Romans 10:20: Are all English translations in error?

Carl Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Nov 29 20:34:42 EST 2002


> Carl W. Conrad wrote:
> 
> > It might even be argued that hEUREQHN in Rom 10:20 should be understood as a
> > middle rather than a
> > passive. BDAG includes under hEURISKW this note: "Pass. hEUREQHN TOIS EME
> > MH ZHTOUSIN I have let myself be found by those who did not seek me Ro
> > 10:20 (Is 65:1)." Certainly there's a close and deliberate parallel between
> > hEUREQHN and EMFANHS EGENOMHN as between the two clauses generally.
> > 
> > So also in Rom 7:10 what is emphasized by hEUREQH is the subject hH ENTOLH
> > hH EIS ZWHN--or at any rate the paradox is underscored by the word order,
> > such that I would English it as, "and what I found out was that ..."
> > -- 
> Thank you for your contribution, Carl. 
> 
> This is the first subject I placed in the Bible Greek Mailing List. I
> enjoy listening to and learning from the different kinds of insights.
> 
> I have read about the verba deponentia (passives that have an active
> meaning), but your contribution raises a new question to me: on basis of
> what principle is it allowed to translate a passive by a middle mode?


The propositions that I first set forth on this list in May of 1997 have
been expanded and more fully documented in a PDF file that I have posted
at

	http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/Docs/NewObsAncGrkVc.pdf

I've argued that (1) the -QH- forms ought not to be understood as
essentially passive at all but as originally intransitive athematic
aorists that came increasingly to replace the -MHN/SO/TO aorists, and that
these endings can bear intransitive, middle, or passive sense, just as can
the -MAI/SAI/TAI forms; (2) that the term "deponent" is not only useless
but misleading, as the meanings associated with these verbs are normally
not at all "active" but intransitive or middle. It is true that this runs
counter to much of what is traditionally taught about Greek voice, but I
have become convinced that it is so. While many -QH- forms certainly do
carry a passive meaning, it is erroneous, I am convinced, to claim that
they regularly and essentially bear passive meaning.
-- 

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/



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