Obscure question about Greek

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alice
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Obscure question about Greek

Post by alice »

According to Salmons 2012, Lockwood 1968 wrote:It is too obviously a word-for-word rendering of the Latin sentence, which for that matter, is an equally servile calque on the Greek.
This is referring to the OHG sentence phigboum habeta sum giflanzotan, "somebody had planted a fig tree", with reference to the present perfect formation with "to have" and the past participle. I'm not aware that Greek ever had such a thing; can anyone provide enlightenment?
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Astraios
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Re: Obscure question about Greek

Post by Astraios »

The Greek has συκῆν εῖχέν τις πεφυτευμένην, so yes, Greek has have + participle, but retains the possessive meaning as in “someone had a figtree [which was] planted [in their garden]”, rather than the present perfect “someone has planted a figtree” (according to here).

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Io
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Re: Obscure question about Greek

Post by Io »

I guess that's how Greek present perfect developed e.g. έχω διαβάσει? And it has influenced Macedonian имам четено vs. Bulgarian чел съм.

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