why use the aorist
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This is a beginner's forum - see the Koine Greek forum for more advanced discussion of Greek texts. Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up.
When answering questions in this forum, keep it simple, and aim your responses to the level of the person asking the question.
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Allan Rumsch
- Posts: 11
- Joined: February 12th, 2013, 1:20 pm
why use the aorist
I thought I had a good understanding of this weeks gospel selection, but when I checked my translation of John 17: 25 I seem to have missed something: πάτερ δίκαιε, καὶ ὁ κόσμος σε οὐκ ἔγνω, ἐγὼ δέ σε ἔγνων, καὶ οὗτοι ἔγνωσαν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας, Most translations translate ἔγνω and ἔγνων and ἔγνωσαν as present tense verbs. Now I understand that the aorist may not be in the past, but that it reflects a singular occurence. But even so, it seems that this is a continuing state of knowing and not knowing. What about the aorist am I missing here?
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Stephen Carlson
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- Location: Melbourne
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Re: why use the aorist
The verb γνῶναι (aorist active infinitive of γίνωσκω) is more like "get to know" than just plain "know." It does not designate a state of knowing so much as a change into a state of knowing. And that meaning is very appropriate for an aorist.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia