LESSON XI
Verbs in μι
The great mass of Greek verbs, whatever their variations of person and tense may be, agree in this one prominent feature, that the first person singular of the present indicative ends in ω, as in Latin ō, possibly a relic of the pronoun ἐγώ, I. But there is a small class of verbs in familiar use which, instead of the ω, affix to the first person μι, evidently identical with the English me and the German mich—a confusion of the nominative and accusative cases familiar to our ears in French and vulgar English, when we say it is me instead of it is I. Whatever may have been the original form of the verbs in μι, as a matter of practice, if we fling off the μι from the present, the future and the tenses cognate with it may be formed directly from an assumed form in ω: thus ἵστημι, I cause to stand, στήσω, I will cause to stand, as if from στάω; τίθημι, I place, θήσω, I will place, as if from θέω; δείκνῡμι, I show, δείξω, I will show, as if from δείκω; and δίδωμι, I give, future δώσω, I will give, as if from δόω, the Latin dō evidently preserving the simple form from which δίδωμι comes by the prefix of δι and the suffix μι.
Present
| ἵστημι, | ἵστης, | ἵστησι, | I, thou, he | cause to stand. | |
| ἵσταμεν, | ἵστατε, | ἱστᾶσι, | we, you, they |
Imperfect
| ἵστην | ἵστης | ἵστη |
| ἵσταμεν | ἵστατε | ἵστασαν |
Second Aorist
| ἔστην | ἔστης | ἔστη |
| ἔστημεν | ἔστητε | ἔστησαν |
The middle and passive voice follow the form of the regular verb.
The perfect active of ἵστημι, ἕστηκα, is used as a present with a neuter sense, I stand, and in like manner, the pluperfect ἑστήκειν, and the 2nd aorist ἔστην, I stood.
τίθημι and its analogues have ε for the α in the plural, and first aorist ἔθηκα instead of ἔθησα; and in the same way ἵημι, to send, has first aorist ἧκα, I sent; so also δίδωμι has ἔδωκα, I gave, not ἔδωσα.
The irregular verbs εἰμί, I am, εἶμι, I go (usually future: I will go), evidently fall under this scheme. For εἰμί, I am, see supra, Lesson I. The verb to go has εἶμι, I go; εἶ, thou art going; εἶσι, he is going; ἴμεν, we are going; ἴτε, you are going; ἴᾱσιν, they are going. Imperative ἴθι, go.
ἄπιθι, ἄπιθι, ἄκλητος καθίζεις ἐπ’ ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἕδρᾳ·
στήσω σε ἐνταῦθα,
begone, begone! you have no business in that seat;
I will plant you here.
ἕστηκα ὅπου ἕστηκα, καὶ καθίζω ὅπου καθίζω,
I stand where I stand, and I sit where I sit.
σοὶ ἔδωκα τὴν βίβλον τὴν κομψήν, σὺ δὲ ἔδωκας τῷ παιδισκαρίῳ
τούτῳ· ἐς τοσοῦτον ἆρα καταφρονεῖς μου, καὶ τοῦ δώρου μου;
I gave the pretty book to you, and you gave it to that little girl.
Do you so despise me and my gift?
συνῆκα ἃ λέγεις· ἡ δὲ παρθένος μᾶλλον τῆς βίβλον ὀνήσεται ἢ ἐγώ,
I understand what you say;
but the young lady will be more profited by the book than I.
μάλα ταπεινόφρων σύ γε, you are very humble.
οὐχ οὕτως· φιλῶ τὴν παρθένον, not at all; I love the girl.
πιθανόν, likely enough.
οἱ πολλοὶ τί φασι περὶ τοῦ Γλάδστωνος;
what do people say about Gladstone?
θαυμάζουσι αὐτὸν δικαίως ὡς δεινὸν μὲν περὶ τοὺς λόγους,
τῶν δὲ περὶ τὰς τῆς πόλεως προσόδους ἐμπειρότατον, καὶ δὴ
καὶ τῶν τε Ἰταλικῶν καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν γραμμάτων ἐπιστήμονα,
they admire him, with good reason, as a great speaker,
also as an expert and apt financier, and besides a great
Greek and Italian scholar.
ἀληθέστατα λέγεις· εἰ κατέστησαν αὐτὸν καθηγητὴν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς
φιλολογίας ἐν τῷ τοῦ Βουπόρου πανεπιστημίῳ, οὐκ ἐλάττων ἂν
ἐγένετο[6]
τοῦ Βοεκίου, τοῦ Ἑρμάννου, τοῦ Μυλλέρου, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Γερμανῶν
ὅσοι περὶ τὴν πολυμαθίαν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις εὐδοκιμοῦσι,
very true; if they had made him professor of Greek in the
university of Oxford, he would not have stood below Boeckh,
or Hermann, or Müller, or any of the Germans who are most
distinguished for great learning.
καὶ οὕτως γε ἐτύγχανεν ἂν εὐτυχῶς διαφυγὼν τόν
τε πολὺν θόρυβον καὶ διαφθορὰν τοῦ βίου πολιτικοῦ,
and so he might have happily escaped the great
bother and the corruption of political life.
δυνατὰ λέγεις· ὅμως οὐκ ἄν τις τυγχάνοι
διαπεφευγὼς τὴν εἱμαρμένην,
possibly; however no man can
escape his destiny.
English Affinities
Stand. Sit. Seat. Dowry. Philology. Mathematics. Empiric. Dynamics. Logic. Grammar. Allopathy. Biology.