Verb – Imperfect/Eluon εἰμί singular

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology of the verb εἰμί in the Eluon form
• The semantics of the Eluon form with states

VocabularyVocabulary

GrammarGrammar Topic: Verb – Imperfect/Eluon εἰμί singular

Because εἰμί is a stative verb and the Aorist does not combine easily with states, there is no Aorist form of εἰμί. The only option for the past tense of εἰμί is Eluon.

MorphologyMorphology: Verb – Imperfect/Eluon εἰμί singular

• All the forms start with η, which represents a lengthened vowel from a combination of the stem (εσ) and the initial ε augment.
• The 1s form’s ending, -μην, is identical to the 1s Eluon med-psv (see 21.3.3.1).
• The 2s form has the characteristic ς; two occurrences have an additional -θα (Matt 26:29; Mark 14:67).
• The 3s form has the characteristic ν, but it isn’t moveable.

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – εἰμί Eluon (2 – stative and lifetime effects)

Unlike the perfective Aorist form, Eluon says nothing about the endpoints of the eventuality it combines with. States also do not have a natural endpoint. This makes the Eluon form combine straightforwardly with the copula verb εἰμί and other states. It simply means that the state holds at some past time.

States can be either temporal or permanent. In Greek, the copula with the Eluon form can be used with both kinds of states. We see an example of a temporal state in Mark 1:6 where John is said to be dressed with camel’s hair. Although there is no natural endpoint to any state, we know that this kind of state is changeable, so it is temporal. If John were dressed in something different, a new state would hold. Permanent states are also possible with Eluon:

This is a state that describes who John is and not just how John might be feeling, where he might be located, or how he might be dressed. With permanent states like this, what is called the lifetime effect often occurs. This is an inference we make that says that the state does not hold anymore because the person is no longer alive. This is exactly what we see in our example from Mark 11:32. The reason why the Eluon form is used rather than Luo is because John is no longer alive when others are talking about him. John was a prophet when he was alive. He would still be a prophet in the present if he were alive, but he is not. We see the same lifetime effect at the end of Mark in 15:39. Right after the centurion at the foot of the cross sees Jesus die, he exclaims, “Truly, οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος υἱὸς θεοῦ ἦν ‘This man was the son of God.’ The centurion uses the Eluon form with the copula and a permanent state because Jesus is now dead. Using the Luo form would imply that Jesus was still alive.