[B-Greek] (B-Greek) Deponent verbs - classification
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Aug 17 09:10:41 EDT 2004
At 4:00 PM +1000 8/17/04, Don Doherty wrote:
>Dear List-members,
>
>Page 212 of Wenham's The Elements of NT Greek says: "Whether a Deponent
>verb is Middle or Passive is discovered by looking at the forms of the
>Aorist, which are different for the two voices".
>
>On the previous page he lists 3 classifications
>- Deponent Middle verbs,
>- Deponent Passive verbs, and
>- Deponent verbs with some Middle and some Passive forms.
>
>In the Deponent Middle classification he lists ERCOMAI (I come) and its
>compounds. On p.101 he gives the verb's 2nd Aorist as HLQON, and also the
>2nd Aorist stem with 1st Aorist ending as HLQA. But aren't both of these
>Aorists clearly Active in form and sense, not Middle?
>
>If so, how does Wenham manage to classify ERCOMAI as a Middle Deponent?
>Is ERCOMAI really classifiable in these terms?
The whole murky topic of "deponents" has occasioned inordinate confusion in
ancient Greek pedagogy ever since the Latin term "deponent" (questionable
enough in its own right, but more justifiable than its application to the
Greek verbal system) was applied to the description of ancient Greek verbs.
I would not attempt to justify Wenham's (or anyone else's) classification
of deponent verbs; it's best to scrap the notion altogether, learn the
principal parts of all unpredictable (irregular) verbs, and take seriously
the proposition that the middle voice has a distinctive semantic force of
its own. You may find helpful a short paper that I have made available on
my web-site entitled "Active, Middle, and Passive: Understanding Ancient
Greek Voice" at:
http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/Docs/UndAncGrkVc.pdf
This and my fuller discussion of voice, "New Observations on Ancient Greek
Voice," are referenced on my page of "Course Materials from years past" at
http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/current.html
--
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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