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Catharine P. Roth, “Mixed Aorists” in Homeric Greek – Preface
Author’s Preface In the past seventeen years the so-called “mixed aorists” have not exactly mounted the chariot of controversy. There are, however, a few articles which should be mentioned now that this thesis is being published, without change except for the addition of this preface. [1] In 1971, M. I. Slavyatinskaya published a short article in Russian on “The Meaning and… Read more
Catharine P. Roth, “Mixed Aorists” in Homeric Greek – Introduction
Introduction The Homeric poems provide some of the easiest reading in Greek literature, as well as some of the most rewarding, and so we are introduced to them at an early stage in our study of the language. But when we learn more, we discover that Homeric Greek is not so simple after all. Some of its phenomena remain unexplained after two millennia of scholarship. For instance,… Read more
Catharine P. Roth, “Mixed Aorists” in Homeric Greek – Chapter 1: The History of the “Mixed Aorist” Problem
1. The History of the “Mixed Aorist” Problem The “mixed aorist” forms have been a subject for scholarly dispute as long as Homeric scholarship has existed. Aristarchus considered the problem of determining the correct spelling. At K 513, the scholia of Venetus A tell us that Aristarchus read ἐπεβήσετο but others ἐπεβήσατο. At Γ 262, Aristarchus preferred βήσετο, but refrained from altering the text, which had βήσατο:… Read more
Catharine P. Roth, “Mixed Aorists” in Homeric Greek – Chapter 2: Oisete
2. Οἵσετε One class of “mixed aorists” consists of the imperatives ἄξετε and ἄξεσθε, οἶσε οἴσετε and οἰσέτω, ὄψεσθε (the singular imperative ὄψεο· ἰδέ often cited as from Hesychius is actually a conjecture of Cobet’s, which Latte does not accept in his edition [1] ); the secondary tense form ἄξοντο; and the infinitives ἀξέμεν and ἀξέμεναι, οἰσέμεν and οἰσέμεναι. [2]… Read more
Catharine P. Roth, “Mixed Aorists” in Homeric Greek – Chapter 3: Duseto and Beseto
3. Δύσετο and Βήσετο The “mixed aorists” are by no means a homogeneous group. If οἴσετε, ὄψεσθε, ἄξετε, and ἄξοντο were created by certain processes within the epic language, we cannot therefore assume, as Leumann does, that the same explanation is valid for ἐβήσετο, βήσεο, ἐδύσετο, δύσεο and their compounds. [1] The reading with thematic vowel was upheld by Aristarchus against the… Read more