Module 53

Narratology I: Authors, Narrators, Narratees, Materials, Texts, Stories

© 2025 Philip S. Peek, CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0441.23

Module 53 Summary

In this module you will learn narratological principles for interpreting texts.

Narratology

Narratology is the study of stories, their structures, and their perceptions.

Authors and Narrators

It is a principle of narratology that historical authors and their narrators are not the same. Thus, we can speak of (1) a historical author and (2) a historical author’s persona, referred to as the primary narrator-focalizer. Though the historians Herodotos, Thoukydides, and Xenophon may have argued that in their works author and narrator are one, it is convenient, when discussing stories of all types, to maintain the distinction between historical author and primary narrator. For example, Herodotos and Thoukydides are the historical authors of their histories. The narrator of each is referred to as the primary narrator-focalizer. In The Ass the historical author is Lucian and the primary narrator-focalizer is Loukios, the story’s main character.

Types of Narrators

Narrators tell their tales using the first, second, or third person. Narrators exist on a range that runs from omniscient to restricted in what they know or choose to share. Their veracity ranges from reliable to not. They can be external, existing outside the story, or internal, participating in the events. They can be overt, making their presence clear, or covert, disguising it. For example, in The Ass, Lucian has Loukios tell the story of The Ass in the first person. Loukios is not an omniscient narrator and is an internal participant in events. His presence is overt. Narrators offer audiences a representation of events.

Audiences and Narratees

It is a principle of narratology that historical audiences and their narratees are not the same. Narrators tell their tales to a specific audience. The primary narrator addresses a primary narratee. A secondary narrator addresses a secondary narratee, and so on. The narrator crafts her tale to suit her narratee.

For example, the historical author Lucian has his primary narrator-focalizer tell the True Story in the first person, addressing it to narratees who have read Homer, Herodotos, and Thoukydides, and expecting them to catch the many allusions he employs. He calls the True Story a complete lie, suggesting that the works he alludes to suffer from their own falsehoods, and contrasting his work favorably to theirs because he makes no pretension to veracity.

Types of Narratees

Narratees are the recipients of stories and can be in the first, second, or third person. Narratees exist on a range from savvy to naïve. They can be external (existing outside the story) or internal (participating in the events). Narratees can be covert (their presence implied) or overt (their presence known). Narratees influence narrators’ representation of events. Narratees are restricted in what they know, constrained by who narrates, what they themselves know, and by the touchstone of their own inner compasses.

For example, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses the narrator-focalizer Cephalus tells his tale to Phocus, the son of Aeacus, his youngest who is not old enough to engage in warfare. We can imagine that Phocus, an avid hunter himself, listens with interest, accepting what Cephalus tells without the criticism or skepticism an older, more experienced ear could bring.

Levels of Narration and Reception

Narrators and narratees can be simple or complex. A simple narrative has one primary narrator and one primary narratee. A complex one has a primary narrator who hands over narration to at least one secondary narrator with a secondary narratee. A secondary narrator may embed another narrative in her tale, told by a tertiary narrator to a tertiary narratee, and so on.

An extreme example of narrative complexity is the Metamorphoses of Ovid, whose primary narrator tells the story to his primary narratee, a sophisticated Roman from his own day, handing off narration to over forty additional narrators with various narratees. In one instance, the epic’s primary narrator hands over narration to the muses who tell Minerva of the contest between the Pierides and the muses. The Pierides sing a tale of the giants fighting against the Olympian deities. Speaking on behalf of the muses, the muse Calliope sings of how Cupid caused Dis (Pluto) to fall in love with and rape Proserpina and how Ceres, Proserpina’s mother, searched for her. In her wanderings, Ceres encounters the spring Arethusa. Ceres asks her to explain how she changed her form, and Arethusa complies and tells the tale (5.341-661). And so the primary narrator-focalizer (1) hands over narration to the Muses (2), who hand over narration to the muse Calliope (3), who hands over narration to Arethusa (4), who explains how she changed form. In all, narrators tell more than 240 different tales in Ovid’s novel-length epic.1

Materials

The subject matter from which the author creates the text are the materials.

