[B-Greek] middle voice

Doug Hoxworth dhoxworth at charter.net
Mon Sep 15 10:49:04 EDT 2003


><Mitch>
>In my other first year Greek Grammar book, it seems to say something slightly different than what this Grammar book says about the Middle Voice. I was under the strong impression that the middle voice IS used to show action performed 'TO oneself' by oneself.

<doug>
from what i understand there is consideralbe debate on the 
exact "meaning" of the middle voice among scholars. i, for 
one, appreciate mounce's approach. if you can read his (or 
wallace) treatment on the middle voice it might be of some 
help. the grammars list the translation (gloss) as for 
example "I loose myself", etc. for simplicity or to 
differentiate it from the active and passive (or perhaps 
because this is the "traditional" way to represent it) but 
from what i understand the middle is much more dynamic 
than this. in other words, there is not just one way to 
understand it.

the gist of mounce's approach is that the middle voice in 
koine is sometimes no different than the active voice (by 
this period it has weakened its force). the middle voice 
in and of itself is not reflexive or action 'TO oneself' 
by oneself. this is something that is either supplied by 
the meaning/usage of the word and/or the context not by 
the fact that the verb is middle voice. in other words, a 
translation would be 'TO oneself' by oneself not just 
because the verb is middle voice but would depend in large 
part on the word used and the context.



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