[B-Greek] HGERQH in John 11:29

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Apr 2 20:43:57 EST 2003


At 6:54 PM -0500 4/2/03, <bertdehaan at gosympatico.ca> wrote:
>Hi, Everyone
> Can someone  tell me why HGERGH in John 11:29 in passive?
>Middle or active I would have been able to understand (She got herself up,
>or, she got up). Here is the text: EKEINH DE hWS HKOUSEN HGERQH TACU KAI
>HRCETO PROS AUTON.

It's NOT passive; as I have been arguing for some time now, the -QH- forms
may bear either middle or passive sense, just as can the
MAI/SAI/TAI;MHN/SO/TO forms. The active EGEIRW means "wake (somebody) up"
or "roust up"; the middle EGEIROMAI means "wake up" (intransitive sense) or
"rise up," HGERQH most commonly is simply the aorist for EGEIROMAI. There
are occasions, particularly those wherein an agent construction with hUPO +
genitive is used with HGERQH, where one will want to translate it as a
passive, "was raised"--but without that there's not any essential
difference in meaning between ANESTH and HGERQH. In the above text in Jn
11:29 ANESTH could be substituted for HGERQH with no change in meaning
whatsoever.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/


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