Re: Gnomic aorists (was Re: Góquim)

Quoting Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>:

> BTW, I wonder whether the Georgian usage is influenced by Greek.
> After all, the standard of Classical Georgian is set by the Bible
> translation.
Not really.  Greek ceased to be a direct influence on Georgian
more than a millennium ago.

> > > My Elvish lang uses the uninflected verb for that. Given its most
> > > common function, a traditionalist western philologist would
> > > undoubtedly named it "imperfect".
> >
> > I doubt it.  "Imperfect" typically describes on-going actions which
> > in principle have beginnings and ends.  Gnomic aorists refer precisely
> > to circumstances which have no beginning or end.
>
> What speaks against renaming it "aorist"?  Is it also used as the
> tense of narration (a typical functioon of the aorist)?
That only Andreas can answer.

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Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
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