Aspect in Ancient Greek - Nijmegen Centre for Semantics

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138 Chapter 6. The temporal structure of discoursethe change did indeed happen.” Hdt. 1.74.2 2The prediction of the eclipse takes place before the eclipse itself, although itis mentioned later.Finally, sometimes an eventuality described does not belong to the storytold. In such cases the temporal relation between this eventuality and the othereventualities described is of no importance. This phenomenon is restricted tothe aorist, as is also observed by Ruijgh (1991:201), who describes this use ofthe aorist as ‘la simple constatation d’une action isolée du passé’ (‘the simpleconstatation of an isolated action in the past’). 3 I label this the autonomoususe of the aorist. Eventualities described with imperfective aspect, on the otherhand, are always interpreted as temporally related to other eventualities. (166)and (167) illustrate the autonomous use of the aorist:(166) ΑνέθηκεAnethēkeδdeκφυγνekphugōnτνtēnoffer.pst.aor.3sg prt escape.from.aor.ptcp.nom the.accνοσονnousonillness.accδετερο̋deuterossecond.nomοτο̋houtosthat.nom∆ελφο̋ κρητράDelphous krētēraτεteργρεονargureonDelphi bowl.acc prt silver.accσιδήρεον κολλητν,sidēreon kollēton,iron.acc welded.accτνtōnthe.genνenin∆ελφοσιDelphoisiDelphi.datθέη̋theēsview.genτ̋tēsthe.genµέγανmegangreat.accξιονaxionworth.accναθηµάτων,anathēmatōn,offerings.genΧίουChiouποίηµα,poiēma,̋hosChian.gen product.acc who.nomνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmen.genσιδήρουsidērouiron.genκλλησινkollēsinsoldering.accοκίη̋oikiēshouse.genκαkaiandδιdiathroughΓλακουGlaukouGlaucus.genµονο̋mounosonly.nomδdēprtτατη̋tautēsthat.gen̋estoποκρητηρίδιονhupokrētēridionstand.accπάντωνpantōnall.genτοtouthe.genπάντωνpantōnall.gen ξ ε ρ ε.exeure.discover.pst.AOR.3sg“He (= Alyattes) was the second of his family to make an offering toDelphi (after recovering from his illness) of a great silver bowl on astand of welded iron, this being the most worth seeing among all the2 The translation of this and the next two Herodotus’ passages is Godley’s (Herodotus1963).3 Ruijgh’s account about Ancient Greek aspect in general and this use of the aorist inparticular is discussed in chapter 7.
6.2 Temporal patterns 139offerings at Delphi, being the work of Glaucus the Chian, the onlyone of all men who discovered how to weld iron.”Hdt. 1.25.2(167) Κατ ατνKat’ autonδdeΚροσονKroisonτάδεtadeγίνετο.egineto.with self.acc prt Croesus.acc this.nom happen.pst.ipfv.3sgΗνο πα̋, το κα πρτερονĒn hoi pais, tou kai proteronbe.pst.ipfv.3sg he.dat son.nom rel.gen prt before π ε µ ν ή σ θ η ν,epemnēsthēn,mention.pst.AOR.1sgφωνο̋aphōnosmute.nomδέ.de.prtτtathe.accµνmenprtλλαallaother.accπιεική̋,epieikēs,fitting.nom“With Croesus the following happened. He had a son, whom I havealready mentioned, fine in other respects, but mute.”Hdt. 1.85.1In (166), the eventuality of the discovery is not temporally linked to the othereventualities in the discourse. It is related only to the moment of utterance.Similarly, in (167), the eventuality of mentioning is not temporally linked tothe eventualities previously described.Molendijk (1990) observes the same phenomenon for the passé simple inFrench. An example is given in (168) (from Molendijk 1990:251):(168) En 1982, il s’ installa dans la ville mêmein 1982 he oneself install.pst.pfv.3sg in the town sameoù Charles Martel a r r ê t a les Arabs. Il ywhere Charles Martel stop.pst.PFV.3sg the Arabs. He thererencontra son épouse future.meet.pst.pfv.3sg his wife future“In 1982 he went to live in the same town where Charles Martelstopped the Arabs. There he met his future wife.”The eventuality described in the second clause, the stopping of the Arabs byCharles Martel, is presented solely from the perspective of the moment ofutterance. As in Greek, we do not find such examples with the imparfait.In this section I have given an overview of some common patterns found inAncient Greek discourse. The question now is how to account for them. Onthe one hand, we want to explain the regularities. On the other, it is clear thatan adequate account should have a certain degree of flexibility since there are
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Aspect in Ancient GreekA semantic a
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viNick Asher, David Beaver, the lat
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Contentsix8 Conclusions and discuss
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2 Chapter 1. Introductiongroundbrea
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4 Chapter 1. Introduction(4) µετ
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6 Chapter 1. Introductionimperfecti
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1.3 Organisation of the thesis 9In
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Chapter 2The interpretations of aor
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2.3 Additional interpretations of t
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2.5 The challenge 21scriptions of h
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24 Chapter 3. Aspect in formal sema
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3.2 The perfective-imperfective dis
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3.3 Aspectual coercion 673.3.1 Aspe
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3.3 Aspectual coercion 69bials ((88
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3.3 Aspectual coercion 71the term c
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3.3 Aspectual coercion 73in the ext
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76 Chapter 4. An analysis of aorist
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Page 98 and 99: 88 Chapter 4. An analysis of aorist
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188 Appendix A: The language of Com
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190 Appendix A: The language of Com
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192 Appendix B: Examples spelled ou
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206 Appendix C: List of abbreviatio
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208 Appendix C: List of abbreviatio
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210 References(Eds.), Cross-linguis
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212 ReferencesGrice, P. (1975). Log
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214 ReferencesLemmon, E. J. (1962).
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216 Referencesvan der Sandt, R. (19
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218 References
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220 Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch)
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222 Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch)
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Aspect in Ancient Greek - Nijmegen Centre for Semantics

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