Περὶ τῶν εἰς νυμί - A study on athematic -(ν)νῡ/(ν)νῠ- suffixed presents from Homer to Oppian of Cilicia

• Main Author: Ceolin, Roberto
• Published: University of Oxford 2013
• Subjects: 488
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.601168

Despite the general tendency of Greek to eliminate athematic verbal formations, new athematic -(v)vU/Cv)vti- presents continued to be created up until around the second century A.D. These presents can be divided into two main groups, namely those already attested in Homer and those with a post-Homeric fi rst attestation. The presents already attested in Homer can be divided into three categories, namely inherited presents, Old Formations and New Formations, according mainly to their manner of fo rmation and the coexistence, or not, of cognates in other languages. The inherited presents and the Old Formations were formed according to the patterns we are able to reconstruct for Indo-.European; the difference between them is that the latter do not have cognates in any other language. The New Formations, on the other hand, are built on a general verbal non-ablauting stem common to most forms of their verbal paradigm, including (he sigmatic aoris t. It was acruaUy through their sigmatic aorist that a series of transitive verbs, wru ch for various reasons lacked a present, came to be attracted to a paradigmatic scheme consisting of a sigmatic aorist paired with an athematic -(\I)\lu/(\I)\lU- present. Trus paradigmatic scheme was available exclusively for transitive verbs, offered by both the inherited presents and the Old Formations once Greek had solved a conflict of tran sitivity which originally existed between the primary and the characterized forms derived from semantically intransitive roots. In the present study the conclusion is reached that the creation of new athematic -(\I)\lu/(v)vu- presents was not at odds with the general tendencies underpinning the development of th e Greek verbal system, namely the elimination of athematic forms, because the (semi-)vocalic ending of the nasal suffix func tioned like a thematic vowel rurning the athematic -(\I)\lu/(\I)\lU- presents into a sort of pseudo-athematic fonnation. This conclusion is backed not only by the fact that over 84 % of the forms we have are attested in an actual athematic form, but it is also confirmed by the fact that Greek kept on creating new athematic - (v)v6/('J)vG- presents analogically in post-Homeric times. The coining of the post-Homeric new athematic -(v)vU/(v)vG- presents took place at twO chronologically different stages, the second of which occurs at around the beginning of the Christian era. The second and third volumes contain appendixes with supporting material: Appendix I consists of a catalogue of the athematic -('»v6/(\I)\I,j- present forms attested from Homer to the end of the second century A.D., and Appendix 2 consists of a series of tables in which the material of Appendix I is arranged according to a suitable set of categories.