Part forty-three of a tour through Greek inflectional morphology to help get students thinking more systematically about the word forms they see (and maybe teach a bit of general linguistics along the way).
Before we get to counts in the various aorist classes, we need to dive a little more into the verbs that appear to be in more than one class.
We’ve already seen the kappa aorists like ἔδωκα and ἔθηκα that, in the infinitive (and, classically, in the plural), are root aorists but elsewhere have alphathematic endings and a slightly different stem.
In this post we’re going to look at the aorist active verbs in the SBLGNT that have a consistent stem throughout but exhibit both thematic (2nd aorist) and alphathematic (1st aorist) variants. In other words, for some cells in the paradigm there is a form that follows the thematic distinguisher pattern, for some cells there is a form that follows the alphathematic distinguisher pattern, and in some cells we find both forms. In theory, both forms might be possible in any cell, but we’re just using a small corpus so in practice the paradigms will be sparse.
In all cases, the thematic aorist is the older form and the alphathematic form developed later (particularly during the Hellenistic period) as part of a general movement towards having fewer classes of aorist.
Note that the 3SG ending -ε(ν) is ambiguous as to which class the form is in (between these two classes).
I should also note that the stem and its relationship to the imperfective stem can be used as a diagnostic for aorist class. But we are ignoring that for now and just focusing on the classes of ending (or more precisely, the distinguishers).
The relevant verbs are:
- ἔρχομαι/ἦλθον and compounds
- λέγω/εἶπον and compounds
- φέρω/ἤνεγκα compounds
- πίπτω/ἔπεσα and compounds
- βάλλω/ἔβαλον and compounds
- εὑρίσκω/εὗρον
- ὁράω/εἶδον
- ἀναιρέω/ἀνεῖλον
ἔρχομαι/ἦλθον and compounds
The alphathematic variants seem more likely in the plural (although we’ll defer any actual statistics for now).
Note these could not be reanalyzed as sigmatic or pseudo-sigmatic.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἐλθεῖν | |
| 1SG | ἦλθον | |
| 2SG | ἦλθες | |
| 3SG | ἦλθε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | ἤλθομεν | ἤλθαμεν |
| 2PL | ἤλθατε | |
| 3PL | ἦλθον | ἦλθαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἀπελθεῖν | |
| 1SG | ἀπῆλθον | ἀπῆλθα |
| 3SG | ἀπῆλθε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἀπῆλθον | ἀπῆλθαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | εἰσελθεῖν | |
| 1SG | εἰσῆλθον | |
| 2SG | εἰσῆλθες | |
| 3SG | εἰσῆλθε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | εἰσήλθομεν | |
| 2PL | εἰσήλθατε | |
| 3PL | εἰσῆλθον |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἐξελθεῖν | |
| 1SG | ἐξῆλθον | |
| 2SG | ἐξῆλθες | |
| 3SG | ἐξῆλθε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | ἐξήλθομεν | |
| 2PL | ἐξήλθατε | |
| 3PL | ἐξῆλθον | ἐξῆλθαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| 3SG | προσῆλθε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | προσῆλθον | προσῆλθαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | συνελθεῖν | |
| 3SG | συνῆλθε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | συνῆλθον | συνῆλθαν |
λέγω/εἶπον and compounds
Note these could not be reanalyzed as sigmatic or pseudo-sigmatic.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | εἰπεῖν | |
| 1SG | εἶπον | εἶπα |
| 2SG | εἶπες | εἶπας |
| 3SG | εἶπε(ν) | ← |
| 2PL | εἴπατε | |
| 3PL | εἶπον | εἶπαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | προεῖπον | |
| 3SG | προεῖπε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | προείπαμεν |
φέρω/ἤνεγκα compounds
Note the stem ends in a kappa and so it resembles a kappa aorist when alphathematic. It is therefore particularly interesting that the indicatives are all alphathematic (or in the case of the 3SG, could be taken as in that class).
In other words, the existence of the kappa may have made speakers feel a little more comfortable using the alpha endings.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἀνενεγκεῖν | ἀνενέγκαι |
| 3SG | ἀνήνεγκε(ν) | ← |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἀπενεγκεῖν | |
| 3SG | ἀπήνεγκε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἀπήνεγκαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | εἰσενεγκεῖν | |
| 1PL | εἰσηνέγκαμεν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ὑπενεγκεῖν | |
| 1SG | ὑπήνεγκα |
πίπτω/ἔπεσα and compounds
Note the stem ends in a sigma and so it resembles a sigmatic aorist when alphathematic. As with ἤνεγκα, it is therefore interesting that the indicatives are all alphathematic (or in the case of the 3SG, could be taken as in that class).
In other words, the existence of the sigma may have made speakers feel a little more comfortable using the alpha endings.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | πεσεῖν | |
| 1SG | ἔπεσα | |
| 3SG | ἔπεσε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἔπεσαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἀναπεσεῖν | |
| 3SG | ἀνέπεσε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἀνέπεσαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἐκπεσεῖν | |
| 3SG | ἐξέπεσε(ν) | ← |
| 2PL | ἐξεπέσατε | |
| 3PL | ἐξέπεσαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| 3SG | ἐπέπεσε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἐπέπεσαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| 3SG | προσέπεσε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | προσέπεσαν |
βάλλω/ἔβαλον and compounds
Notice that, as often has been the case before, the 3PL appears in both classes. In a future post we’ll run some numbers as it could just be that the 3PL is simply more common in general.
The stem here ends in a resonant, so the alphathematics look a little more like pseudo-sigmatics.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | βαλεῖν | |
| 3SG | ἔβαλε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἔβαλον | ἔβαλαν |
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἐπιβαλεῖν | |
| 3SG | ἐπέβαλε(ν) | ← |
| 3PL | ἐπέβαλον | ἐπέβαλαν |
εὑρίσκω/εὗρον
The stem here ends in a resonant, so the alphathematics look a little more like pseudo-sigmatics.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | εὑρεῖν | |
| 1SG | εὗρον | |
| 2SG | εὗρες | |
| 3SG | εὗρε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | εὕρομεν | εὕραμεν |
| 3PL | εὗρον |
ὁράω/εἶδον
Note that, like λέγω/εἶπον, these could not be reanalyzed as sigmatic or pseudo-sigmatic.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἰδεῖν | |
| 1SG | εἶδον | |
| 2SG | εἶδες | |
| 3SG | εἶδε(ν) | ← |
| 1PL | εἴδομεν | εἴδαμεν |
| 2PL | εἴδετε | |
| 3PL | εἶδον | εἶδαν |
ἀναιρέω/ἀνεῖλον
The stem here ends in a resonant, so the alphathematics look a little more like pseudo-sigmatics.
| thematic | alphathematic | |
|---|---|---|
| INF | ἀνελεῖν | |
| 2SG | ἀνεῖλες | |
| 3SG | ἀνεῖλε(ν) | ← |
| 2PL | ἀνείλατε | |
| 3PL | ἀνεῖλαν |
In the next post, we’ll cover other aorist active verbs that have some variant forms. Then we’ll be in a position to do some counts.