Verb: Aorist thematic

GrammarVerb – Aorist thematic singular

This lesson’s new verb form is called the Aorist, which comes from ἀόριστος meaning an ‘indefinite time.’ In modern linguistics, this form would be called a perfective as opposed to the imperfective in the present tense (see Semantics C for further discussion of these terms).

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MorphologyVerb – Aorist thematic singular

There are two different types of Aorists, one of which is the thematic Aorist. It is called “thematic” because the endings have the same theme vowel qualities as the present endings. However, the stem of thematic Aorist verbs differs from the present stem. Sometimes the two stems are quite close, as in λαμβάνω (where the stem is λαμβαν- in the present) and ἔλαβον (where the stem is ε λαβ - in the Aorist). At other times, the stem is completely different, as in ἐσθίω and ἔφαγον, where the latter is the Aorist form of ἐσθίω meaning ‘to eat’. While there are patterns for some classes of verbs, the relationship between the two verb stems will, for the most part, just need to be memorized. Verbs learned previously for which the Aorist is thematic are listed in the following chart:

• An initial ε is added to form the Aorist stem. This is sometimes referred to as an augment, and it marks the verbs as past tense (see Semantics C for more discussion).
• The endings are similar to the endings of the present tense (see 2.1.4.1), except in shortened forms: λαμβάν-ω vs. ἔλαβ-ον, λαμβάν-εις vs. ἔλαβ-ες, λαμβάν-ει vs. ἔλαβ-ε(ν).
• The accent can go all the way back to the antepenultima because the final vowel is short rather than long.

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MorphologyVerb – Aorist thematic plural

• Like in the Aorist thematic sg, the pl forms have an initial short vowel after the stem and the endings are related to the present tense pl endings (see 5.1.3.1).
• For the 3p, you have -ον in the Aorist thematic rather than -ουσι(ν) as in the present. This form ends up being identical to the 1s form (ἔ-λαβ-ον).
• The 1p and 2p endings for the present and Aorist thematic are identical, since both have an initial short theme vowel after the stem: -ομεν and -ετε.

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SemanticsVerb – Aorist (1 – Past Events in Sequence)

One of the primary functions of the Aorist is to refer to past events in a sequence, such as in stories. We already saw that the present tense can have this function at times (9.4.3.2), but this is not nearly as common as the Aorist, which is the normal form used to narrate events that happen one after another. As we said with the historical present use (10.4.3.2), sequential events involve two components of meaning. First, events are referenced that occur before the speech time–in other words, past events. Second, the endpoints of events are included in the time span under discussion. This gives the effect of events happening in sequence with one event ending and then the next event occurring after it ends, and so on.

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SemanticsVerb – Aorist (2 – Completed, non-sequential, event)

In 11.1.3.2, we introduced the sequential use of the Aorist as one event happening after another. While this is the most common interpretation of the Aorist in stories, the past-perfective meaning of the Aorist need not refer to events that happen in a sequence. The Aorist could also be interpreted as two events overlapping in time or as two verbal descriptions of the same event:

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