From: Roe (d.roe@t-online.de)
Date: Sun Dec 10 2000 - 07:39:53 EST
Dear B-Greekers,
On November 16, Carl Conrad responded to a very general enquiry:
> ... an aorist indicative may ... refer to
> something that has happened in the past and happens repeatedly
> (gnomic aorist).
And on December 7, Kimmo Huovila responded to comments Mark Wilson's had
forwarded:
> ... Gnomic aorists are still perfective. This is
> the difference from gnomic presents, which are imperfective.
I wonder about the function of the indicative aorist: whether a gnomic
aorist can signify past time -- i.e., whether a gnomic aorist can refer
to something that repeatedly happened in the past, but no longer does.
My example text is Hebrews 7:2a:
hWi KAI DEKATHN APO PANTWN EMERISEN ABRAAM
**Totally apart from the context** (which leads me to think the writer
is referring to a one-time act of giving a tenth, to Melchezidek), does
the writer's choice of the indicative aorist EMERISEN signify a one-time
act, or does it merely allow it?
I would think that if the writer had wanted to say that Abram
repeatedly, or customarily, gave a tenth to Melchezidek, he would have
chosen the indicative imperfect EMERIZEN.
Thanks for your consideration and comments,
David
D.W. Roe
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
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