22.1: Root Aorist (Athematic Long-Vowel Aorist)

22.1: Root Aorist (Athematic Long-Vowel Aorist) A THIRD AORIST? In previous lessons you learned the following types of active aorist conjugations: ἔπαυσα First aorist (Lesson 9). A regular tense that we can predict and even produce safely if we remember to make appropriate changes when the tense marker σα is added to a stem ending in a consonant. Just as in English a foreign speaker can produce forms like... ed if he knows that the verb is regular. ἔβαλον, ἤγαγον Second aorist (Lesson 14). An irregular tense that does not show the tense marker sa but is based on a variant of the same stem or sometimes on a different stem. Nothing prevents a foreign learner of English from inventing past tenses such as... except knowing that the past of "see" is "saw", etc. In this lesson we look at a new form of the aorist. It is not sufficient to lump it with other second aorists because they are too different from them. True, they are second or strong in the sense that they are not regular or predictable. But for clarity we will call them athematic aorists. What is this? you cry, understandably. Read on. I need to make two points. 1)Τhe verbs you have been learning to recognize and conjugate have a first person sg present indicative ending in ω. They have a thematic vowel, sometimes disguised after merging with the ending, but which you learned to detect: ο / ε/ ε/ ο/ ε/ ο

There is another group of verbs, another conjugation, with -μι as the ending of the first person sg present indicative. They are known therefore as -μι verbs. In their present system they do not have a thematic vowel, the endings (a set of endings different from the one you learned for ω verbs) are applied directly to their stem. These verbs are few, but they belong to very basic, frequent vocabulary both in ancient and in koinê Greek: to be (εἰμί, which you studied as an irregular verb ), to give: δίδωμι, to place: τίθημι, etc. We delay the consideration of the present system of these verbs. 2) We focus on athematic aorists. 2a. Generally speaking, you can expect that a verb with an athematic present will have an athematic aorist. Most do, but it is not a "root aorist." We will study these aorists later, so I postpone description of their characteristics. 2b. Some apparently friendly ω-verbs will shock you when you discover that their aorist is athematic. An example is γι(γ)νώσκω. Its aorist, ἔγνων, is the model we want to learn now. To distinguish this type of athematic aorist from the mysterious one in 2a, we need to call it as in the title, athematic long-vowel aorist. Too long. We will adopt a traditional name for this aorist, not very popular in current textbooks, but specific: root aorist. With very few exceptions that we can cheerfully ignore, it is active in form and in meaning. This is its conjugation:

Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Infinitive Participle 1sg ἔ-γνω-ν γνῶ1 γνῶ-ναι γνοῦς, 2sg ἔ-γνω-ς γνῷς γνῶ-θι 3sg ἔ-γνω γνῷ γνώ-τω γνοῦσα, γνόν2 1pl ἔ-γνω-μεν γνῶ-μεν 2pl ἔ-γνω-τε γνῶ-τε γνῶ-τε 3pl ἔ-γνω-σαν γνῶ-σι(ν) γνό-ντων Notes The basic stem of this verb is γνω. (In the present it receives two additions, a reduplication of the present, and a common suffix: σκ, which usually represents a gradual action or event: The formula of the root aorist indicative is simple. The label "root aorist" was given by grammarians to indicate that it is based on the pure, basic stem of a verb, its "root." augment + stem + secondary active endings. Note σαν in the 3rd pl. Notes: 1) The ω of the subjunctive is the result of contraction. It is not necessary to learn this, but if you are curious, here is the process that occurred. As you know, the mark of the subjunctive is a long thematic vowel, so even an athematic verb needs it! Before the long thematic vowel of the subjunctive, the long stem vowel ω was shortened, as is normally the case for a long vowel before another vowel. If you remember your ο contractions, you will understand this set of endings:

contractions result in the Subjunctive 1sg γνω > γνο + ῶ = γνῶ 2sg γνω > γνο + ῇς = γνῷς 3sg γνω > γνο + ῇ = γνῷ 1pl γνω > γνο + ῶμεν = γνῶ-μεν 2pl γνω > γνο + ῆτε = γνῶ-τε 3pl γνω > γνο + ῶσι(ν) = γνῶ-σι(ν) 2) The participle can be predicted too by aplying the rules of contraction. Remember that long vowels are shortened before ντ? Since that is the mark of this participle, we will use as a base γνοντ Let us construct this participle, beginning with the genitive: γνοντ + ος > γνόντος The masculine nominative has the mark ς, the neuter has none. This is what happens: γνοντ + ς > γνούς (with compensatory lengthening after ντ drops) And of course, what happens in this nom will be replicated in the dative plural: γνοντ + σι(ν) > γνοῦσι(ν) (again,compensatory lengthening after ντ drops) So the complete declension of this participle is:

singular plural nominative γνούς, γνοῦσα, γνόν γνόντ-ες, γνοῦ-σαι, γνόντ-α genitive γνόντ-ος, γνού-σης, γνόντ-ος γνόντ-ων, γνουσῶν, γνόντ-ων dative γνόντ-ι, γνού-σῃ, γνόντ-ι γνοῦ-σι, γνούσαις, γνοῦ-σι accusative γνόντ-α, γνοῦ-σαν, γνόν γνόντ-ας, γνού-σας, γνόντ-α