[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.
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