔλυσας ἔλυσε ἐλύσαμεν ἐλύσατε ἔλυσαν |
λύσω λύσῃς λύσῃ λύσωμεν λύσητε λύσωσι |
λύσαιμι λύσαις λύσαι λύσαιμεν λύσαιτε λύσαιεν |
— λῦσον λυσάτω — λύσατε λυσάντων/λυσάτωσαν |
λῦσαι | λύσας λύσασα λῦσαν |
| middle | ἐλυσάμην ἐλύσω ἐλύσατο ἐλυσάμεθα ἐλύσασθε ἐλύσαντο |
λύσωμαι λύσῃ λύσηται λυσώμεθα λύθησθε λύσωνται |
λυσαίμην λύσαιο λύσαιτο λυσαίμεθα λύσαισθε λύσαιντο |
— λῦσαι λυσάσθω — λύσασθε λυσάσθων/λυσάσθωσαν |
λύσασθαι | λυσάμενος λυσαμένη λυσάμενον |
| passive | ἐλύθην ἐλύθης ἐλύθη ἐλύθημεν ἐλύθητε ἐλύθησαν |
λυθῶ λυθῇς λυθῇ λυθῶμεν λυθῆτε λυθῶσι |
λυθείην λυθείης λυθείη λυθείημεν/λυθεῖμεν λυθείητε/λυθεῖτε λυθείησαν/λυθεῖεν |
— λύθητι λυθήτω — λύθητε λυθέντων/λυθήτωσαν |
λυθῆναι | λυθείς λυθεῖσα λυθέν |
Second
The stem of the second aorist is the bare rootProto-Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots always have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run", as opposed to nouns , adjectives , or other parts of speech. Roots never occur alone in the language...
of the verb, or a reduplicated
Reduplication
Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
version of the root. In these verbs, the present stem often has e-grade of ablaut
Indo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
and adds a nasal infix
Nasal infix
The nasal infix is a reconstructed nasal consonant or syllable that was inserted into the stem of a word in the Proto-Indo-European language, that has reflexes in several modern European languages...
or suffix to the basic verb root, but the aorist has zero-grade (no e) and no infix or suffix.
Zero-grade
When the present has a diphthongDiphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
(e.g., ει), the second aorist has the offglide of the diphthong (ι).
- present λείπω "leave", aorist λιπ- (e-grade in present, zero-grade in aorist)
When there is no vowel in the present stem besides the e of ablaut, the aorist has no vowel, or has an α from a vocalic
Syllabic consonant
A syllabic consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable on its own, or is the nucleus of a syllable. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the under-stroke, ⟨⟩...
ρ or λ.
- present πέτομαι "fly", aorist πτ- (e-grade in present, zero-grade in aorist)
- present τρέπω, aorist τραπ- (e-grade ρε in present, zero-grade ρ → ρα in aorist)
Reduplication
Present stems of verbs with a reduplicated aorist often do not have e-grade or an infix or suffix.- present ἄγω "lead", aorist ἄγαγ- (bare stem in present, reduplicated stem in aorist)
Second aorist endings
The endings include an ο or ε (thematic vowel). In the indicative, endings are identical to those of the imperfect; in non-indicative moods, they are identical to those of the presentPresent tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
.
| aor. λιπ- | indicative | subjunctive | optative | imperative | infinitive | participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| active | ἔλιπον ἔλιπες ἔλιπεν ἐλίπομεν ἐλίπετε ἔλιπον |
λίπω λίπῃς λίπῃ λίπωμεν λίπητε λίπωσιν |
λίποιμι λίποις λίποι λίποιμεν λίποιτε λίποιεν |
— λίπε λιπέτω — λίπετε λιπόντων |
λιπεῖν | λιπών λιποῦσα λιπόν |
| middle | ἐλιπόμην ἐλίπου ἐλίπετο ἐλιπόμεθα ἐλίπεσθε ἐλίποντο |
λίπωμαι λίπῃ/ει λίπηται λιπώμεθα λίπησθε λίπωνται |
λιποίμην λίποιο λίποιτο λιποίμεθα λιποίεσθε λίποιντο |
— λιποῦ λιπέσθω — λίπεσθε λιπέσθων |
λιπέσθαι | λιπόμενος λιπομένη λιπόμενον |
Root
The root aorist is characteristic of athematic verbs (those with a present active in -μι). Like the second aorist, the stem is the bare root, and endings are similar to the imperfect in the indicative, and identical to the present in non-indicative moods. It is sometimes included as a subcategory of the second aorist because of these similarities, but unlike the second aorist of thematic verbs, it has no thematic .The singular aorist indicative active of some athematic verbs (τίθημι, ἔθηκα; δίδωμι, ἔδωκα) uses a stem formed by the suffix -κα and takes first aorist rather than root aorist endings.
