Verb – Sigmatic Aorist/Elusa middle

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology of the Elusa middle
• The Aorist’s meaning after verbs of speaking

VocabularyVocabulary

MorphologyMorphology: Verb – Elusa middle

• Instead of theme vowels of the Efagon mid (see 23.1.3.1), σα is placed between the person endings and the stem.
• In the 2s form, the σ of the -σο ending (see 21.3.3.1) has dropped out, and the α and ο have contracted, e.g. σασο → σαο → σω.

• The Elusa mid of verbs you have already seen are given here:

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Aorist (5 – Past after verb of speaking)

Verb – Aorist: all 7 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 11.1, Lesson 12.1, Lesson 14.1, Lesson 21.1, Lesson 26.2, Lesson 31.2

We said that the Aorist encodes tense, so it specifies a relationship between the time of speaking and the reference time, the time we are talking about (see 5.1.3.2 and Semantics C). However, it is well-known that a variety of factors may change the time of speaking, including after verbs of speaking or believing:

The initial imperative πιστεύετε sets the eventuality in some future time. This is then followed by an Aorist, which is supposed to be past. Why, then, would the Aorist be used here if the event of receiving is in the future? There are two possible speech times that the Aorist can anchor to in this verse. There is the time in which Jesus is speaking, and then there is the future time when the disciples believe. Verbs like πιστεύω ‘believe’ provide another anchor point for tense, so the Aorist can be interpreted as past relative to the future believing of the disciples, which is the correct interpretation here. While the verb ἐλάβετε is future in relation to Jesus’ speech time, it is past in relation to the disciples’ time of believing, the correct speech time in this context. That is Jesus’ entire point. When asking for something, believe that you received it before you get it.

This explanation also applies to the so-called epistolary Aorist. Again, a letter can have two possible speech times: either the time of composition or the time when the letter is read in the assembly. When the author writes from the perspective of the reader in the assembly, he may use the Aorist to refer to an event that is future in relation to the time of composition. In Eph 6:22, Paul says that Tychicus will inform them of his well-being, whom ἔπεμψα πρὸς ὑμᾶς ‘I sent to you.’ At the time of writing, Paul had not actually sent Tychicus. However, when the letter to the Ephesians was read in the assembly (possibly by Tychicus himself), then he would have already been sent. In this case, the speech time of the Aorist is understood to be the time of the reading of the letter rather than the time of composition.