Herbert Weir Smyth [
n.d.],
A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [
info] [
word count] [
Smyth].
526
FIFTH OR INCEPTIVE CLASS (VERBS IN -σκω) The present stem is formed by adding the suffix -σκόε- to the verb-stem if it ends in a vowel; -ισκόε- if it ends in a consonant. Thus, ἀρέ-σκω please, εὑρ-ίσκω find.
a. This class is called inceptive (or inchoative) because some of the verbs belonging to it have the sense of beginning or becoming (cp. Lat. -sco); as γηράσκω grow old. But very few verbs have this meaning.
b. In θνῄσκω die, μιμνῄσκω remind, -ισκω was later added to verb-stems ending in a vowel. The older forms are θνήσκω, μιμνήσκω.
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c. The verb-stem is often reduplicated in the present; as γι-γνώ-σκω know, βι-βρώ-σκω eat, δι-δρά_-σκω run away. Poetic ἀρ-αρ-ίσκω fit, poetic ἀπ-αφ-ίσκω deceive, have the form of Attic reduplication. μίσγω may stand for μι- (μ) σγω.
Herbert Weir Smyth [
n.d.],
A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [
info] [
word count] [
Smyth].
