[B-Greek] Koine Middle Voice Changed

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Aug 6 07:52:25 EDT 2003


At 3:31 PM -0700 8/5/03, waldo slusher wrote:
>Dr. Conrad:
>
>I've read with keen interest your observations on the
>middle voice. I will need to reread this several times
>for it to sink in. This question occured to me...In
>your studies, have you had the opportunity to
>ascertain the approximate percentages of E-QHN/QHS/QH
>forms (say in the GNT) used as middles over against
>passives? I would be interested in knowing further if
>this percentage mix carries over proportionately to
>the E-SAMHN/SW/SATO forms as well.

An off-list message from another subscriber has made me come back to
Waldo's original message and realize that I failed to respond to his second
question, which is really a very good one.

First let me repeat what I noted in my original reply to Waldo's question:
IF the -QH- aorist and future forms of the so-called "deponents" is added
into the mix, then I would guess that the proportion of "middle" and
"passive" -QH- forms would actually be a pretty good split, although I
think one would have to tally up the figures for each verb with an
authentic active lemma separately: it's usage of particular verbs that adds
up to such proportionate tallies; it's something worth undertaking, but as
Rod Decker has suggested to me an off-list correspondence, it would be a
worthwhile undertaking for doctoral-type research; it would certainly
involve a very great amount of spade-work digging up the data for every
verb and also a considerable bit of careful judgment regarding middle and
passive meanings in particular instances. I think it would be worth
undertaking, and I also think that BDAG offers a considerable aid here
(although obviously one will have to judge BDAG's entries for each verb
with a critical eye also) in sorting out where the passive morphoparadigms
bear "middle" or intransitive meanings (for instance, after stating last
night that I thought the  KATARGHQHS- future forms really meant "will
become obsolete," I checked BDAG and found my view constated by the entry
under KATARGEW 3: "Pass. cease, pass away "). I may be able to do much of
that research myself, if I live long enough, but I have a couple other
projects like my Mark commentary that I need to finish first.

The second question involves a distinction of relative chronology of the
types constituted by "first" aorist middle-passives in -SAMHN/SW/SATO and
"second" aorist middle-passives in -OMHN/OU/ETO. It is pretty much
undisputed that the "second" aorist forms in -OMHN/OU/ETO are older than
the -SAMHN/SW/SATO forms. My guess--and I won't claim that it's more than a
guess--is that first-aorist active forms in -SA/SAS/SE began to multiply in
great numbers about the same time that the -QHN/QHS/QH aorist MPs began to
multiply in great numbers, and that these two morphoparadigms proceeded to
supplant the older aorist actives in -ON/ES/E and the older aorist MPs in
-OMHN/OU/ETO in roughly the same time-frame, with a  somewhat later but
comparable movement toward supplanting of the older future MP in
-SOMAI/SHi/SETAI by the later future MP in -QHSOMAI/Hi/ETAI. I rather think
that, if the data could be assembled for representative Homeric, Attic
fourth-century B.C., and Koine first-century A.D. textual corpora, some
figures might emerge to verify or invalidate this hypothesis.

BUT: IF my supposition of the above paragraph IS right, I would NOT expect
to find many first-aorist forms in -SAMHN/SW/SATO bearing passive meaning;
rather I think that in the development of the language the polarity of
first-aorist actives in -SA and aorist MPs in -QHN is the dominant
development, while the first-aorist middles in -SAMHN/SW/SATO constitute a
relatively short-lived morphoparadigm in the classical Attic period.

I'm sorry to be so tentative and speculative here, but I only realized this
morning the potential significance of this second question in Waldo's
message. And I repeat: if anyone has the stamina for compiling this sort of
data and interpreting it, the tools for compilation are now available in
the TLG CD-ROM and the software programs that can read it.


-- 

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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