A Grammar of the Greek Language, Part First

in point of fact, the Attic dialect, even including poetic usage, presents only about fifty verbs which have the second perfect and pluperfect; eighty-five, which have the second aorist active; fifty, which have the second aorist and future passive; and forty, which have the second aorist middle? The gleanings of all the other dialects will not double these numbers. Carmichael, who has given us most fully the statistics of the Greek verb, and whose labors deserve all praise, has gathered, from all the dialects, a list of only eighty-eight verbs which have the second perfect, one hundred and forty-five which have the second aorist active, eighty-four which have the second aorist passive, and fifty-eight which have the second aorist middle. And, of his catalogue of nearly eight hundred verbs, embracing the most common verbs of the language, only fifty-five have the third future, and, in the Attic dialect, only twenty-eight.

To some there may appear to be an impiety in attacking the venerable shade of rúrrw · but alas! it is little more than a shade, and, with all my early and long cherished attachment to it, I am forced, after examination, to exclaim, in the language of Electra,

̓Αντὶ φιλτάτης

Μορφῆς, σποδόν τε καὶ σκιὰν ἀνωφελῆ,

and to ask why, in an age characterized by its devotion to truth, a false representation of an irregular verb should be still set forth as the paradigm of regular conjugation, and made the Procrustes' bed, to which all other verbs must be stretched or pruned. The actual future of τύπτω is not τύψω, but τυπτήσω, the perfect passive is both τέτυμμαι and τετύπτημαι, the second aorist ἔτυπον is a rare poetic form, the first and second perfect and pluperfect active are not found in classic Greek, if, indeed, found at all, and the second future active and middle are the mere figments of grammatical fancy. And yet all the regular verbs in the language must be gravely pronounced defective, because they do not conform to this imaginary model.

In the following tables, the example of the learned Kühner has been followed, in selecting Bouλsów as the paradigm of regular conjugation. This verb is strictly regular, it glides smoothly over the tongue, is not liable to be mispronounced, and presents, to the eye, the prefixes, root, and terminations, with entire distinctness throughout. This is followed by shorter paradigms, in part merely synoptical, which exhibit the different classes of verbs, with their varieties of formation. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that, in the table of translation (§ 283), the form of the verb must be adapted to the number and person of the pronoun; thus, I am planning, thou art

planning, &c.; or that, in the translation of the middle voice, the forms of "" plan are to be changed into the corresponding forms of “deliberate”; and, in that of the passive voice, into the corresponding forms of "be planned."

V. To arrange the whole in the most convenient manner for study and reference. The inflection of each word is exhibited upon a single page, or, if this is not possible, except in the case of Bovasów, at a single opening. Words which the student may wish to compare, are presented, as far as possible, at the same opening. Thus a single opening exhibits all the nouns of the first and second declension, another, the declension of the numerals, article, and pronouns, another, the verbs inui, siμí, and siμs, &c. In the quarto edition, a single opening presents all the tables of declension; another, the whole regular conjugation of the verb, including its terminations, paradigm, and translation; a third, all the verbs in дело &c.

With respect to the manner in which these tables should be used, so much depends upon the age and attainments of the student, that no directions could be given which might not require to be greatly modified in particular cases. I would, however, recommend,

1. That the paradigms should not be learned en masse, but gradually, in connexion with the study of the principles and rules of the grammar, and with other exercises.

2. That some of the paradigms should rather be used for reference, than formally committed to memory. It will be seen at once, that some of them have been inserted merely for the sake of exhibiting differences of accent, or individual peculiarities.

3. That in adjectives and words similarly inflected, each gender should be repeated by itself. The association of forms which is fixed in learning the nouns, will not then be broken up in passing to the adjectives. The order in which the genders are repeated, seems to be indifferent. In the tables, the neuter is placed next to the masculine, because it is of the same declension, and has, in part, the same forms.

4. That in the first learning, and common repetition of the paradigms, the dual should be omitted. It is little more than a mere variety of the plural, of comparatively rare occurrence, and, from its regular simplicity of structure, may always be supplied with perfect ease from the tables of terminations, or from general rules. That it may be omitted or repeated at pleasure, it is placed last in the fol lowing tables. If any should object to this arrangement, as inter fering with old associations, let them remember, that the book is de

signed for those whose only grammatical associations connect the plural immediately with the singular. I have no desire to change the habits of those who have already learned the Greek paradigms, but to discover, if possible, the best method for those who are yet to learn them.

5. That, in learning and consulting the paradigms, the student should constantly compare them with each other, with the tables of terminations, and with the rules of the grammar.

6. That the humble volume should not be dismissed from service, till the paradigms are impressed upon the tablets of the memory as legibly as upon the printed page, till they have become so familiar to the student, that whenever he has occasion to repeat them, "the words," in the expressive language of Milton, "like so many nimble and airy servitors, shall trip about him at command, and in wellordered files, as he would wish, fall aptly into their own places."

Hanover, N. H., Aug. 10th, 1841.