Grammar
The first word, μολών molōn, is the aorist active participle (masculine, nominative, singular) of the Greek verb βλώσκω blōskō "to come", meaning "having come". The form λαβέ labe is the aorist active imperative (second person singular) of the verb λαμβάνω lambanō, translated "take ".
The two words function together in a grammatical structure not present in English called the circumstantial participle. Where English would put two main verbs in two independent clauses joined by a conjunction: "come and take", a strategy sometimes called paratactic, ancient Greek, which is far richer in participles, subordinates one to the other, a strategy called hypotactic: "coming, take". The first action is turned into an adjective. In this structure, the participle gives some circumstance (the coming) attendant on the main verb (the taking).
The aorist participle is used to signify completed action, called the perfective aspect. That is, the action of the participle occurs before that of the main verb. Thus the Greek provides a nuance not seen in English translation, making clear that the coming must precede the taking (i.e. "having come, take").
Read more about this topic: Molon Labe
Famous quotes containing the word grammar:
“All the facts of nature are nouns of the intellect, and make the grammar of the eternal language. Every word has a double, treble or centuple use and meaning.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)
“Literary gentlemen, editors, and critics think that they know how to write, because they have studied grammar and rhetoric; but they are egregiously mistaken. The art of composition is as simple as the discharge of a bullet from a rifle, and its masterpieces imply an infinitely greater force behind them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)