Abstract
It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey relative temporality in Classical Greek, with the aorist infinitive referring to anteriority, the present infinitive to simultaneity, and the future infinitive to posteriority. In Hellenistic/Roman Greek and in Early Byzantine Greek, by comparison, DeclarInfCl do not display the same variety of infinitive forms. These periods appear to avoid the aorist infinitive while manifesting a very common use of perfect infinitives and stative present infinitives in DeclarInfCl. These tendencies stand in a complex relation to other developments in the post-Classical period. This paper accounts for what appears to be the decline of the aorist infinitive in DeclarInfCl, claiming that this phenomenon is most likely related to the perfect infinitive adopting the function of conveying anteriority in DeclarInfCl.
Highlights
This paper discusses a development that affected Ancient Greek declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl)
The -σειν infinitives may well represent a future infinitive, which is another indication that the aorist infinitive was avoided in Hellenistic/Roman Greek DeclarInfCl
The analysis shows that most of the perfect infinitives occurring in nt DeclarInfCl belong to the category of “change-of-state” verbs (48 % of all DeclarInfCl containing the perfect infinitive in the nt)
Summary
This paper discusses a development that affected Ancient Greek declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl). According to Fournier (1946: 149), they display a kavčič steady increase from at least the late 5th century bc, reaching as much as 90 % of all complement clauses after this verb after the end of the Classical period These data suggest that what appears to be the decline of the aorist infinitive in DeclarInfCl could be perhaps be no more than a coincidence, resulting from the fact that DeclarInfCl in general were significantly less common in Hellenistic/Roman Greek than in earlier periods. Ὡς ‘like’ gives a plausible interpretation of this passage
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