Sigmatic Aorist Indicative Active

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Introduction

The Greek word aoristos, from which comes the term aorist, roughly means “not limited.” In other words, a verb in the aorist aspect is not confined to or defined by progression or completion. The emphasis of the verb is simply on the action itself. In the indicative, the aorist is standardly translated with an English simple perfect (“I called, we ran, they barked”). The “not limited” character of the aorist will be more evident in verb forms outside the indicative.

In the active and middle, aorist aspect is marked either by adding /σ/ to the end of the base or by adding nothing. When /σ/ is added, the form is called sigmatic. When nothing is added, the form is called asigmatic. Some very common verbs are asigmatic, but numerically speaking more verbs are sigmatic.

The aorist indicative is a past time tense, so a verb will use a past time marker (ἐ/ or L/). In almost every instance, the sigmatic aorist indicative active uses athematic α personal endings:

ἐ/ or L/

BASE

/σ/

/α          /αμεν /ας        /ατε /ε          /αν

For example:

     ἐ/λυ/σ/ας > ἔλυσας “you (singular) released”
     L/ἀκου/σ/αν > ἤκουσαν “they heard”

When the verb is prefixed, the past time marker is added to the beginning of the base:

     κατα/ε/λυ/σ/αμεν > κατελύσαμεν “we took down, destroyed”

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Intermediate

(1) When markers are added to short vowels, those vowels standardly lengthen:

     ἐ/ποιε/σ/ατε > ἐποιήσατε “you (plural) made”
     ἐ/στα/σ/αν > ἔστησαν “they set up”

Occasionally this lengthening does not happen. In these instances, the base had actually ended in -σ/. The resultant double σ is evident in Homeric, but by the Classical Period the double σ was reduced to a single σ by geminate reduction:

     ἐ/καλε/σ/ε > ἐκάλεσε “she called” (originally ἐ/καλεσ/σ/ε > ἐκάλεσσε)
     ἐ/τελε/σ/ε > ἐτέλεσε “she finished” (originally ἐ/τελεσ/σ/ε > ἐτέλεσσε)

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(2) Orthographical and/or phonological changes occur when σ combines with certain consonants. Here is what we find in forms of the sigmatic aorist:

• The combination of a labial stop (π, β, φ) and σ is pronounced /ps/ and written with the Greek letter ψ:

     ἐ/γραφ/σ/ας > ἔγραψας “you (singular) wrote”

• The combination of a velar stop (κ, γ, χ) and σ is pronounced /ks/ and written with the Greek letter ξ:

     ἐ/πραγ/σ/α > ἔπραξα “I did”

• Dental stops (τ, δ, θ) drop before σ:

     ἐ/νομιδ/σ/αν > ἐνόμισαν “they thought”

• When forming verb stems, σ drops after a Merlin consonant, and the previous vowel stretches. The result may not not look like a sigmatic aorist because σ is no longer present in the final form, but it is sigmatic nonetheless:

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Advanced

The base πετ/, “fall” is sigmatic but uses thematic personal endings typical of the asigmatic aorist: ἐ/πετ/σ/ον > ἔπεσον, “I fell.”

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Vocabulary for this lesson (click here for the full lexicon)

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Related

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