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In:A Layered Approach to Habitual Constructions
Edited by Sune Gregersen and Kees Hengeveld
[Typological Studies in Language 136] 2026
► pp. 145–169

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Chapter 5
Habitual constructions in Ancient Greek

ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University | KU Leuven
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Published online: 6 January 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.136.05lar
Abstract
In this paper, I tease apart the semantic differences between three major habitual constructions in Ancient Greek (8th–4th centuries BCE): (1) a suffixal construction that uses the mislabelled “iterative” suffix with past tenses, (2) a modal past habitual which had developed out of a past counterfactual, and (3) habitual auxiliaries with sources in ‘volition’, ‘love’ and ‘custom’ predicates. Using collocational tests with absolute and relative temporal modifiers and qualificational aspect from a typological questionnaire, I point out the differences between these strategies, as, for example, some express participant-oriented propensity habituality whereas others are polyfunctional, expressing both a single and a series of habitual States-of-Affairs. Also, based on the evidence from my diachronic corpus, I demonstrate that these meanings are diachronically related.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ancient Greek corpus collection and examination
  • 3.Strategies
    • 3.1Overview of strategies
    • 3.2The “iterative” habitual
    • 3.3The modal past habitual construction
    • 3.4Habitual auxiliaries
    • 3.5Cooccurrence of strategies
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (51)
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