[B-Greek] On the general uselessness of the term, "deponent"--LONG post
Perry L. Stepp
plstepp at kcu.edu
Fri Feb 25 09:38:28 EST 2005
(apologies for the length of this rant)
The header overstates my opinion slightly--but only slightly.
I think it's useless to teach students to PARSE deponent verbs as deponents
rather than middle or middle/passive.
I've been teaching my students about verbs and parsing. We've been working
with Mounce's definition of "deponent," found on 150-51 in BBG, 2nd ed.:
". . . a verb that is middle or passive in form but active in meaning. . .
.
You can tell if a verb is deponent by its lexical form. Deponent verbs are
always listed in the vocabulary sections with passive endings. . . . "
And: "When parsing a deponent verb, instead of saying 'active' or 'passive,'
we recommend that you say 'deponent.' "
Then here's the rub: "In a single tense a verb will be either regular or
deponent. It cannot be both. However, a verb can be deponent in one tense
and not deponent in another."
There are all kinds of problems with the way Mounce presents deponency.
One problem is philosophical: this is like the argument for a five-case noun
system versus an eight-case noun system. In the noun system, Mounce treats
case as a phenomenon that depends on the FORM of the word, not the word's
function in the sentence, and thus both ablative and genitive functions are
subsumed under the genitive case.
A second problem is what to do with a word like ARCHW (BBG, 2nd ed., page
208). ARCHOMAI is middle/passive in form but active in translation. Is
ARCHOMAI therefore deponent? No, because the active form ARCHW is in use.
Wouldn't it be better (and more philosophically consistent) to teach
deponency but NOT include it in parsing? Then you would simply PARSE
ARCHOMAI and GINOMAI and OPSOMAI as middle (or middle/passive, depending on
the tense) and then in translating remember / remind the student that the
word, though M or M/P in form, has an active meaning?
Perry L. Stepp, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
Kentucky Christian University
http://campus.kcc.edu/faculty/plstepp
http://theophiluspunk.blogspot.com
"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
--Faulkner
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