Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to show that the knowledge of the history of Greek after the New Testament and the knowledge of its outcome, i.e. Modern Greek, can provide the tools for a better understanding of some of the linguistic problems presented by New Testament Greek. The testing ground for this claim will be aspect and its relationship to Aktionsart and tense. The paper starts with a brief overview of the Modern Greek verbal system in comparison to the Classical Greek verb, continues with a brief discussion of a theoretical approach to tense and aspect and its application to Modern Greek, and proceeds retrospectively, examining the situation in Early, Classical and New Testament Greek in the light of the Modern Greek data .

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