The Difference Between the Optative and the “Modal” Indicative in Homeric Greek: Four Case Studies – Part 2: The Indicative and the εἰ Μή-Clauses
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RIS BIB ENDNOTEThe Difference Between the Optative and the “Modal” Indicative in Homeric Greek: Four Case Studies – Part 2: The Indicative and the εἰ Μή-Clauses
Publication date: 29.11.2022
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2022, Volume 139, Issue 4, pp. 301 - 328
https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624SL.22.014.16684Authors
The Difference Between the Optative and the “Modal” Indicative in Homeric Greek: Four Case Studies – Part 2: The Indicative and the εἰ Μή-Clauses
In epic Greek both the optative and the indicative (the so-called “modal indicative”) can be used in contexts where the degree of realization is uncertain or even impossible, while in Attic Greek only the indicative is used. In these two articles I discuss whether there is a difference between the optative and the modal indicative in these contexts and/or if it can be determined which was the original mood. As there are about 1500 optatives and 250 modal indicatives in Homer, it is not possible to discuss them all and, therefore, I focus on the passages in which aorist forms of γιγνώσκω, βάλλωand of ἴδονappear, and those conditional constructions in the Odyssey in which the postposed conditional clause is introduced by εἰμήwith either a “modal” indicative or optative. The corpus comprises 100 forms (80 optatives and 20 indicatives), but in each example I also address the other modal indicatives and optatives in the passages, which adds another 50 forms to the corpus. In this part (part 2) I address the modal indicatives, and discuss the postposed conditional clauses introduced by εἰμήin the Odyssey, both in the indicative and the optative. Subsequently I analyze several instances in which the interpretation depends on the viewpoint of the hearer and the speakers, as what is possible for a speaker might be impossible for the hearer and vice versa. When comparing the data relating to the optative and the indicative, and especially that of the postposed conditional clauses introduced by εἰμή, it can be noted that the indicative has more frequently an exclusively past reference and that it is more often genuinely unreal than the optative, which often combines the notion of the possible, remotely possible and unreal. In my opinion this clearly indicates that the indicative eventually prevailed and replaced the optative because of the past reference.
This research was conducted at the Università degli Studi di Verona as part of the project Particles in Greek and Hittite as Expression of Mood and Modality (PaGHEMMo), which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement Number 101018097.
Information: Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2022, Volume 139, Issue 4, pp. 301 - 328
Article type: Original article
Titles:
The Difference Between the Optative and the “Modal” Indicative in Homeric Greek: Four Case Studies – Part 2: The Indicative and the εἰ Μή-Clauses
The Difference Between the Optative and the “Modal” Indicative in Homeric Greek: Four Case Studies – Part 2: The Indicative and the εἰ Μή-Clauses
Università degli Studi di Verona, Veneto, Italy
The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland
Published at: 29.11.2022
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY
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