hHUREQHN (was RE: Romans 10:20)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Dec 3 13:33:36 EST 2002
At 9:21 PM +0300 12/3/02, Iver Larsen wrote:
>>
>> This "passive" verb seems to be giving a lot of trouble. I've already
>> suggested that it might better be viewed as a middle with a sense
>> something like German SICH BEFINDEN. I think actually that it functions in
>> the expressions being discussed in a manner very similar to WFQH + dative
>> or EGENETO/EGENHQH + dative in the sense "appear" or "be open to view" or
>> even simply "exist."
>
>Whereas I agree that the passive of hEURISKW is often similar in sense to
>"appear" or "be seen", I doubt that it is similar to or could be translated
>into German by "sich befinden". With a verb like this, I would expect the
>middle to be very similar in sense to the active rather than the passive,
>that is, the middle might mean "to find and acquire". The Friberg tags has
>only one instance marked middle. Several versions translate it as "secure",
>others as "obtain".
Accordance too lists only one instance of hEURISKW in the middle with a
special sense, but I hardly think that is statistically significant
evidence that hHUREQHN is really "passive" in sense. Consider the variety
of voice-senses of EGEIRW/EGEIROMAI/HGERQHN--not very clearly linked to
morphoparadigms.
It is in Heb 9:12. BAGD says that the sense of the
>middle is "find (for oneself), obtain" and is used in Attic. By the way,
>does the book of Hebrews show other examples of Attic Greek? Is it more
>classical than the rest of the NT?
I do think that Hebrews shows more elevated style and yes, probably more
traditional Greek than what we're used to of Koine elsewhere in the GNT.
The distinctive usage of hHUREQHN in the GNT appears to be fundamentally
intransitive (note what BDAG said of its probable derivation from Hebrew
usage) and is, in my now-preferred terminology, "subject-focused."
>Maybe the similarity to "appear" is the main reason why the experiencer in
>the passive form of the verb is indicated by a dative or possibly EN rather
>than hUPO?
I think that the use of the dative with such verbs as WFQH and hHREQH may
primarily relate to these verbs being conceived as INTRANSITIVE--i.e. they
are like "active" verbs that take a dative instead of an accusative.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list