The Use of the Infinitive and Participle in the Consecutive Clauses of the Greek Documentary Papyri of the Imperial and Early Arabic Period

Abstract

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to examine the way of syntax of the consecutive clauses with infinitive and participle in Greek non-literary papyri of the Imperial and the early Arabic Period. The article presents the frequency with which the two verb forms appear in the papyrus documents from 31 B.C. up to the 8th c. A.D. and highlights the frequent use of the infinitive structure as opposed to the use of the participle structure, which occurs much more rarely. At the same time, stereotypical expressions are presented, which are expressed with consecutive clauses and appear mainly in legal documents. The examples were taken from a body of approximately 55,000 non-literary papyrus texts and 15,000 ostraca from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri (DDdDP) online database, checked against their printed publications to avoid possible mistakes.

Keywords

• documentary papyri
• consecutive clauses
• infinitive
• participle
• ancient Greek language
• linguistics