Abstract
In Philologus 156, 2012, Gerard Boter claimed that in Greek the historical present is not only found with telic, but also with atelic and durative verbs, like κεῖμαι ‘lie’. The latter possibility had been denied by e.g. Schwyzer/Debrunner (“nicht von Zuständen”) and Ruipérez (“des verbes comme εἰμί, κεῖμαι n’apparaissent jamais au présent historique”), and by the author of this paper. Boter’s claim especially concerned Greek tragedy. Using the material discussed by Boter the author argues that for a number of reasons Boter’s view should be rejected.
Acknowledgement
I am indebted to Evert van Emde Boas for his comments and suggestions.
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