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Genitive: time frame as satellite

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καὶ ἐγὼ τοιαῦτα πεπυσμένος τῆς ἐπιούσης νυκτὸς διέπλευσα Μέγαράδε.

‘When I was made aware of that, I sailed to Megara over the course of the night.’ (Lys. 12.7)

The genitive, usually accompanied by a modifier, signals a time frame as a satellite with a telic verb or adverb.

Lexical usage

Sometimes this involves expressions which are essentially fixed, in which the time frame is not always equally clear: ἡμέρᾱς ‘by day’, νυκτός ‘by night’, μεσημβρίᾱς ‘at midday’, δείλης ‘in the afternoon’, ἑσπέρᾱς ‘in the evening’, θέρους ‘in the summer’, χειμῶνος ‘in the winter’, ἦρος ‘in the spring’, ὀπώρᾱς ‘in the autumn’, τοῦ λοιποῦ ‘in the future’ etc.

Example Sentences: 

οὐ τοίνυν τῆς ἐπιούσης ἡμέρας οἶμαι αὐτὸ [τὸ πλοῖον] ἥξειν ἀλλὰ τῆς ἑτέρας

Well, I do not think the ship will arrive in the course of today, but in the course of tomorrow.

ἄξει αὐτοὺς πέντε ἡμερῶν εἰς χωρίον ὅθεν ὄψονται θάλατταν.

Within five days he will lead them to a place from where they will see the sea. ֍

μέτεισιν, ὦ τέκνον, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου.

[Righteousness] will soon occur, my child. ֍

Ἱστιαῖος μέν νυν ταῦτα διανοεύμενος ἀπέπεμπε τὸν άγγελον, Ἀρισταγόρῃ δὲ συνέπιπτε τοῦ αὐτοῦ χρόνου πάντα ταῦτα συνελθόντα.

With those considerations, therefore, Histaeus sent his messenger, and so it happened that all those things happened to Aristagoras at the same time. ֍