Error in a verb form in Athenaze (Italian version)?

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tico
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Error in a verb form in Athenaze (Italian version)?

Post by tico »

Hi there,

I think there’s an error in a verb form in Athenaze (Italian version), chapter 13, line 127 (page 328): Ἡμεῖς δέ, ὥσπερ… καταλείπειν λόγον, οὐκ ἐφοβηθήσαμεν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πολεμίων…

The form ἐφοβηθήσαμεν belongs to the verb φοβέω, more specifically to the middle for φοβέομαι, to fear. The middle aorist, which is not really used, would be ἐφοβησάμεθα. But φοβέομαι has a passive aorist: ἐφοβήθην, and the 1st plural would be ἐφοβήθημεν. So, I think we should have here ἐφοβήθημεν, instead of ἐφοβηθήσαμεν. The form ἐφοβηθήσαμεν doesn’t exist, it mixes passive elements (-θη + active desinences) with the suffix -σα, which is used in active and middle aorists, but never in passive aorist. They could have wrongly taken the -σα from the 3rd plural ἐφοβήθησαν, but here there’s no suffix -σα, it’s an athematic 3rd plural desinence -σαν, used also in forms like ἦσαν (imperfect of εἰμί).
What are your thoughts on this form ἐφοβηθήσαμεν. Isn’t it wrong? Shouldn’t we have ἐφοβήθημεν instead?

Thanks,
Tico

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Constantinus Philo
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Re: Error in a verb form in Athenaze (Italian version)?

Post by Constantinus Philo »

I think you are right
Semper Fidelis

markcmueller
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Re: Error in a verb form in Athenaze (Italian version)?

Post by markcmueller »

The error is corrected in the 2017 printing.

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