The Development Of The Greek Future System : Setting The Record Straight

0. Introduction The Modern Greek future marker [Ta] has long been recognized as deriving from an earlier, Medieval Greek formation based on the main verb ["Telo] ‘want’ used as an auxiliary (so Psicharis 1884, Meillet 1912, among others). The details of this development, however, are far from clear. Complicating the picture is the fact that a vast array of Medieval Greek future formations based on ["Telo] is to be found so that there is some controversy over the exact starting point of as well as the various steps that must be assumed to ultimately yield the form in question. Some clarity, however, is possible here, and a principled explanation for the emergence of can indeed be formed. In what follows, by way of clarifying several controversial aspects of the emergence of , we first give what we believe to be the truth about the diachrony of and related future tense formations based on as an auxiliary, and we then critically evaluate other proposals, identifying the problematic aspects in each one. Our ultimate goal, therefore, is to set the record straight about this important piece of the Modern Greek verbal complex.