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Articoli

No. 2 (2020)

The tense of the verb in ancient Greek

DOI
https://doi.org/10.53262/caleido.2.2020.23-35
Published
2020-04-26

Abstract

It is known to all students of classical studies that the Greek verbal system is complex and difficult to memorize. The fact is that in this language the verb plays a predominant role, much more than in Latin, precisely because the Greek expresses not so much things, but “the acts from which things are promoted" (Meillet, 1928). In addition, through the entire classical age the Greek language has maintained the aspectual value of the verb, which goes hand in hand with the temporal one. The aspect of the verb expresses: a) the duration of the action (theme of the present); b) the action accomplished (theme of the perfect); c) the absolute action, i.e. in itself (theme of the aorist). There are indications that the aspect occurred prior to the time of the verb. From here it has been assumed that at the beginning, the verb expressed only the aspect of the action, the meaning of time added itself much later. This statement seems strange, not to say impossible, but not if we accepted the hypothesis that in a certain period the populations that spoke that language (an ancient Greek or, better, Indo-European), had a life experience that did not need the "historical" temporality (i.e. the present one) in which we are so rooted that we cannot conceive of not being able to place every event at a point within the time line. It has been provided some models of linguistic use that indicate only the aspect of the verb or of the action that is expressed by it, trying to show that this use was possible, indeed natural, in a life experience different from the historical one, in a time marked by the rhythm of nature, cyclical such as the alternation of the seasons and the movement of the stars. The adoption of historical temporality (linear and irreversible) occurred afterwards, but long before the invention of writing, as demonstrated by the myth handed down orally, which is undoubtedly unthinkable without the past-presentfuture scheme. As for the causes of this change in a time model from cyclical to historical, these problems can be complex and can probably have multiple origins. The one that is considered the most significant and which is rooted in the growing autonomy of the individual with respect to the group of belonging (family, tribe, people…) that pushes the search of a sense of individual existence.
The adoption of this new model of temporality was an important step in the civilization of the human being and in the redefinition of its relationship with nature. This has had consequences, sometimes paradoxical, reflected in the way in which man perceives nature and himself.