INTRODUCTION

This chapter focuses on an analysis of the conditional in Classical Greek, generally excluding the preceding Homeric period and the following Koine, both of which show differences in the relevant constructions from the intervening Classical period. Of course, many of the properties of the Greek conditional are not unique to that language. However, it does command special interest for two reasons, its complexity and the fact that it has been so intensively investigated. Apart from the specific hypotheses, the central point is that it is incumbent on the linguist to account for the formal similarities among constructions, and to employ in addition to hypotheses stemming from formal logic those arising from semantic similarities based on the typical factors found in semantic change in general.