[B-Greek] Re: 2nd aorsit of ERCHOMAI FOLLOW UP
Stephen C. Carlson
scarlson at mindspring.com
Thu Apr 1 00:28:53 EST 2004
At 08:15 AM 3/31/04 -0800, Eddie Mishoe wrote:
>Are you saying the so called deponent verbs are only
>remain deponent in a given root? And, are you saying,
>if a verb has multiple roots, one root (of verb X) may
>exhibit "deponent" characteristics while other roots
>(of verb X) are not at all deponent?
Forget about deponents--they only confuse the issue.
If a verb has more than root, all bets are off, and
you just have to memorize it. But even for verbs with
only one root, Greek verbs can be active in one tense
but middle in another (BAINW vs. BHSOMAI), as Carl
pointed out already. Deponency is neither a necessary
nor sufficient explanation for what's going on with
ERCOMAI.
Coming from Latin, which does have a real deponent
system, I was naturally very inclined to hold on to
the concept of deponency in Greek. But it hurt more
than helped in Greek. The Greeks didn't have a word
for it, and we probably shouldn't either. Rather,
the more appropriate approach is to understand the
interest or involvement of the subject in the action
when we see a Greek middle. Based on suggestions
made here earlier, and Carl has made them, a rough
guide to understanding Greek middles with an English
gloss is to use some form of the verb "get." Take
ERCOMAI for example. It is as middle in the present
tense as the English idiom "get oneself somewhere."
Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson at mindspring.com
Weblog: http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/hypotyposeis/blogger.html
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words." Shujing 2.35
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