Excerpt from The Expression of Customary Action or State in Early Latin: A Study in Tense Functions

In an article on the Imperfect Indicative in Plautus and Terence, Wheeler shows progressive and aoristic uses of the imperfect, and from the progressive use, customary past action, frequentative, occasional, conative and inceptive uses are developed. Further, the customary past idea is largely dependent upon the contrast in time and the meaning of the verb.

With the exception of the last-mentioned article, these views are not based ou any complete collection in a given period. They are, therefore, almost entirely theoretical. All agree that the imperfect is commonly employed to express customary past action. Some scholars regard this as a function innate in the tense; others, as developed from the one usage, that of describing an action not yet complete. Many scholars, however, attribute to the imperfect an aoristic use parallel with the perfect.

As the views in the grammars are either contradictory or indefinite, it has been the purpose of the present writer to make a complete study of the expression of customary action in the earliest stage of its development. The problem, then, is to investigate this function of the imperfect more carefully, endeavoring to define it, and, if possible, discover its origin and trace its development. The idea of custom, habit, etc., may be expressed in various ways, and these expressions have been collected in order to ascertain what light is thrown by them upon this function of the tense. In the case of the imperfect, especial attention has been given to the context, in order to find out whether the tense alone expresses cus tomary action in the past, or whether it requires definition. This should throw some light on the tense itself, at least in its early usage.

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