The Greek Perfect through Gothic Eyes: Evidence for the Existence of a Unitary Semantic for the Greek Perfect in New Testament Greek

Abstract

The semantics of the later Koine Greek perfect have been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. For the immediately post-Classical language Haug (2004) has suggested that the perfect combines resultant state and XN semantics, unifiable under the framework of event realisation (Bohnemeyer & Swift 2004). The present article presents a modified unitary semantic in terms of participant property (Smith 1997), and assesses its validity with reference to the translation of the perfect indicative active into Gothic. It is found that, while non-state verbs are translated only with past-tense forms in Gothic, contrary to traditional and even many modern views of the Greek perfect, the perfect of both pure state and change-of-state verbs are compatible with both past and non-past tense readings. The fact that this is the case regardless of the diachronic pedigree of the perfect forms concerned is taken as evidence consistent with the existence of the proposed unitary semantic for the Greek perfect in the New Testament in the eyes of the Gothic translator.

The Decline of the Aorist Infinitive in Ancient Greek Declarative Infinitive Clauses

“…They amount to 87% of all perfect infinitives in the construction. When compared with the nt, this corpus displays an even more common use of the perfect infinitive, which according to Crellin (2014) correspond to past tense interpretation. Active perfect infinitives of "non-state" and "change-of-location" verbs (which associate with past-tense interpretations in Gothic) amount to 30 % of all DeclarInfCl containing the perfect infinitive, whereas active perfect infinitives of "change-of-state" verbs amount at 40% of such clauses.70 Although in the latter case not all DeclarInfCl may correspond to past-tense interpretation, it seems reasonable to assume that at least 30% of DeclarInfCl containing the perfect infinitive were perceived as referring to anteriority.…”

“…The Perfect According to Crellin (2014): Further Evidence for the Temporal Use of the Perfect Infinitive in DeclarInfCl A recent article by Crellin (2014) sheds light on the semantics of the perfect in the nt from the perspective of the Gothic translation. His findings are particularly significant because they provide insight into how the Greek perfect was perceived by Wulfila (ca.…”

Examining a Hypothesis about the Past‐Oriented Aorist Infinitive in Post‐Classical Greek

“…For the purposes of this paper, I add that the resultative prefect, which stressed the state resulting from the anterior event and was the predominant perfect in the earliest stages of the language, is preserved in Post‐Classical Greek as well, whereas a few perfects contain no reference to anteriority (in both Classical and Post‐Classical Greek; cf. Fanning 1990: 291–99; Haug : 302; Crellin : 7–9; Kavčič : 287–92; Bentein : 91). It is also widely accepted that, at later stages of Greek, the perfect tended toward adopting the function of the perfective past and merging with the aorist in functional terms, and to a degree in formal terms as well (e.g., Horrocks : 174–8, 302; Bentein : 154; Haspelmath : 217–20).…”

“… See also Crellin (: 36): the modern interpretation can differ from what appears to have been the interpretation of an ancient translator. …”

“… See also Kavčič (: 303). According to this assessment, which is based on Crellin (), at least 30 per cent of the perfect infinitives that are attested in the period displaying the avoidance of the past‐oriented aorist infinitive in non‐literary papyri contain a reference to anteriority (which does not mean, however, that all these perfect infinitives are necessarily used in the function of the perfective past); compare Fanning (1990: 402, footnote 15), who notes that in the New Testament ‘action anterior to the time of the main verb is often implied when a perfect infinitive occurs in indirect discourse’. …”