For example, Homer’s materials include inspiration from his muse, poetry from the oral tradition, and whatever items he himself brought to the epics. Herodotos’ materials for his Histories include artifacts, eye-witness accounts (his own and others), interviews, oral sources, primary sources, reports, secondary sources, speeches, and technology. In addition, Hekataios, a contemporary of Herodotos, is believed to be the source for parts of Book 2 on the Egyptians. Herodotos mentions a painting (4.88) and cites an inscription for the battle of Thermopylai (7.228). He references the writers Aiskhylos, Arkhilokhos, Hesiod, Homer, Phrynikhos, Pindar, and Solon and quotes prophecies throughout. Thoukydides’ materials for his history on the Peloponnesian War include artifacts, eye-witness accounts (his own and others), interviews, oral sources, primary sources, speeches (a mix of fact and invention), and technology.

Texts

Texts have one or more of these elements: (1) simple narrator-text, (2) character-text, and (3) complex narrator-text. In (1) the primary narrator tells the story. In (2) a secondary narrator involved in the story takes over narration from the primary narrator, and in (3) there is a combination of (1) and (2). Oftentimes a sign of complex narrator-text is indirect questions or statements. For many examples of each type, see Modules 54 and 55.

Stories

Stories are a spoken or written account of something. Quantum narratives from the scientific world seek to explain interaction at the nano-levels. Quarks and neutrinos are the protagonists. For the biologist Merlin Sheldrake, fungi take center stage, telling their unique stories from their perspective. In the tales of Brian Jacques, animals fight and love. In many narratives, humans are the players. A typical story has a connected series of events, with a beginning, middle, and end, where the beginning offers a complication, the middle elaborates it, and the end offers a resolution, however neat and tidy or messy and ambiguous. For example, in Euripides’ Medeia , the titular main character seeks vengeance against her husband Jason. What form this vengeance will take is uncertain and takes form as the primary focalizer has Medeia contemplate her options and take advantage of circumstances that happen to occur over the course of a single day’s events.

Further Considerations

The primary narrator of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is omniscient and unreliable, telling his grand story in the third person. It may be argued that Ovid, the historical author, has created tension between this fictional primary narrator and his real self. Thus, the epic asks the reader to recognize this tension and see the reliability with which the historical Ovid reveals truths about the human condition, the use and abuse of power, and the cruelty of Rome’s politicians. In this reading, the unreliability of the primary narrator contrasts with the authenticity of the historical author. Likewise, as the quantum world reveals layers of subjectivity to us and the reality of one thing being on two contradictory paths at the same time, so might we consider the roles perception and subjectivity play when we experience or interpret anything. In this case, assuming the unreliability of all narrators or author-personas is attractive, requiring us to evaluate the authenticity of a narrated vision via the touchstone of our own mutable inner compass.2

Ken Liu describes the relationship between author and reader well:

However, there is much more predictability and certainty at one end, when you’re writing for machines and abstract mathematical constructs, versus the other end, when you’re writing for people with individual life experiences, expectations, blind spots and insights, biases and hopes, that all inform each reader’s sui generis mind. In a very real sense, the story that the author leaves on the page is incomplete, for the reader must perform her half of the dance to animate the words with her unique view of life and finish the story. Authors must eventually accept that fiction is about giving up control, and stories only work when there is a bond of resonance between the reader and the writer. The more I write, the more I treasure that bond, which is so hard to find and maintain. It’s a miracle that any stories are understood at all.3

Narratology examines both partners in the dance.

Module 53 Practice Translating

Translate the sentences below from Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis (Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι) lines 354-406. Use your memory to identify endings and their functions. If you forget an ending, consult the Adjective, Αdverb, Noun, and Pronoun Chart or the Verb Chart at the back of the book. If you forget a function, consult the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I. Check your understanding with the answers in the Answer Key, making sure that you understand why each word translates as it does. Now go back and read each sentence two or three times, noticing with each rereading how much better your understanding of the sentence becomes. Make this a habit and you will improve quickly.

Μενέλαος

ὡς ἄνολβον εἶχες ὄμμα σύγχυσίν τʼ, εἰ μὴ νεῶν

χιλίων ἄρχων τὸ Πριάμου πεδίον ἐμπλήσεις δορός.

κἀμὲ παρεκάλεις—Τί δράσω; τίνα δὲ πόρον εὕρω, πόθεν; —

ὥστε μὴ στερέντα σ᾽ ἀρχῆς ἀπολέσαι καλὸν κλέος.

