The Verb 'Be' In Ancient Greek

“It is great news that this book is available again. It deserves to be better known, both for its pioneering methods of linguistic analysis and for the results to which they lead. It transforms our understanding of the all-important Greek verb ‘to be.’”
     —Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, University of Oxford

SKU
26245g

Charles H. Kahn

2003 - 524 pp.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-644-1
$145.00

A reprint, with new introductory essay, of the D. Reidel edition of 1973.

This reissue of Charles Kahn’s classic work includes a substantial new introductory essay, which presents a reformulation of the theory of syntactic and semantic unity for the system of uses of the verb “be” in Greek (conceived primarily as a verb of predication), and hence a defense of the conceptual unity for the notion of Being in Greek philosophy.

The book offers a systematic description of the use and grammar of the verb “to be” in Ancient Greek, before the philosophers took it over to express the central concepts in Greek logic and metaphysics. Evidence is taken primarily from Homer but supplemented by specimens from classical Attic prose. Topics discussed include the original status of the verb in Indo-European, as well as the logical and syntactic relations among copula, existential, and veridical uses.

 

Reviews:

“It is great news that this book is available again. It deserves to be better known, both for its pioneering methods of linguistic analysis and for the results to which they lead. It transforms our understanding of the all-important Greek verb ‘to be.’”
     —Myles Burnyeat, All Souls College, University of Oxford

 

About the Author:

Charles H. Kahn is Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania.