Aspect in Ancient Greek - Nijmegen Centre for Semantics

2.4 Additional interpretations of the aorist 192.4.2 The complexive interpretationThe ingressive interpretation is not the only interpretation of aoristic aspectwith unbounded predicates; it can also be read as indicating that the eventualityis completed. An example of this use is βολευσα ebouleusa ‘be senator.aor’in (21):(21) γegōγάρ,gar,I.nom prtρχνarchēnoffice.accπλει,polei,state.datōvcpοδεµίανoudemianno.accνδρε̋andresmen.vocπώποτεpōpoteeverΑθηναοι,Athēnaioi,Athenian.voc β ο λ ε υ σ αebouleusabe.senator.pst.AOR.1sgλληνallēnother.accρξαērxarule.pst.aor.1sgδέdeprtνeninµνmenthoughτtēithe.dat“I (= Socrates), men of Athens, never held any other office in thestate, but I was a senator.”Pl. Ap. 32aHere the speaker, Socrates, makes reference to the complete eventuality ofbeing a senator rather than to the beginning.I will restrict the label completive to the interpretation of completion ofthe aorist with bounded predicates and will use complexive for the completioninterpretation of the aorist with unbounded predicates as in (21). Whetherthe two interpretations are the same or different depends on the analysis ofthe semantics of the aorist. Since in the account I will defend in this thesis thecombination of the aorist with bounded predicates is analysed differently thanthe combination with unbounded predicates, it is convenient to have distinctlabels for the two.2.4.3 The tragic interpretationMany grammars (e.g., Kühner and Gerth 1898:163, Goodwin 1966:18) notethat the form for past tense and aoristic aspect is sometimes used to refer topresent eventualities. This use of the aorist, called tragic or dramatic aoristbecause it occurs mainly in drama, is often used in dialogues. The traditionalview, as for instance found in Kühner and Gerth (1898:163-165), is that itdescribes a present eventuality as if it had already happened or begun. Thisuse of the aorist is restricted to the first person and common with verbs ofjudgement or emotion in response to something said by someone else. Insuch cases it is claimed to indicate that the speaker had begun to make thejudgement or feel the emotion before his interlocutor has finished speaking.An example is given in (22), where Iphigeneia reacts to Orestes’ proposal to