1st aorist active participle's tense formative

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Jesse Goulet
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1st aorist active participle's tense formative

Post by Jesse Goulet »

For 1st aorist active and middle verbs in the indicative moods, the tense formative is "σα," but if the stem ends in a liquid consonant the tense formative is "α."

I'm just going through Mounce's explanation of the formation of 1st aorist active participles, where he says the tense formative is also "σα," but he never mentions anything about liquid stems in this section, so I'm wondering if liquid stems also use "α" here just like in their indicative form.
cwconrad
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Re: 1st aorist active participle's tense formative

Post by cwconrad »

Jesse Goulet wrote:For 1st aorist active and middle verbs in the indicative moods, the tense formative is "σα," but if the stem ends in a liquid consonant the tense formative is "α."

I'm just going through Mounce's explanation of the formation of 1st aorist active participles, where he says the tense formative is also "σα," but he never mentions anything about liquid stems in this section, so I'm wondering if liquid stems also use "α" here just like in their indicative form.
To make a long answer short: Yes.
Pr. Ind. A 1st sg. στέλλω; Aor Ind. A 1st sg. ἔστειλα Aor A ptc. στειλαντ-
Pr. Ind. M 1st sg. ἐντέλλομαι; Aor. Ind.M 1st. sg. ἐνετειλάμην; Aor M ptc. στειλαμεν-

The longer answer would go into the archaeology of the liquid aorists: the formative element -σα- originally linked with the root syllable of liquid verbs: e.g. ἔστελ-σα; since the -σ- falls between the liquid λ and a vowel, it becomes weak and evanesces, but the preceding ε lenthens by compensation to preserve the long syllable; the lengthening ε becomes ει.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Jesse Goulet
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Joined: October 15th, 2011, 12:48 pm

Re: 1st aorist active participle's tense formative

Post by Jesse Goulet »

cwconrad wrote:
Jesse Goulet wrote:For 1st aorist active and middle verbs in the indicative moods, the tense formative is "σα," but if the stem ends in a liquid consonant the tense formative is "α."

I'm just going through Mounce's explanation of the formation of 1st aorist active participles, where he says the tense formative is also "σα," but he never mentions anything about liquid stems in this section, so I'm wondering if liquid stems also use "α" here just like in their indicative form.
To make a long answer short: Yes.
Pr. Ind. A 1st sg. στέλλω; Aor Ind. A 1st sg. ἔστειλα Aor A ptc. στειλαντ-
Pr. Ind. M 1st sg. ἐντέλλομαι; Aor. Ind.M 1st. sg. ἐνετειλάμην; Aor M ptc. στειλαμεν-

The longer answer would go into the archaeology of the liquid aorists: the formative element -σα- originally linked with the root syllable of liquid verbs: e.g. ἔστελ-σα; since the -σ- falls between the liquid λ and a vowel, it becomes weak and evanesces, but the preceding ε lenthens by compensation to preserve the long syllable; the lengthening ε becomes ει.
:) I like the longer answers.

Can I assume the same for aorist passive participles as well, where the tense formative is "ε" for liquids and "θε" otherwise?

While on the topic, Mounce explains that the tense formative is actually θη but shortens to θε, yet in the aorist passive INDICATIVE section he says the opposite--originally θε but lengthens to θη except on rare occasions. So which one is it?
cwconrad
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Re: 1st aorist active participle's tense formative

Post by cwconrad »

Jesse Goulet wrote:[Can I assume the same for aorist passive participles as well, where the tense formative is "ε" for liquids and "θε" otherwise?

While on the topic, Mounce explains that the tense formative is actually θη but shortens to θε, yet in the aorist passive INDICATIVE section he says the opposite--originally θε but lengthens to θη except on rare occasions. So which one is it?
A distinction of types for the aorist passive forms doesn't involve liquids at all as such, rather the distinction is between what are called "First (Aorist) Passives" and what are called "Second (Aorist) Passives. "First Passives" have a formative element that is either long-vowel θη or short-vowel θε (e.g. λυθη/λυθε), while "Second Passives" have a formative element that is either long-vowel η or short-vowel ε (e.g. βλαβη/βλαβε). All aorist passive participles are formed by adding the active participial marker (-ντ-) to the short-vowel stem: λυ-θε-ντ- or βλαβ-ε-ντ. These are the stems on which the declension of the participles depends -- but you need to understand how phonological principles affect the formation of the feminine (e.g. λυθεντ-ια --> λυθεῖσα, βλαβεντ-ια --> βλαβεῖσα) or the neuter sg. that loses the tau (e.g. λυθεντ --> λυθέν, βλαβεντ --> βλαβέν).
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Louis L Sorenson
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Re: 1st aorist active participle's tense formative

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

Check out Smyth A Greek Grammar on participles §300 ff: http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/htm ... 2j_uni.htm
and
Funk's A Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek, §246ff http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/project/f ... on-18.html
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