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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Question for Rolf on the JW outlook on the Hebrew
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:02:15 -0500

Dear Rolf,

When I ask the question: "Is past tense an uncancelable part of the WAYYIQTOL form?," I seek a scrupulous distinction between semantics and pragmatics when I answer the question, and I use "scrupulous" as defined by Websters.

HH: What you are seeking for seems unrealistic. An essential idea of the Greek aorist is that it is a preterite; it expresses past meaning. But that is not always the case. Sometimes the aorist can be used in contexts which indicate a present meaning. And it can be used in contexts which imply a future meaning. I was just reading about it:

http://books.google.com/books?id=BExv_MTYrZkC&dq=uses+of+aorist+Greek&pg=PA22&ots=gXedHFoi0S&sig=Xpoo7X4iOYetqTTFLw0tPx4R2u0&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Duses%2Bof%2Baorist%2BGreek%26btnG%3DGoogle%2BSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2#PPA16-IA4,M1


Language is not as rigid as you seem to propose.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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