[B-Greek] Deponents (as 1 Pe 1:15)

bertdehaan at sympatico.ca bertdehaan at sympatico.ca
Tue Jan 4 20:43:32 EST 2005


   Jim West <jwest at highland.net>  wrote on
   2005/01/03 Mon PM 01:21:08 EST 
 
Eddie insists on insisting that deponent verbs require a middle/passive 
translation.  One example is sufficient to falsify this claim.  The verb 
arneomai is a deponent verb.  Its basic meaning is "refuse, disdain", 
"deny".  It is used in Mt 10:33.  In Matthew Jesus says "whoever denies me, 
I will deny".  yet if Eddie, and others who insist on a middle or passive 
rendering of deponents were to put hand to this verse, they would be 
required, by their own preconceptions, to translate with "whoever denies 
himself, I will deny myself" or "whoever is denied himself, I will deny 
myself" both of which are nonsensical.

Thus, the aforementioned claim is shown to be null and void.

Jim
-------------------

I  hesitated to get into the heat of the discussion but here is my understanding of it for what ever it is worth: 
An MP verb may get an English active translation but that does not mean that  to the Greeks it "felt like" an active verb that by mistake had a middle form.
We translate ERCOMAI active as -I go- but to the Greeks it must have had a middle meaning,-I get myself over there-.
DECOMAI, active-I receive, I take-.  Or middle -I accept for myself, I accept as mine-.
ARNEOMAI in my way understanding can in certain situations be the opposite of DECOMAI. -I do not claim for myself-.  So active, I refuse, I deny.
If this is correct, then the issue is not how we translate it, but what the original meaning was.

Bert de Haan.





More information about the B-Greek mailing list