Aorist
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The aorist (pronounced /ˈeɪ.ərɨst/, from the Greek: ἀόριστος, aóristos, "without horizon, unbounded") in traditional use is an aspect (sometimes also called the perfective aspect) or, used more specifically, a verb tense (the aorist aspect of the past tense) in some Indo-European languages such as Greek, Sanskrit, or Bulgarian (the term is also used for unrelated concepts in some other languages, such as a gnomic or general present tense in Turkish[1] and Swahili). In contrast to the imperfective aspect, which refers to an action as continual or repeated, or to the perfect aspect, which calls attention to the consequences generated by an action, the aorist aspect has no such implications, but refers to an action "pure and simple".[2]
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[edit] Meaning
In the Greek indicative mood, the aorist refers to a past action, in a general way or as a completed event. It may also be used to express a general statement in the present (the "gnomic aorist"). Used this way, it is described as the aorist tense. In other moods (subjunctive, optative, and imperative), the infinitive, and (largely) the participle, the aorist is purely aspectual. In these forms, it has no temporal meaning, and acts purely as an alternative to the other aspects.
The aorist aspect is used in the imperative, for example, in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:11, which says "Give (δὸς dòs, aorist imperative) us this day our daily bread"). In contrast, the similar passage in Luke 11:3 uses the imperfective aspect, implying a sense of continuation with "Give (δίδου dídou, present imperative) us day by day our daily bread."
An example of how the aorist tense contrasts with the imperfect in describing the past occurs in Xenophon's Anabasis, when the Persian aristocrat Orontas is executed: "and those who had been previously in the habit of bowing (προσεκύνουν prosekúnoun, imperfect) to him, bowed (προσεκύνησαν prosekúnēsan, aorist) to him even then."[3] Here the imperfect refers to a past habitual or repeated act, and the aorist to a single one.
A table may help to clarify these examples:
| Aspect | About the present | About the past | Commands or requests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective aspect (continuous or repeated) | Present (continuous) tense | Imperfect tense (e.g. προσεκύνουν prosekúnoun = "had been previously in the habit of bowing") | Present imperative (e.g. δίδου dídou = "give (repeatedly)") |
| Perfect aspect (calling attention to consequences generated) | — | Perfect tense | — |
| Aorist aspect (an action pure and simple) | Aorist tense used gnomically | Aorist tense (e.g. προσεκύνησαν prosekúnēsan = "bowed") | Aorist imperative (e.g. δὸς dòs = "give") |
[edit] Hermeneutic implications
Within New Testament hermeneutics, attaching undue hermeneutic significance to uses of the aorist has been referred to as an exegetical fallacy. Although specific implications can be drawn from an author's use of the imperfective or perfect aspects, no such conclusions can in general be drawn from the use of the aorist, which refers to an action "without specifying whether the action is unique, repeated, ingressive, instantaneous, past, or accomplished".[4]
[edit] Origin
In Proto-Indo-European, the aorist may have originated simply as an aspect of syntactic inflection, but later it probably developed into a combination of tense and aspect, a similar syntax being evident in Sanskrit. Many Indo-European languages have lost the aorist as a distinct feature. In the development of Latin, for example, the aorist tense merged with the perfect.[5]
[edit] Morphology
In the Indo-European languages Greek and Sanskrit, the aorist is marked by several morphological devices, but three stand out as most common:
| Morphological device | Position | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S-aorist | 1st | The s-aorist or sigmatic aorist, so called because an 's' is inserted between the root and the personal ending. In Greek, ἀκούω akoúō means "I hear", while ἤκουσα ēkousa means "I heard." (Grammatical note: the first letter of ἤκουσα is an eta, and not an alpha, because of a Greek verbal augment that marks the past indicative tense.) In Greek, this is called the first aorist, or the weak aorist. |
| Ablaut | 2nd | This process is a change in vowel grade. Indo-European made great use of ablaut to express semantic changes morphologically; in fact, English uses ablaut as well, creating such verb forms as: swim, swam, swum; come, came, come; and take, took, taken. English further uses ablaut in extended forms, such as: sit, seat, sat, set (etymologically, to set is to cause to sit); lie, lay, lain, laid, laid, layer; and sing, sang, sung, song. And Greek λείπω leípō "I leave", but ἔλιπον élipon "I left". In Greek, this is called the second aorist or the strong aorist. |
| Reduplication | 3rd | While a reduplication is more commonly associated with the morphology of the perfect, there are sporadic verbs which use it in the aorist. The reduplicated aorist is more common in Sanskrit than in other Indo-European languages, but an example in Greek is the verb ἄγω ágō "I lead", which has the aorist ἤγαγον ēgagon "I led," (Grammatical note: the first letter of ἤγαγον is an eta, and not an alpha, because of a Greek verbal augment that marks the past indicative tense.) |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.practicalturkish.com/turkish-verbal-factoids.html
- ^ Frank Beetham (2007). Learning Greek with Plato. Bristol Phoenix Press. p. 362.
- ^ F. Kinchin Smith and T.W. Melluish (1968). Teach Yourself Greek. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 94.
- ^ D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies, Baker Book House, 1984, ISBN 0801024994.
- ^ L. R. Palmer (1988). The Latin Language. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 8.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
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Look up aorist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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