[B-Greek]Deponency (was; 2nd aorsit of ERCHOMAI FOLLOW UP)

bertdehaan at gosympatico.ca bertdehaan at gosympatico.ca
Thu Apr 1 18:33:24 EST 2004


  "Stephen C. Carlson" wrote: 

> 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."


 For the sake of understanding why the term "deponent" is not legitimate for Greek but is for Latin, can someone explain what a deponent verb is in Latin?
(I think that the Dutch verb "deponeren" (which means deposit or put down) comes from the same Latin word where we get 'deponent', so I'm guessing that it involves putting down.)

Thank you.
Bert de Haan.




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