κᾆτ᾽, ἐπεὶ Κάλχας ἐν ἱεροῖς εἶπε σὴν θῦσαι κόρην

Ἀρτέμιδι καὶ πλοῦν ἔσεσθαι Δαναΐδαις, ἡσθεὶς φρένας,

ἄσμενος θύσειν ὑπέστης παῖδα. καὶ πέμπεις ἑκών,

οὐ βίᾳ — μὴ τοῦτο λέξῃς — σῇ δάμαρτι, παῖδα σὴν

δεῦρ᾽ ἀποστέλλειν, Ἀχιλλεῖ πρόφασιν ὡς γαμουμένην.

κᾆθ᾽, ὑποστρέψας λέληψαι μεταβαλὼν ἄλλας γραφάς,

ὡς φονεὺς οὐκέτι θυγατρὸς σῆς ἔσῃ. μάλιστά γε.

οὗτος αὑτός ἐστιν αἰθὴρ ὃς τάδ᾽ ἤκουσεν σέθεν.

μυρίοι δέ τοι πεπόνθασ᾽ αὐτό· πρὸς τὰ πράγματα

ἐκπονοῦσ᾽ ἔχοντες· εἶτα δ᾽ ἐξεχώρησαν κακῶς,

τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ γνώμης πολιτῶν ἀσυνέτου, τὰ δ᾽ ἐνδίκως

ἀδύνατοι γεγῶτες αὐτοὶ διαφυλάξασθαι πόλιν.

Ἑλλάδος μάλιστ᾽ ἔγωγε τῆς ταλαιώρου στένω,

ἥ, θέλουσα δρᾶν τι κεδνόν, βαρβάρους τοὺς οὐδένας

καταγελῶντας ἐξανήσει διὰ σὲ καὶ τὴν σὴν κόρην.

μηδέν᾽ ἀνδρείας ἕκατι προστάτην θείμην χθονός,

μηδ᾽ ὅπλων ἄρχοντα. νοῦν χρὴ τὸν στρατηλάτην ἔχειν.

πόλεος ὡς ἄρχων ἀνὴρ πᾶς, ξύνεσιν ἢν ἔχων τύχῃ.

Χορός

δεινὸν κασιγνήτοισι γίγνεσθαι λόγους

μάχας θ᾽, ὅταν ποτ᾽ ἐμπέσωσιν εἰς ἔριν.

Ἀγαμέμνων

βούλομαί σ᾽ εἰπεῖν κακῶς εὖ, βραχέα, μὴ λίαν ἄνω

βλέφαρα πρὸς τἀναιδὲς ἀγαγών, ἀλλὰ σωφρονεστέρως,

ὡς ἀδελφὸν ὄντ᾽. ἀνὴρ γὰρ χρηστὸς αἰδεῖσθαι φιλεῖ.

εἰπέ μοι, τί δεινὰ φυσᾷς αἱματηρὸν ὄμμ᾽ ἔχων;

τίς ἀδικεῖ σε; τοῦ κέχρησαι; χρηστὰ λέκτρ᾽ ἐρᾷς λαβεῖν;

οὐκ ἔχοιμ᾽ ἄν σοι παρασχεῖν. ὧν γὰρ ἐκτήσω*, κακῶς

ἦρχες. εἶτ᾽ ἐγὼ δίκην δῶ σῶν κακῶν, ὁ μὴ σφαλείς;

οὐ δάκνει σε τὸ φιλότιμον τοὐμόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἀγκάλαις

εὐπρεπῆ γυναῖκα χρῄζεις, τὸ λελογισμένον παρεὶς

καὶ τὸ καλόν, ἔχειν. πονηροῦ φωτὸς ἡδοναὶ κακαί.

εἰ δ᾽ ἐγώ, γνοὺς πρόσθεν οὐκ εὖ, μετετέθην εὐβουλίᾳ,

μαίνομαι; σὺ μᾶλλον, ὅστις ἀπολέσας κακὸν λέχος

ἀναλαβεῖν θέλεις, θεοῦ σοι τὴν τύχην διδόντος εὖ.

