Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

Get access

Auxiliaries
(2,416 words)

Abstract

The prototypical auxiliary in Ancient Greek is eimí ‘to be’, which is involved in certain participial periphrases conveying aspectual value and variously interacting with the synthetic forms within the inflectional paradigm. However, many other verbs are involved in Greek periphrastic constructions, although their status as auxiliaries is still a matter of debate. Recent research on grammaticalization allows u…

Cite this page
Egle Mocciaro, “Auxiliaries”, in: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_COM_00000043>
First published online: 2013



▲   Back to top   ▲