Studies in tense, aspect and augment use: an unrecognized (?) timeless injunctive in early Epic Greek. Part 1: Status quaestionis on the use of injunctive, augment and aspect

Abstract

Since West’s seminal 1989 article, it has been assumed that there were (only) four instances in epic Greek (Homer, Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns) in which the injunctive (often called an unaugmented indicative in the commentaries) could be interpreter as having a timeless (or omnitemporal) meaning. In an article, divided into two parts, I will argue and show that there could be more of these forms. I will also analyze several other instances in which an injunctive has been transmitted, instances in which it refers to a background action or an event in a remote past. In part 1, I address the interaction and difference in use between the injunctive and the (augmented) indicative in epic Greek, paying special attention to the gnomic aorist, the similia, the instances with τε-épique and the so-called “Hymnic aorist”, explaining why they mostly comprise the augment. Following West 1989 for Greek and Hoffmann 1967 for Vedic, I argue that the injunctives or unaugmented indicatives are not simply metrical variants of the indicative, but have their own distinct meanings and functions, as they are used to “mention” or describe background actions, preserve an old “timeless” meaning or refer to a more remote (and often mythical) past. As some of the instances have an aorist and others a present injunctive, I also take into account the aspectual difference(s) between these forms, discussing scholarship on tense and aspect in general and Homer in particular. In part 2, I proceed to actual instances and will investigate them for both the use of the injunctive or indicative and for that of the aspectual stem.