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[*] 2439. The comparative idea in πρίν explains its negative force: an event A happened before another event B, i.e. A occurred when B had not yet (οὔπω) occurred. Because of its negative force πρίν commonly takes the aorist in all the moods. The aorist has an affinity for the negative because it marks simple and total negation of an action regarded in its mere occurrence; whereas the imperfect with a negative denotes resistance or refusal (1896) in respect of an action regarded as continuing. When πρίν takes the present in any mood the actions of the correlated clauses usually overlap. The present occurs chiefly in the prose writers of the fourth century.
American Book Company, 1920.
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