Unexpected imperfect

Greek Learning Greek
1

Here’s a sentence from a lesson in White’s First Greek Book:

τοὺς προδιαβεβῶτας λαβὼν ᾤχετο.

He went off, taking those who had crossed before.

I discovered this is adapted from Xenophon’s Hellenica 7.2.3 http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&query=Xen.%20Hell.%207.2&getid=0

What troubles me is that imperfect, ᾤχετο. I have been regarding the difference between imperfect and aorist as one of aspect, which I have a feel for because of my Russian. But this is just not a place for anything but the aspect of completed action, viewed as a whole. No attention to the process or unfolding of the going.

Aspect is about how an action is viewed, but in contexts like this I can’t see any choice. I don’t expect Greek to be like Russian in details, and I have read that there are times when use of imperfect or aorist is “indifferent.” But I would like to hear the comments of you experienced people on this usage.

2

οἴχεται works like “he is out of there” in English. Or in the past ᾤχετο, “he was out of there.”

3

Thanks. I think I see.

οἴχομαι is lexically perfective, that’s why it doesn’t form an aorist. Present and imperfect work as perfective aspect, present and past.

For now, I rest content.

4

Well that’s an interesting statement. This is a primary tense. There are exceptions, (though I’m not sure if I agree with all of the exceptions presented in the LSJ, some of which, like Α380, be saved by a slight viewpoint switch), but οἴχεται is generally used in a perfect sense. You couldn’t say “I’m absent and now I’ve returned”, nor could you normally say “οἴχομαι καὶ νῦν πάρειμι.” So I wouldn’t call it “lexically perfective.”

5

Joel,

Maybe I express my idea poorly, but what I am thinking is that present and imperfect are for action viewed as a film clip, in process. Aorist (perfective aspect), on the other hand, is like a snapshot. The action is accomplished, we are not looking at it as process.

This verb, however, uses present tense to speak about an accomplished action–this is what I understood from your reply.

Can you tell me what A380 means? I don’t know this way of citing LSJ.

Thanks!

6

Α380 is Iliad Book Α line 380.

ἀλλὰ κακῶς ἀφίει, κρατερὸν δ᾽ ἐπὶ μῦθον ἔτελλε:
χωόμενος δ᾽ ὁ γέρων πάλιν ᾤχετο: τοῖο δ᾽ Ἀπόλλων
εὐξαμένου ἤκουσεν, ἐπεὶ μάλα οἱ φίλος ἦεν,

However, Achilles is speaking here, and from his viewpoint, and if we think of ᾤχετο as following the viewpoint of the priest, then it’s exactly as the LSJ “went off.” But if the viewpoint stays with Achilles in the camp, then it’s “had gone.” It’s rather different than the earlier version of this story in Α, which I would think really did follow the priest’s viewpoint.

But in English, is “being absent” or “being dead” an accomplished action? They both imply one, but don’t quite function in every way like “left” or “died”.