[B-Greek] 2Tim 1:15 - "Transitive" Passive with Accusative
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Sep 22 14:39:28 EDT 2003
At 10:20 AM -0700 9/22/03, Dr. Dale M. Wheeler wrote:
>B-Greekers:
>
>In 2Tim 1:15 we have the passive of APOSTREFW followed by the accusative
>ME. Now normally with Passive Verbs + Accusative we call the Accusative
>"Retained" ie., its a passive transform retention. A Passive Transform
>seems highly unlikely in this case: "All have abandoned me" --> "I caused
>everyone to turn away". However, APOSTREFW is one of those verbs which
>have causative meaning in the active and non-causative/direct active
>meaning in the middle/passive forms (whether the passives are just middle
>substitutes is another question...though it may in fact BE the
>question!?). Robertson, Gr 484f., as well as BDAG, seem to indicate that
>we are just supposed to think of the Acc in these cases as simple direct
>objects (I'm at home and have a note on my diagram to this effect, but I
>can't check his exact wording). I'm sort of inclined to agree that these
>are just direct objects because of the nature of this kind of Greek verb
>(there are lots of others which do this as well, ie., go from Act =
>Causative; M/P = Act, Transitive; BTW, these types of verbs, which litter
>the LXX, offer some intriguing info to the discussion of the history and
>development of the voices and so-called deponency...but that's a totally
>different discussion), and the fact that its very likely, in my mind at
>least, that the passives are just middle substitutes.
>
>Any thots anyone??
You know very well, Dale, that I'll offer you a "thot" on this, sooner than
on some other matters, in fact.
Text: 2 Tim 1:15 OIDAS TOUTO, hOTI APESTRAFHSAN ME PANTES hOI EN THi ASIAi,
hWN ESTIN FUGELOS KIA hERMOGENHS.
You rightly note that BDAG (s.v. APOSTREFW) lists the sense 3,
"turn away from by rejecting, reject, repudiate--middle (also 2d aorist
passive in active sense) APOSTREFESQAI TINA or TI (so with accusative since
Aristophanes, Pax 683; Xenophon, Cyropaedia 5.5.36; PSI 392, 11 (III BC)
Considering that we have the following instances beside 2 Tim 1:15 in the GNT:
Mt 5:42 TON QELONTA APO SOU DANISASQAI MH APOSTRAFHiS
Titus 1:14 KAI ENTOLAIS ANQRWPWN APOSTREFOMENWN THN ALHQEIAN
Heb 12:25 MALLON hHMEIS hOI TON AP' OURANWN APOSTREFOMENOI
I would have to say your observation is right on target, that
> . . . I'm sort of inclined to agree that these
>are just direct objects because of the nature of this kind of Greek verb
>(there are lots of others which do this as well, ie., go from Act =
>Causative; M/P = Act, Transitive; BTW, these types of verbs, which litter
>the LXX, offer some intriguing info to the discussion of the history and
>development of the voices and so-called deponency...but that's a totally
>different discussion), and the fact that its very likely, in my mind at
>least, that the passives are just middle substitutes.
This is all grist for my mill. I would note:
(a) that we need to be careful how we use "active" in reference to voice to
distinguish the morphoparadigm with its endings in W/EIS/EI KTL. and focus
upon the subject as "performer" from transitive usage of verbs that are not
in the "active" morphoparadigm but that do take direct objects; there are,
as Dale notes, many of these indeed;
and
(b) the passives (the forms in APOSTRAFH-) are NOT just "middle
substitutes," but rather the -QH/H- morphoparadigm ought to be recognized
as every bit as much middle-passive as the MAI/SAI/TAI,MHN/SO/TO
morphoparadigm. It's pointless to call these verbs "deponents." What we
should rather do is recognize that we have two different morphoparadigms
that are middle-passive, just as we recognize that we have aorists in -SA
as well as aorists in -ON and in -WN and -HN.
Again, my paper on this is accessible as a PDF file at:
http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/Docs/NewObsAncGrkVc.pdf
and I shall at some time in the near future be posting at the same site a
much shorter "Brief Introduction to Ancient Greek Voice," wherein I'll not
attempt to explain the history and rationale for my proposal but simply set
forth in a few pages the forms, definitions and an explanation of the
functioning of the voice morphoparadigms.
--
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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