AORISTS HAVE NO PR-INDICATIVE!

III. [-α/ε/--]. This is a very awkward category, because many of the forms are hardly recognizable as aorists. It is made up of three different kinds:

a) What seems to be an ao II. with the –σ- simply dropped out.

There are very few of these, none very important, most Epic :

This kind of ao is treated in the list of verb stems.

b) Originally ao II. of verbs with stem ending in a liquida (λ, μ, ν or ρ), with lost –σ-: what happens is best described thus: as the –σ- disappears, the vowel in the preceding syllable is lengthened, e.g. of the verb ἀγγέλλω (stem ἀγγελ-) the ao II.(A pa-ind 1^st sg) would be *ἤγγελσα; the –σ- is eased out and the –ε- is lengthened into –ει-: ἤγγειλα. The lengthenings assume the folowing forms:

α > ᾱ > (in Ionic and Attic) η;  in Attic, [if a vowel or –ρ- precedes the α, ᾱ does not > η].

ε > ει

ι > ῑ (not visible in the spelling)

υ > ῡ (not visible in the spelling)

[ο, η & ω do not occur].

Especially the forms from which the ao-α disappears (A& Md subj, A imp 2^nd sg, Md pa-ind 2^nd sg) are hard to recognize as ao-forms.

This sort, being canonic, is not separately included in the list of verb stems.

c) A kind of cross of ao 1. and ao II. These two being the most popular aorists, some sort of contamination was inevitable. The thematic vowel of the ao 1. is changed into an –α-, resulting in such forms as εἴπατε (εἰπέτε), ἦλθαν (ἦλθον), εἱλάμην (εἱλόμην). Homer already had some forms of this kind, but in later non-Attic Greek more and more of them occur. [In modern Greek this has become the regular form of past tense]. The forms are found mainly in the most frequent of the thematic aorists. I have mentioned rthem all in the list of verb stems. Especially readers of the Gospels will often encounter them.