greek participles progressive active thematic

Thematic Progressive Active Participles

Introduction

The formula for forming the thematic progressive active participle in the masculine and neuter is this:

BASE

progressive aspect marker(s)

/οντ/

3st declension case endings

Thus τέμ/ν/οντ/ων > τεμνόντων (masculine or neuter gen. plural)

Here’s the formula for the feminine:

BASE

progressive aspect marker(s)

/οντ/

/Jα/

1st declension case endings

Thus τέμ/ν/οντ/Jα/ων > τεμνουσῶν (feminine gen. plural)

Intermediate

Participles are verbal adjectives. That is, they are adjectives that are build from verb bases, like “blasting” and “rebelled.” As adjectives, they modify nouns, or are themselves used as nouns <examples>. Thus, they have case, number, and gender. They also retain some verbal characteristics. Specifically, they have aspect and voice. For more on participles, see <here>.

The progressive active participle is translated “[verb]ing,” as in:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

—Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope

MASCULINE AND NEUTER

To form the thematic progressive active participle, take the progressive stem and add the thematic active participle suffix, /οντ/). From here, the masculine and neuter decline like standard third declension adjectives. The accent naturally falls on the last syllable of the progressive stem:

          λα[ν]β[άν]/οντ/ > λαμβάνον (neuter nom. sing.)
          τέμ/ν/οντ/ος > τέμνοντος (masculine or neuter gen. sing.)
          θαυμάτ/J/οντ/Ṇ > θαυμάζοντα (masculine acc. sing.)
          ἄγ/οντ/ες > ἄγοντες (masculine nom. plural)
          πι/πέτ/οντ/σι > πίπτουσι (masculine or neuter dat. plural)*

* ντ drop before σ, requiring ο to stretch to ου. Regrettably, the dative plural looks the same as the 3rd plural progressive active indicative (in this case, also πίπτουσι, “they are falling”). Context will usually make clear which form the word is. <Could we find an instance or two in which it’s not that clear and talk about how we figure out which it is?>

Otherwise, the main uncertainty with active participles is whether the masculine nominative singular is marked by /L or /ς. “Thematic” means that a theme vowel is used in the formation of a word, and theme vowels can lengthen by ablaut. Thus, the masculine nominative singular of thematic progressive active participles is marked by /L:

          λα[ν]β[άν]/οντ/L > λαμβάνων
          τέμ/ν/οντ/L > τέμνων
          θαυμάτ/J/οντ/L > θαυμάζων
          ἄγ/οντ/L > ἄγων
          πι/πέτ/οντ/L > πίπτων

FEMININE

As with other active participles, the feminine is marked by adding the feminine adjective marker /Jα/. The combination of /οντ/Jα/ produces /ουσα/ (τJ produce σ, and ντ drops before σ, requiring ο to stretch to ου). The result is a standard first declension adjective (where α in the /Jα/ marker does not lengthen in the nominative singular or accusative singular):

          τέμ/ν/οντ/Jα/ > τέμνουσα (nom. sing.)
          θαυμάτ/J/οντ/Jα/Ṇ > θαυμάζουσαν (acc. sing.)
          ἄγ/οντ/Jα/ι > ἄγουσαι (nom. plural)
          πι/πέτ/οντ/Jα/ι/σι > πιπτούσαις (dat. plural)
          λα[ν]β[άν]/οντ/Jα/ων > λαμβανουσῶν (gen. plural)

Here’s how λα[ν]β[άν]/οντ/Jα/ων becomes λαμβανουσῶν.

To mark the base λαβ/ as progressive, we add a nasal infix and a nasal suffix. The infix ν is a voiced dental nasal. It assimilates to the β, a voiced labial stop, by becoming the voiced labial stop μ. Thus we get the progressive stem λαμβαν/ and have the form

λαμβαν/οντ/Jά/ων

The accent, by default on the last syllable of the verb stem, has to move all the way forward to -α-, because the last syllable, -ων, is long.

Next, τJ produce σ:

λαμβανονσάων

Then ν drops before σ in nouns and adjectives:

λαμβανο_σάων

The quantitative gap left by the droppage of ν is filled by stretching the previous vowel (in this case, ο to ου):

λαμβανουσάων

Finally, -άων contracts to -ῶν, and voilà:

λαμβανουσῶν

This exact form is rare in Greek, but we find it in the philosopher Epicurus’ discussion of rainbows as quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 10.110 (translation by Marquis Berrey):

τὸ δὲ τῆς περιφερείας τοῦτο φάντασμα γίνεται διὰ τὸ τὸ διάστημα πάντοθεν ἴσον ὑπὸ τῆς ὄψεως θεωρεῖσθαι, ἢ σύνωσιν τοιαύτην λαμβανουσῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ἀτόμων ἢ ἐν τοῖς νέφεσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀποφερομένων περιφέρειάν τινα καθίεσθαι τὴν σύγκρισιν ταύτην.

This appearance of the arc is due to the fact that the distance is visually sighted as equal from all sides, or the atoms in the air or [atoms] in the clouds, once carried from the sun and taking a certain compression, set down this aggregation as an arc.