ὤμοσαν τὸν Τυνδάρειον ὅρκον οἱ κακόφρονες

φιλόγαμοι μνηστῆρες — ἡ δέ γ᾽ Ἐλπίς, οἶμαι μέν, θεός,

κἀξέπραξεν αὐτὸ μᾶλλον ἢ σὺ καὶ τὸ σὸν σθένος —

οὓς λαβών, στράτευε· ἕτοιμοι δ᾽ εἰσὶ μωρίᾳ φρενῶν.

οὐ γὰρ ἀσύνετον τὸ θεῖον, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχει συνιέναι

τοὺς κακῶς παγέντας ὅρκους καὶ κατηναγκασμένους.

τἀμὰ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀποκτενῶ ‹γὼ τέκνα. κοὐ τὸ σὸν μὲν εὖ

παρὰ δίκην ἔσται κακίστης εὔνιδος τιμωρίᾳ.

ἐμὲ δὲ συντήξουσι νύκτες ἡμέραι τε δακρύοις,

ἄνομα δρῶντα κοὐ δίκαια παῖδας οὓς ἐγεινάμην.

ταῦτά σοι βραχέα λέλεκται καὶ σαφῆ καὶ ῥᾴδια·

εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλῃ φρονεῖν εὖ, τἄμ᾽ ἐγὼ θήσω καλῶς.

Χορός

οἵδ᾽ αὖ διάφοροι τῶν πάρος λελεγμένων

μύθων, καλῶς δ᾽ ἔχουσι, φείδεσθαι τέκνων.

Μενέλαος

αἰαῖ, φίλους ἄρ᾽ οὐχὶ κεκτήμην τάλας.

Ἀγαμέμνων

εἰ τοὺς φίλους γε μὴ θέλεις ἀπολλύναι.

Μενέλαος

δείξεις δὲ ποῦ μοι πατρὸς ἐκ ταὐτοῦ γεγώς;

Note

  1. ὧν γὰρ ἐκτήσω: ὧν = τούτων ἃ

Adverbs, Conjunctions, Interjections, Prepositions, and Verbs

αἰδέομαι be ashamed to do

λέληψαι < λέλημμαι the perfect of λαμβάνω

αἰαῖ (interjection) ah!

λίαν very, exceedingly

ἀναλαμβάνω take back, take up

λογίζομαι reckon, calculate, consider

*ἄνω up, upwards, above

μαίνομαι rage, be furious, be mad

*ἀποκτείνω (aorist: ἀπεκτάνην) kill

μεθίστημι place in another way, to change

*ἀποστέλλω send off

μεταβάλλω throw into a different position, turn quickly

γαμέω marry

ὄμνυμι swear; swear to, swear by; swear that (+ inf.)

γεγώς, -ῶτος = γεγονώς, -ότος < γίγνομαι

παρακᾰλέω call to one, call in, send for, summon

δάκνω bite, worry

παρίημι pass over, let go, relax, yield, allow

δεῦρο (adverb) here, over here

πάρος beforetime, formerly, erst

διαφυλάσσω watch closely, guard carefully

πήγνῡμι (aorist: ἐπάγην) make fast, fix, fasten; make solid, freeze

*δράω do, act

πόθεν from where? whence?

*εἶτα then, next, accordingly, therefore

πρόσθεν before, in front of; before, formerly + gen.

ἕκατι by means of, by virtue of, by the aid of + gen.

στένω moan, sigh, groan; groan for + gen.

ἐκπονέω work out, finish off

στερέω deprive of + gen.

ἐκπράσσω do completely, bring about, achieve

*στρατεύω wage war, launch a campaign; (mid.) march

ἐκχωρέω go out and away, depart, emigrate

συνίημι understand, comprehend

ἐμπίμπλημι fill + gen., fill ‘x’ in acc. with ‘y’ in gen.

συντήκω fuse into one mass, weld together; dissolve, liquefy, melt down; cause to waste or pine away

ἐμπίπτω fall into, fall on

*σφάλλω make to fall, throw down, overthrow

ἐνδίκως justly, rightly

σωφρόνως moderately, prudently, wisely

ἐξανίημι send forth, let loose

ὑποστρέφω turn round about, turn back

ἐράω be in love with, desire (+ gen.)

ὑφίστημι place under; promise

*θύω sacrifice

φείδομαι spare + gen.

