Expressions of Time in Ancient Greek

About this book

"How did Ancient Greek express that an event occurred at a particular time, for a certain duration, or within a given time frame? The answer to these questions depends on a variety of conditions - the nature of the time noun, the tense and aspect of the verb, the particular historical period of Greek during which the author lived - that existing studies of the language do not take sufficiently into account. This book accordingly examines the circumstances that govern the use of the genitive, dative, and accusative of time, as well as the relevant prepositional constructions, primarily in Greek prose of the fifth century BC through the second century AD, but also in Homer. While the focus is on developments in Greek, translations of the examples, as well as a fully glossed summary chapter, make it accessible to linguists interested in the expression of time generally"-- "As the final task in writing a book on Ancient Greek expressions of time, it seems fitting to take a diachronic look at its genesis. After all - if I may indulge in Vendlerian language - writing it was certainly a (durative) Accomplishment rather than an (instantaneous) Achievement; in any case, I'm very much relieved it didn't remain an (atelic) Activity! Work on it began during 2006-07, my last year as a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, and I remain extremely grateful to the Master and Fellows for providing an environment so conducive to research"--