[B-Greek] middle voice or passive voice?

ARTHUR KING amgking at sbcglobal.net
Sat May 21 13:28:31 EDT 2005


Fred,
I would recommend to you Moderator Carl Conrad's
papers on voice at
http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
under the heading "Course Materials from Years Past",
in which he argues against the categorization of verbs
as being "deponent".
Arthur King
Clinton, CT

--- malcolm robertson <mjriii2003 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear Fred,
>  
> Remember that a verb has five(six) qualities.  They
> are person, number, tense, mood and voice.  The
> participle (which is a verbal adjective) would have
> case - making the number six.  However, the
> participle does not have "mood," so the number
> reverts back to five.
>  
> The DEPONENT verbs have the same FORM for both the
> middle and passive VOICE in the present and
> imperfect tense of INDICATIVE (MOOD) forms.
>  
> However, some deponent verbs have lost their
> reflexive quality and are simply middle/passive  in
> form but active or passive in voice.  There is not
> an imperfect PARTICIPLE form. Greek uses the PRESENT
> FORM OF THE PARTICIPLE (in context) to convey this
> quality in IMPERFECT past time.  But, this tense
> quality would carry the same significance but in
> imperfect/incomplete past tense.  In Greek  the
> CONTEXT in relation to the TENSE of the MAIN VERB
> would indicate that it was imperfect action in the
> past. 
>  
> The middle voice is basically reflexive of/to the
> subject of the verb.  Remember that the VERB is the
> action word of any sentence. For example  "I am
> blessing myself" or "I bless myself" is an example
> of the middle voice. The action of the verb reverts
> back or reflects back to the subject of the verb.
>  
> In the example that you gave 1 Cor 1:2, the tell
> tale sign for distinguishing the VOICE (quality) of
> this participle - apart from any other
> considerations - is "Which makes sense?"
> Remember that verbs may take a direct object.  In
> the example you have provided, ...SUV PASIV TOIS
> EPIKALOUMEVOUS TO OVOMA, the passive tense would not
> work simply because the action of the verbal aspect
> would not reach the direct object TO OVOMA.  
> Now, whether EPIKALEW (OMAI) is a deponent verb only
> (middle in form but active in meaning) or not is a
> lexical question.  From the form EPIKALEW - in this
> instance - it would seem that it is not merely a
> deponent form.  Consequently, in 1 Cor 1:2 the best
> translation and understanding of this section of the
> verse would be "with all who are themselves calling
> upon the name...."
>  
> There are of course other aspects that could be
> discussed which would entail the use of the
> accusative case here in 1 Cor 1:2 and a possible
> different understanding of EPIKALOUMENOIS which are
> not under consideration here.
>  
> There is a little book by J. Gresham Machen, New
> Testament Greek for Beginners which is the most
> helpful for solidifying the various qualities and
> nuances that the NT Greek offers.  Machen was well
> aquainted with Classical authors as well and is most
> qualified to speak about the Koine dialect from
> which the NT was composed.   By the way the first
> copy that I bought years ago cost me $6.00.  The
> second copy I bought cost me $2.00!  Shop around.
>  
> Cordially in Christ,
>  
> Malcolm Robertson
> 
> Apologeten <post at apologeten.no> wrote:
> Hello greek scholars!
> 
> Maybe it is a silly question, but anyway, here it
> is:
> 
> Recently I read that the greek verbs have identical
> forms in the present and the imperfect tenses in the
> middle voice and in the passive voice. I have also
> read that it is possible to decide whether a verb is
> in the middle voice or in the passive voice in these
> tenses only by context. Now to my question: What in
> the context is it that can tell the difference? What
> markers to look for? Do the scholars make a good
> guess, or do they know for sure?
> 
> My question springs from my study of the word
> "epikaleo" in the NT. The "Blue letter Bible" tells
> me that this word is in the middle voice quite a few
> times. Can I be sure that this information is
> correct? Let me give you 1.Corinthians 1:2 as a
> concrete example to discuss. How is it possible to
> determine that "epikaleo" here is in the middle
> voice and not in the passive voice?
> 
> 
> I have also read that the middle voice more or less
> had gone out of use i NT times. Do you have any
> comments to this?
> 
> Greetings,
> Fred
> (Norway)
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