I am wondering if this form can possibly be aorist infinitive middle of “ephiste^mi” in a first century or later text. The grammar books say that “histe^mi” does not have a second aorist middle form. Yet Perseus identifies one meaning of both “stasthai” and “epistasthai” as aorist infinitive middle of “ephiste^mi”. Is this a logistics glitch, or a true fact? Thanks in advance for any help.
What grammar book are you using?
ἵστημι has two arorist middle forms.
the indirect medium form is ἐστησάμην
and the direct medium form is ἔστην
“este^same^n” is first aorist middle. “este^n” is second aorist active (intransitive). See Smyth, paragraph 416 (p.138, on top, where the forms of “epriame^n” are supllied in lieu of the missing middle forms of “este^n”).
Hi Arkadi,
It could be present infinitive middle of ἐπίσταμαι.
Can you provide context, i.e., sentence it occurs in?
Cordially,
Paul
Thanks, I know about this possibility, but am exploring another one (if there is any).
The phrase is in a Christian adaptation of Epictetus’ Encheiridion. In the latter (c. 13) it says: “me^den boulou dokein epistasthai”, but the adaptation has just: “me^den boulou epistasthai”. I am wondering if a shift in (or, an addition of a complementary) meaning might have been intended here .
it is a present middle infinitive, surely.
=do not wish to be thought to know anything.
or in the simpler version
=do not wish to know anything
~dave
it is a present middle infinitive, surely–of “epistamai”. My question is whether it migt also be aorist middle infinitive of “ephiste^mi”.
I don’t think so, because the infinitive of ἔστην is σταναι
and the infinitive of ἐστησάμην is στησασθαι .
it’s ep-istmai, but only the present stem has the iota, the aorist stem doesn’t, so this can’t really be an aroist.
I believe that the real prefix is “epi-”, but its iota merges with the iota of the stem when the latter has one.
Perseus seems to answer your question in the affirmative. See http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/morphindex?entry=e)pi/stasqai
Cordially,
Paul
I know, this is precisely why I asked it in the first place :>)
In other words, my question is whether I can trust Perseus in this case, given that it contradicts the textbooks.
Sorry, but I misspoke. The Perseus link shows that both instances of ἐπίστασθαι are present infinitive middle/passive; neither is an aorist.
To get back to your original question, where in Perseus did you find “one meaning of both ‘stasthai’ and ‘epistasthai’ as aorist infinitive middle of ‘ephiste^mi’.”?
Cordially,
Paul
try a different link…
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?entry=e)pistasqai
perseus says that
[size=200]ἐπίστασθαι[/size] is pres. inf. mid.
[size=200]ἐπιστάσθαι[/size] is aor. inf. mid.
(both of [size=150]ἐφίστημι[/size])
Hmm… if you say it’s definitely epi- (because my dictionary says it’s just ep-), but this thread is confusing me… the infinitive of histhmi is stnanai, because it’s a root aorist and otherwise the sigma and alpha are missing.
I’d say that maybe Perseus is wrong, although I can’t check out the links right now as their digital library is being updated.
Here are Perseus links for “stasthai” and “epistasthai”. Both show “aor. inf. mid.” as one of the meanings.