κᾆτ’ = καὶ εἶτα

*φιλέω love, cherish, kiss

καταγελάω laugh at, jeer

*φρονέω think, be prudent

καταναγκάζω overpower by force, coerce, confine

φυσάω puff, blow; cheat

κέχρημαι desire, yearn after + gen.

φώς, φωτός ὁ a man

*κτάομαι acquire, get; (perfect) have, hold

χρῄζω need, want, lack, have need of

Adjectives and Nouns and Pronouns

ἀγκάλη, -ης ἡ the bent arm

λέκτρον, -ου τό a couch, bed; marriage-bed, marriage

*ἀδύνατος, ἀδύνατον impossible, weak, unable

λέχος, -εος (-ους) τό a couch, bed; marriage-bed; marriage

αἰθήρ, -έρος ἡ ether, air, sky

μνηστήρ, ῆρος ὁ a wooer, suitor

αἱματηρός, -ά, -όν bloody, bloodstained, murderous

μυρίος, -α, -ον numberless, countless, infinite; ten-thousand

ἀναιδής, -ές shameless

μωρία, -ας ἡ silliness, folly

ἀνδρείᾱ, -ᾱς ἡ manliness, manhood, manly spirit

*νόος (νοῦς), νόου (νοῦ) ὁ mind, reason

ἄνολβος, -ον unblessed, wretched, luckless

*νύξ, νυκτός ἡ night

ἄνομος, -ον lawless, impious

ξύνεσις, -ιος (-ηος, -εως) ἡ comprehension, understanding; uniting, union

Ἄρτεμις, -ιδος ἡ Artemis

ὄμμα, ὄμματος τό eye

ἄσμενος, -η, -ον well-pleased, glad

*ὅπλον, -ου τό tool; (pl.) weapons

ἀσύνετος, -ον void of understanding, stupid, witless

ὅρκος, -ου ὁ oath

Ἀχιλλεύς, -ῆος (-έως) ὁ Akhilles

*πεδίον, -ου τό plain

*βάρβαρος, -ου ὁ barbarian, foreigner, non-Greek speaker

πλόος (πλοῦς), -ου (πλοῦ) ὁ voyage

βλέφαρον, -ου τό eyelid; (pl.) eyes

*πολίτης (πολιήτης), πολίτου ὁ citizen, freeman

βρᾰχύς, βρᾰχεῖα, βρᾰχύ short, small

*πονηρός, πονηρά, πονηρόν worthless, evil, base

*γνώμη, -ης ἡ judgment, thought, opinion, purpose

πόρος, -ου ὁ means of passing, pathway, way; ford, ferry; narrow part of the sea, strait; (pl.) resources, revenue

γρᾰφή, -ῆς ἡ that which is drawn or written; indictment

Πρίαμος, -ου ὁ Priam, king of Troy

δάκρυ, ------ τό tear; gum, sap

προστάτης, -ου ὁ one who stands before, a front-rank-man, leader, chief

δάμαρ, δάμαρτος ἡ wife, spouse

πρόφασις, -ιος (-ηος, -εως) ἡ that which is alleged as the cause, an allegation, plea

Δαναΐδης, -ου ὁ son of Danaus, Danaid, Greek

*ῥᾴδιος, ῥᾳδίᾱ, ῥᾴδιον easy

διάφορος, -ον different, unlike

*σαφής, -ές clear, distinct

δόρυ, δόρατος (δουρός), δόρατι (δουρί, δορί) τό tree, plank, spear

σέθεν = σοῦ

ἑκών, ἑκοῦσα, ἑκόν willing, willingly, readily

σθένος, -εος (-ους) τό strength, might

*Ἑλλάς, Ἑλλάδος ἡ Greece, Hellas

στρατηλάτης, -ου ὁ a leader of an army, a general, commander

*ἐλπίς, -ίδος ἡ hope, expectation

σύγχῠσις, -ιος (-ηος, -εως) ἡ mixture, confusion, confounding

ἔρις, -ιδος ἡ strife, quarrel, rivalry

ταλαίπωρος, -ον suffering, miserable

ἑτοῖμος, -η, -ον ready + inf.

