Aorist (Ancient Greek)
In the grammar of Ancient Greek, an aorist is a type of verb that carries certain information about a grammatical feature called aspect. For example, an English speaker might say either "The tree died" or "The tree was dying", which communicate related but distinct things about the tree and differ in aspect. In ancient Greek, these would be stated, respectively, in the aorist and imperfect. The aorist describes an event as a complete action rather than one that was ongoing, unfolding, repeated, or habitual.
The vast majority of usages of the aorist also describe events or conditions in past time, and traditional grammars like Smyth's A Greek Grammar for Colleges introduce it as one of three secondary tenses expressing past time. However, it is often idiomatic to use the aorist to refer to present time. For example, 'Go to school today' would be expressed using the aorist imperative, since the speaker is giving a command to do an action at one point in time, rather than 'Keep going to school'. Some modern linguists describe the aorist as solely an aspect, claiming that any information about time comes from context.
The aorist is in most cases clearly distinguished by its form. In late prose, it is mandatory for the aorist indicative to have a prefix or lengthened initial syllable called an augment. It often has an infixed s or th sound, and it takes a particular set of endings. For example, 'I loosen' is expressed in the present tense as λύω, while 'I loosened' in the aorist aspect is ἔλυσα.
Terminology
In the grammatical terminology of classical Greek, the aorist is a, one of the seven divisions of the conjugation of a verb, found in all moods and voices. It has a consistent stem across all moods. By contrast, in Theoretical linguistics, tense refers to a form that specifies a point in time, so in that sense the aorist is a tense-aspect combination.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 describes chiefly the Attic aorist but also 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 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.
Morphology
A verb may have either a first aorist or a second aorist: the distinction is like that between weak and strong verbs in English. But the distinction can be better described by considering the second aorist as showing the actual verb stem when the present has a morph to designate present stem, like -σκ-, or reduplication with ι as in δίδωμι. A very few verbs have both types of aorist, sometimes with a distinction of meaning: for example ἵστημι has both ἕστησα and ἕστην as aorists, but the first has a transitive meaning and the second an intransitive meaning.First
The stem of the first aorist is often marked by the addition of morphs: -σα- in the active and middle voice, and -θη- in the passive voice. Because of the σ, it is also called sigmatic aorist.Compensatory lengthening
affects first aorist forms whose verbal root ends in a sonorant.In Attic and Ionic Greek, the σ in the first aorist suffix causes compensatory lengthening of the vowel before the sonorant, producing a long vowel.
In Aeolic Greek, the σ causes compensatory lengthening of the sonorant instead of the vowel, producing a double consonant.
The present stem sometimes undergoes sound changes caused by a suffix — for instance, palatal approximant. 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 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 or to the consonant.
- men-sa → men-ha → mehna → mēna or menna
First aorist endings
Most of the passive forms of the first aorist have endings similar to those of the root aorist.
| λύω 'release', aor. λυσ- | 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 λύσησθε 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 root 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 and no infix or suffix.Zero-grade
When the present has a diphthong, the second aorist has the offglide of the diphthong.- present λείπω 'leave', aorist λιπ
- present πέτομαι 'fly', aorist πτ
- present τρέπω, aorist τραπ
Reduplication
- present ἄγω 'lead', aorist ἄγαγ
Second aorist endings
| λείπω 'leave', 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 |
| passive | ἐλείφθην ἐλείφθης ἐλείφθη ἐλείφθημεν ἐλείφθητε ἐλείφθησαν | λειφθῶ λειφθῇς λειφθῇ λειφθῶμεν λειφθῆτε λειφθῶσι | λειφθείην λειφθείης λειφθείη λειφθείημεν/λειφθεῖμεν λειφθείητε/λειφθεῖτε λειφθείησαν/λειφθεῖεν | — λείφθητι λειφθήτω — λείφθητε λειφθέντων/λειφθήτωσαν | λειφθῆναι | λειφθείς λειφθεῖσα λειφθέν |
Second aorist passive
A second aorist passive is distinguished from a first aorist passive only by the absence of θ. A few verbs have passive aorists in both forms, usually with no distinction in meaning; but ἐφάνην 'I appeared' is distinguished from ἐφάνθην 'I was shown'.There is no correlation between the first/second aorist distinction in the active and the passive: a verb with an active second aorist may have a passive first aorist or vice versa.
Root
The root aorist is characteristic of athematic verbs. 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.| indicative | subjunctive | optative | imperative | infinitive | participle | |
| active | ἔγνων ἔγνως ἔγνω ἔγνωμεν ἔγνωτε ἔγνωσαν | γνῶ γνῷς γνῷ γνῶμεν γνῶτε γνῶσι | γνοίην γνοίης γνοίη γνοῖμεν, γνοίημεν γνοῖτε, γνοίητε γνοῖεν, γνοίησαν | — γνῶθι γνώτω — γνῶτε γνόντων | γνῶναι | γνούς γνοῦσα γνόν |
The singular aorist indicative active of some athematic verbs uses a stem formed by the suffix -κα and takes first aorist rather than root aorist endings.