Verb – Eluon: all parts

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Eluon (1 – Past in progress)

The meaning of Eluon shares characteristics with both the Luo and Aorist, just like the morphology does. Like the Efagon/Elusa, Eluon has the initial augment, so that indicates that both forms are past tense. The stem of Eluon is the same as Luo except for the augment, and that indicates the aspect, namely imperfective. This morphological description is suggestive of its most basic function–it is used to describe situations in the past where the event has not yet come to an end. In other words, only part of the event is being referred to:

The context tells us that a great storm was raging on the sea and while the boat was being swamped by the waves Jesus was sleeping. In other words, Jesus was in the midst of sleeping during the storm. This is the hallmark use of the Eluon form. One eventuality was taking place at the same time as another eventuality in the past. We can call this use of Eluon the “past in progress” use.

fromLesson 15.1: Verb – Imperfect/Eluon singular

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Eluon (3 – Past habit)

Imperfective forms, such as Luo, regularly express habituality (see 6.3.3.2). Eluon shares the same aspect as Luo and is also regularly used for habituals, though the habit being referred to is in the past:

fromLesson 16.1: Verb – Imperfect/Eluon plural

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Eluon (4 – Ingressive)

Although some grammars use the terms ingressive and inchoative interchangeably, we use the term inchoative to refer to the beginning of a state and “ingressive” to refer to the beginning of an event. Whereas the inchoative is typically expressed with the Aorist, Eluon is the normal form for the ingressive. Both inchoatives and ingressives refer to the initial temporal boundary of an eventuality:

fromLesson 21.3: Verb – Eluon medio-passive singular

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Eluon (5 – Conative)

Events have a pre-stage where the subject is preparing to do something but has not started yet, and Eluon is often used to refer to this pre-stage:

If Jesus was given wine, then he would have it in his possession and it would be a contradiction to say that he did not take it. Because the text says he did not take it, the Eluon form of δίδωμι must mean that they were attempting to give him the wine, but the event of giving never actually happened. The Eluon form here means that they attempted to perform the event, and the context clarifies that they were unsuccessful. This is called the conative use of Eluon.

fromLesson 22.2: Verb – Eluon medio-passive plural