[B-Greek] (no subject)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Oct 30 07:46:28 EST 2005


Forwarded for: "Harold Jenkerson" <jenks at gilanet.com>
Date: October 30, 2005 3:26:26 AM EST
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Acts 2.38 "receive"?


This is my first attempt at using this website.  I am not sure if  
this is the proper approach.

My question concern Acts 2.38.  Why is the Greek word translated as  
"receive" in the
English text not translated as being in the middle voice?  Most  
English versions translate it
as though it was an active or passive voice.

Harold Jenkerson
=============
The text:  PETROS DE PROS AUTOUS: METANOHSATE, [FHSIN] KAI BAPTISQHTW  
hEKASTOS hUMWN EPI TWi ONOMATI IHSOU CRISTOU EIS AFESIN hAMARTIWN  
hUMWN KAI LHMYESQE THN DWREAN TOU hAGIOU PNEUMATOS.

The Greek word in question is LHMYESQE. It's certainly true that this  
is a future middle 2nd singular in the Greek, but it's common to use  
what is standard in the target language whatever best expresses the  
meaning of the original; often an attempt to express explicitly the  
voice-distinction of the verb  in the original language results in  
distorted or unidiomatic expression in the target language.

Some will give you the (useless) answer that LHMYESQE is translated  
"receive" because the verb LAMBANW "receive" is "deponent" in the  
future; that answer, of course, sidesteps or ignores the question WHY  
LAMBANW should have a future in the middle voice by categorizing the  
future form as somehow irregular and inexplicable.

Of course the translator might have converted LHMYESQE into "you will  
get for yourselves the gift of the Holy Spirit." That would be a  
precise equivalent of the middle-voice sense of LHMYESQE. In fact,  
however, many verbs that are "active" in English actually express a  
meaning that would be Middle in Greek. "Get" is one of the most  
useful auxiliaries for Englishing middle and passive forms in Greek,  
and "get" is handy in and  of itself to convey the force of verbs  
like DECOMAI and LAMBANW in  its middle forms, though you'll find  
both these verbs given a standard definition "receive" in a lexicon.  
The basic sense of the root DEC seems to be "receive" while the basic  
sense of the root LAB seems to be "get in hand" or "acqure." But to  
revert to the key point in your question, translation very often  
doesn't endeavor to reproduce the formal construction of the original  
so much as to convey accurately in idiomatic language what the  
translator understands the intended sense of the original-language  
format to be.

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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