τάλας, τάλαινα, τάλαν wretched, unhappy

εὐβουλία, -ας ἡ good counsel, prudence

*τέκνον, τέκνου τό child

εὖνις, -ιδος ὁ, ἡ a bedfellow, wife

τιμωρία, -ας ἡ revenge, vengeance

εὐπρεπής, -ές seemly, proper, becoming

Τυνδάρειος, -α, -ον of Tyndareos

*ἡδονή, ἡδονῆς ἡ pleasure

*τύχη, τύχης ἡ fortune, luck; fate, necessity

*θυγάτηρ, θυγατέρος or θυγατρός ἡ daughter

φιλόγαμος, -ον longing for marriage

κάκιστος, -η, -ον most wicked

φιλότιμος, -ον loving honor, covetous of honor, ambitious, emulous

κακόφρων, -ονος, κακόφρον, -ονος ill-minded, malicious, malignant

φονεύς, -ῆος (-έως) ὁ murderer, killer

Κάλχας, -αντος ὁ Kalkhas

φρήν, φρενός ἡ the midriff; heart, mind

κασίγνητος, η, ον brotherly, sisterly; (n.) brother, sister

χθών, -ονός ἡ the earth, ground

κεδνός, -ή, -όν careful, diligent, sage, trusty, noble

χίλιοι, -αι, -α a thousand

κλέος, ------, (pl. κλέα) τό a rumor, report; fame, glory

χρηστός, -ή, -όν useful, serviceable; good, honest, worthy

κόρη, -ης ἡ maiden, girl

Module 53 Practice Parsing Greek Sentences

Parse each word of the below sentence.

Identify the part of speech of all words. For interjections, identify them. For nouns, give case and function. For verbs, give person, number, tense, mood, and voice. For adverbs, identify them and state what they modify. For conjunctions, identify them, noting whether they are coordinating or subordinating. For prepositional phrases, give the preposition and the preposition’s object. For adjectives, identify the case and state what noun or pronoun they agree with in gender, number, and case. If the adjective is used as a noun, give case and function. If the adjective is a participle, identify it as an adjective and state what it modifies. When parsing, remember to use the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I.

τἀμὰ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀποκτενῶ ‘γὼ τέκνα. κοὐ τὸ σὸν μὲν εὖ
παρὰ δίκην ἔσται κακίστης εὔνιδος τιμωρίᾳ.
ἐμὲ δὲ συντήξουσι νύκτες ἡμέραι τε δακρύοις,
ἄνομα δρῶντα κοὐ δίκαια παῖδας οὓς ἐγεινάμην.
ταῦτά σοι βραχέα λέλεκται καὶ σαφῆ καὶ ῥᾴδια:
εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλῃ φρονεῖν εὖ, τἄμ᾽ ἐγὼ θήσω καλῶς.

Check your answers with those in the Answer Key.

Module 53 Practice Identifying Clitics and Full Words

Translate this sentence so that you understand it well. Read the sentence out loud, trying your best not to translate into English. Pick out the clitics and the full words, and then check your answers with those in the Answer Key.

τἀμὰ δ᾽ οὐκ ἀποκτενῶ ‘γὼ τέκνα. κοὐ τὸ σὸν μὲν εὖ
παρὰ δίκην ἔσται κακίστης εὔνιδος τιμωρίᾳ.
ἐμὲ δὲ συντήξουσι νύκτες ἡμέραι τε δακρύοις,
ἄνομα δρῶντα κοὐ δίκαια παῖδας οὓς ἐγεινάμην.
ταῦτά σοι βραχέα λέλεκται καὶ σαφῆ καὶ ῥᾴδια:
εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλῃ φρονεῖν εὖ, τἄμ᾽ ἐγὼ θήσω καλῶς.

Module 53 Top 251–550 Vocabulary to be Memorized

Verbs

αἰσθάνομαι, αἰσθήσομαι, ᾐσθόμην, -------, ᾐσθημαι, ------ perceive, apprehend + gen. or acc.

ἀποδείκνυμι display, make known; appoint, proclaim, create

διώκω, διώξω, ἐδίωξα, δεδίωχα, δεδίωγμαι, ἐδιώχθην pursue, chase, drive; sue, prosecute

ἐπιχειρέω put one’s hand to, attempt + dat. or + inf.

