Aorist

see also: Etymology of Aorist

The aorist (of the Greek ἀόριστος/ aóristos , “not limited”) is a time and a Aspect which one finds in some Indo-European Langues the such Sanskrit, the Bulgare or the old Greek (and modern). There does not exist more such as it is in Latin, although the perfect of this language comes from it, without to have kept the aspectual value of it.

It is Indo-European which the aorist comes: it is indeed one of the three morphological topics fundamental of this language and its most antiquated descendants (old Greek and Sanskrit). At the beginning, the aorist did not indicate any temporal value but an aspect says “zero” (or “perfective”), i.e. the statement (the “action”) is represented without reference to its duration. He is thus opposed directly to imperfectif (present and imperfect) and, in old Greek, to the statics, which presents the lawsuit like a result present of a last action (topics of perfect and pluperfect).

The aorist, however, came from there to take an accomplished value temporal (past), which is noted well in old Greek, where it is the case with the indicative mode only. Elsewhere, the aorist remains an aspect. In Sanskrit, it also comes from there to indicate a lawsuit achieved in addition to its value of constation of a fact.

Example

That is to say the Greek verb meaning “to leave”. Its topic of present is λειπ-/ leip- , that of aorist λιπ-/ lip- .

With the code, the present λείπω/ leípô in “I result leave”, the aorist ἔλιπον/ élipon by “I left” or “I left” even “I had left”, according to the context, the temporal value being indeed very fuzzy but the aspect being that of an action of which the duration is not specified and which one represents in his entirety (total Aspect). With the code, the opposition of aspect is even more visible with the imperfect one: ἔλειπον/ éleipon is imperfectif passed, which imperfect French returns well.

With the Infinitive , however, any temporal value disappears and the “present” λείπειν/ leípein is not more present than the aorist λιπεῖν/ lipeĩn , which is not past. Both would be translated into French by “leaving”, but in the first case would be “to be leaving”, in the second simply “to leave”, i.e. the pure action.

Aspect;
time;
Conjugations of the old Greek;
Conjugations of the Sanskrit.

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Aorist

Example

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