Abstract

The origin of the pluperfect is the biggest remaining hole in our understanding of the Ancient Greek verbal system. This paper provides a novel unitary account of all four morphological types - alphathematic, athematic, thematic, and the anomalous Homeric form 3sg. ᾔδη (ēídē) 'knew' beginning with a 'Jasanoff-type' reconstruction in Proto-Indo-European, an 'imperfect of the perfect.'.