[B-Greek] middle voice or passive voice?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun May 22 13:20:39 EDT 2005


 I haven't time to reply to this in detail or respond at this time (I'm visiting grandchildren in sizzling Tucson), but I must say that I think Malcolm has not represented my views on voice accurately; the situation is more complicated; I do recommend dropping the notion deponent altogether and attempting to understand better what the real meaning of the middle voice is. I think the best current formulation is my shorter work "Active, Middle, and Passive: Understanding Ancient Greek Voice" at http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/current.html

On Saturday, May 21, 2005, at 02:12PM, malcolm robertson <mjriii2003 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Mr. King,
> 
>My use of the term deponent referred to the FORM of the verb and not to its active or middle/passive voice quality.  Mr. Conrad's preference for only two voices boils down to this: 'How passive is the middle reflexive voice?'  This has been a long standing issue of lively discussion for quite some time.
> 
>Cordially in Christ,
> 
>Malcolm
>
>ARTHUR KING <amgking at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>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 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 
>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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>> 
>> 
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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