deponency

Donald W Price (gman39@juno.com)
Fri, 17 Jan 1997 21:15:46 PST

In re to Henry's problem in distinguishing between the middle and the
passive, Winbery writes: "Both BAGD and LSJ give this verb as deponent.
In the present tense there is no way to distinguish middle or passive."

This brings up another issue! I know that grammars tell us that a
"deponent verbs" are those that have middle/passive endings, but are
active in meaning. Right? However, the more I study this issue, I
find myself coming to the conclusion that these "deponent" verbs never
really lost that middle idea at all. I'm referring to the "for oneself"
idea. How about some help on this matter?

Thanks

Wayne Price