κωλύω, κωλύσω, ἐκώλῡσα, κεκώλῡκα, κεκώλῡμαι, ἐκωλύθην hinder, prevent; prevent ‘x’ in acc. from ‘y’ in the gen.

λαλέω, λαλήσω, ἐλάλησα, λελάληκα, λελάλημαι, ἐλαλήθην talk, chat, prattle, babble

ὁρμάω, ὁρμήσω, ὥρμησα, ὥρμηκα, ὥρμημαι, ὡρμήθην set in motion, urge on; (intrans. act. or mid.) go, rush; be eager, hasten + inf.

φρονέω, φρονήσω, ἐφρόνησα, πεφρόνηκα , ------, ------ think, be prudent

Nouns

κεφαλή, κεφαλῆς ἡ head

φιλίᾱ, φιλίᾱς ἡ affectionate regard, friendship

Module 53 Reading Morphologically by James Patterson

The Infinitive

The Progressive Active Infinitive

Greek has two default infinitive markers used for the active: /εν and /αι. The progressive active infinitive uses the theme vowel ε and /εν, which regularly contracts to -ειν:

θαυμάτ/J/ε/εν > θαυμάζειν

to be amazed

λέγ/ø/ε/εν > λέγειν

to say

τέμ/ν/ε/εν > τέμνειν

to cut

Bases that end in -α/ and -ο/ contract the first two vowels first. As a result, the distinctive ι of the suffix /ειν is not present:

δηλό/ε/εν > δηλόεεν > δηλοῦεν > δηλοῦν

to show

τιμά/ε/εν > τιμάεεν > τιμᾶεν > τιμᾶν

to honor

The Asigmatic Aorist Active Infinitive

The asigmatic aorist active infinitive also uses theme vowel ε and infinitive marker /εν. The accent falls on the theme vowel, so after contraction the ending is -εῖν:

ἀπο/θαν/έ/εν > ἀποθανεῖν

to die

λαβ/έ/εν > λαβεῖν

to take

The Sigmatic Aorist Active Infinitive

The sigmatic aorist active infinitive uses the marker /αι. The last syllable of the stem takes the accent:

λέγ/σ/αι > λέξαι

to say

θαυμάτ/σ/αι > θαυμάσαι

to be amazed

The Athematic Active Infinitive, Progressive and Aorist

Some bases are athematic in the progressive and/or aorist. For whatever reason, they combine the two infinitive markers /εν and /αι to create /εναι. To complicate matters, the progressive uses the zero-grade of /εν, giving us the infinitive marker /ναι. The appearance or absence of a progressive aspect marker will distinguish the two aspects. Furthermore, the athematic aorist infinitive often shows vowel contraction:

Progressive Active

Aorist Active

δίδωμι

δι/δό/ναι > διδόναι

δο/έναι > δοῦναι

ἵημι

Jι/Jέ/ναι > ἱέναι

Jε/έναι > εἷναι

τίθημι

θι/θέ/ναι > τίθεναι

θε/έναι > θεῖναι

εἰμί

ἔσ/ναι > ἔ_ναι > εἶναι

------

The Middle Infinitive

The middle infinitive marker, regardless of aspect, is /σθαι.

The progressive middle (and therefore also passive) infinitive is formed with the progressive stem + theme vowel ε + /σθαι:

λέγ/ø/ε/σθαι > λέγεσθαι

to call oneself, be called

θαυμάτ/J/ε/σθαι > θαυμάζεσθαι

to marvel at oneself

The asigmatic aorist middle infinitive is formed with the base + theme vowel έ + /σθαι.

γεν/έ/σθαι > γενέσθαι

to become

The sigmatic aorist middle is formed with the base + theme vowel α + /σθαι.

ποιή/σ/α/σθαι > ποιήσασθαι

to make for oneself

The Aorist Passive Infinitive

To form the aorist passive infinitive, to the base add the aorist passive marker /θη/ (or /η/) and the athematic infinitive marker /ναι:

ποιε/θή/ναι > ποιηθῆναι

to have been made

  1. 1 See Philip S. Peek, “Black Humour in Ovid’s Metamorphoses” p. 146.

  2. 2 Credit Ken Liu for this last observation.

  3. 3 https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/an-interview-with-ken-liu/

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