[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:15"

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Jan 1 10:24:46 EST 2005


At 6:27 AM -0800 1/1/05, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>Charles:
>
>I am no expert, but something tells me you have
>misunderstood the full definition of Middle Voice.
>Your English gloss is overly simplistic and
>restrictive (for example, what about the Causative
>Middle?) and it does not take into consideration an
>impersonal subject. I note that your only two examples
>use impersonal subjects (table, homestead). But I'm
>excited they are because it makes for a good question
>for the scholars out here. 
>
>Does the Middle Voice function differently when the
>subject is impersonal?

No. Here are a couple of examples:

Mk 2:22 nobody puts new wine into old skins; EI DE MH, hRHXEI hO; OINOS TOUS
ASKOUS KAI hO OINOS APOLLUTAI KAI hOI ASKOI ...
           ------------------
"the wine goes to waste"

Lk 4:3 The slanderer said to him, if you are the Son of God, EIPE TWi LIQWi
TOUTWi hINA GENHTAI ARTOS
       ------------------

" ... tell this stone to turn into a loaf of bread."

>--- Charles Rempel <CharlesR at mygalaxyexpress.com>
>wrote:
>
>> GENHQHHTE
>> 
>> Acts 1:20 "For it is written in the book of Psalms,
>> 'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE
>> MADE DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT'; 'LET
>> ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS
>> OFFICE.'
>> 
>> Genhqh,tw h` e;paulij - Aorist Passive Imperative 3s
>> 
>> The questions reamain:
>> Is the homestead "doing" the acting? Active sense
>> Is an outside force acting upon it? Passive sense
>> Is the homestead acting upon itself? Middle sense
>> 
>> Here we might insert either God as the actor, or
>> Judas as the actor. We
>> could say that God caused the curse on Judas'
>> homestead to be true. Or, we
>> could say that the actions of Judas caused the curse
>> to be true.
>> 
>> It is unlikely that the "homestead" caused itself to
>> be desolate.
>> 
>> Charles D. Rempel
>> 30 year student
>> Without Portfolio

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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