Syntax
The aorist generally presents a situation as an undivided whole, also known as the perfective aspectPerfective aspect
The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
.
Indicative mood
The aorist usually implies a past event in the indicative, but it does not assert pastness, and can be used of present or future events.- ἀπωλόμην ἄρ᾽, εἴ με δὴ λείψεις, γύναι.
- I am undone if you will leave me, wife.
Narrative
The aorist and the imperfect are the standard tenses for telling a story. The ordinary distinction between them is between an action considered as a single undivided event and the action as a continuous event. Thus, for example, a process as a whole can be described in the imperfect, while the individual steps in that process will be aorist.- ἔπαιζε ἐν τῇ κώμῃ ταύτῃ ... μετ᾽ ἄλλων ἡλίκων ἐν ὁδῷ. καὶ οἱ παῖδες παίζοντες εἵλοντο ἑωυτῶν βασιλέα εἶναι... ὁ δὲ αὐτῶν διέταξε τοὺς μὲν οἰκίας οἰκοδομέειν, τοὺς δὲ δορυφόρους εἶναι, τὸν δέ κου τινὰ αὐτῶν ὀφθαλμὸν βασιλέος εἶναι, τῷ δὲ τινὶ τὰς ἀγγελίας φέρειν ἐδίδου γέρας,...
[Cyrus] was playing in this village... in the road with others of his age. The boys while playing chose to be their king this one.... Then he assigned some of them to the building of houses, some to be his bodyguard, one doubtless to be the King's Eye; to another he gave the right of bringing him messages;....
-
- Here the imperfect ἔπαιζε "was playing" is the whole process of the game (which continues past these extracts); the aorists the individual steps.
The narrative aorist has the same force, of an undivided or single action, when used by itself:
- ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶδον αὐτὸν οἵπερ πρόσθεν προσεκύνουν, καὶ τότε προσεκύνησαν, καίπερ εἰδότες ὅτι ἐπὶ θάνατον ἄγοιτο.
And when the men who in former days were wont to do him homage saw him, they made their obeisance even then, although they knew that he was being led forth to death.
-
- Were wont to do him homage is the imperfect, made their obeisance the aorist, of προσκύνω "kowtow".
Complexive
On the other hand, if the entire action is expressed, not as a continuous action, but as a single undivided event, the aorist is used:Herodotus introduces his story of Cyrus playing with:
- καὶ ὅτε ἦν δεκαέτης ὁ παῖς, πρῆγμα ἐς αὑτὸν τοιόνδε γενόμενον ἐξέφηνέ μιν·
Now when the boy was ten years old, the truth about him was revealed in some such way as this:
The aorist is also used when something is described as happening for some definite interval of time; this particular function can be more precisely called the temporal aorist:
- Οὑμὸς πατὴρ Κέφαλος ἐπείσθη μὲν ὑπὸ Περικλέους εἰς ταύτην γῆν ἀφικέσθαι, ἔτη δὲ τριάκοντα ᾤκησε.
My father Cephalus was persuaded by Pericles to come to this land and lived (there) thirty years.- LysiasLysiasLysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
, Against EratosthenesAgainst EratosthenesAgainst Eratosthenes is a speech by Lysias, one of the ten Attic orators. In the speech, Lysias accuses Eratosthenes, a member of the Thirty Tyrants who ruled Athens following the Peloponnesian War, of the murder of his brother, Polemarchus ....
4
- Lysias
Past-in-the-past
The other chief narrative use of the aorist is to express events before the time of the story:- τούς τε Ἱμεραίους ἔπεισαν ξυμπολεμεῖν καὶ αὐτούς τε ἕπεσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν νεῶν τῶν σφετέρων ναύταις ὅσοι μὴ εἶχον ὅπλα παρασχεῖν (τὰς γὰρ ναῦς ἀνείλκυσαν ἐν Ἱμέρᾳ)
they persuaded the Himeraeans to join in the war, and not only to go with them themselves but to provide arms for the seamen from their vessels (for they had beached their ships at Himera)
Ingressive
In verbs denoting a stateStative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
or continuing action, the aorist may express the beginning of the action or the entrance into the state. This is called ingressive aorist (also inceptive or inchoative).
- βασιλεύω "I am king" (present) — ἐβασίλευσα "I became king" or "I ruled" (aorist)
- basileúō — ebasíleusa
Resultative
The resultative aorist expresses the result of an action. Whether this is truly distinguishable from the normal force of the narrative aorist is disputable.- ἐβούλευον "I was deliberating" is imperfect; ἐβούλευσα "I decided" is aorist.
Gnomic
The gnomic aorist expresses the way things generally happen, as in proverbs. The empiric aorist states a fact of experience (ἐμπειρίᾱ empeiríā), and is modified by the adverbs often, always, sometimes, already, not yet, never, etc. (English tends to express similar timeless assertions with the simple present.)The gnomic aorist is regarded as a primary tense
Sequence of tenses
In grammar, the sequence of tenses is a rule of a particular language governing the relationship between the grammatical tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences to show the temporal relationship of the events to...
in determining the mood of verbs in subordinate clauses. That is to say, subordinate clauses take the subjunctive instead of the optative.
- οἱ τύραννοι πλούσιον ὃν ἄν βούλωνται παραχρῆμ’ ἐποίησαν (not *ἄν βούλοιεν)
Tyrants make rich in a moment whomever they wish.
Dramatic
In dialogues within tragedyTragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, the first person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
aorist or present expresses an action performed by the act of speaking, like thanking someone (see performative utterance
Performative utterance
The notion of performative utterances was introduced by language philosopher J. L. Austin. According to his original conception, it is a sentence which does something in the world rather than describing something about it...
), or, according to another analysis, a state of mind. This is called tragic or dramatic aorist. The aorist is used when the action is complete in the single statement; the present when the speaker goes on to explain how or why he is acting.
- Ἀλλαντοπώλης. ἥσθην ἀπειλαῖς, ἐγέλασα ψολοκομπίαις,
ἀπεπυδάρισα μόθωνα, περιεκόκκασα.
Sausage-seller. I like your threats, laugh at your empty bluster,
dance a fling, and cry cuckoo all around.
- : translated by William James Hickie
Unattainable wish
A wish about the past that cannot be fulfilled is expressed by the aorist indicative with the particlesGrammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
εἴθε or εἰ γάρ "if only" (eíthe, ei gár). This is called the aorist of unattainable wish.
- εἴθε σοι, ὦ Περίκλεις, τότε συνεγενόμην.
If only I had been with you then, Pericles!
An unattainable wish about the present uses the imperfect. A wish about the future uses the optative with or without a particle; an optative of wish may be unattainable.
Past potential
The aorist indicative (less commonly the imperfect) with the modalGrammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
particle
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
ἄν án, Homeric
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
κέ(ν) ké(n), may express past potentiality, probability, or necessity.
- τίς γὰρ ἂν ᾠήθη ταῦτα γένεσθαι;
For who would have expected these things to happen?
Iterative
The aorist indicative (also the imperfect, or past iterative in HerodotusHerodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
) with ἄν án may express repeated or customary past action. This is called the iterative indicative. It is similar to the past potential, since it denotes what could have happened at a given point, but unlike the past potential, it is a statement of fact.
Unreal
The aorist or imperfect indicative with ἄν may express past unreality or counterfactualityCounterfactual conditional
A counterfactual conditional, subjunctive conditional, or remote conditional, abbreviated , is a conditional statement indicating what would be the case if its antecedent were true...
. This is called the unreal indicative. This construction is used in the consequence
Apodosis
Apodosis may refer to:*In linguistics, the main clause in a conditional sentence*In logic, the apodosis corresponds to the consequent; ....
of past counterfactual conditional sentence
Conditional sentence
In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
s.
Participles
Outside of indirect discourse, an aorist participle may express any time (past, present, or rarely future) relativeRelative and absolute tense
Grammatical tenses are deictic; that is, the time they refer to cannot be known without context. The center of deixis may be either the moment of discourse or narration or the moment under discussion .English uses absolute tense...
to the main verb.
Non-indicative moods
Outside of the indicative mood, sometimes the aorist determines time (often past time), and sometimes the function of the mood determines it. When the aorist does not determine time, it determines aspect instead.Aorist in indirect discourse refers to past time relative to the main verb, since it replaces an aorist indicative.
An imperative, subjunctive or optative in an independent clause usually refers to future time, because the imperative express a command, the subjunctive expresses urging, prohibition, or deliberation, and the optative expresses a wish or possibility.
In dependent clause
Dependent clause
In linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...
s (temporal, conditional
Conditional sentence
In grammar, conditional sentences are sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms to form such sentences....
, etc.), the time (past
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
, present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
, or future
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
) of an aorist subjunctive, optative, or imperative is based on the function of the mood. The subjunctive is used with main verbs in the present and future tenses (primary sequence
Sequence of tenses
In grammar, the sequence of tenses is a rule of a particular language governing the relationship between the grammatical tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences to show the temporal relationship of the events to...
), and the optative is used with main verbs in the past tenses (secondary sequence) and to express potentiality in the future.