[B-Greek] Deponent verbs

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Jul 25 06:01:34 EDT 2006


On Jul 25, 2006, at 12:02 AM, Eddie Mishoe wrote:

> Jeffrey:
>
>> I know this has been hashed out many times on this
>> list, but I can't seem to
>> search just right. I've been talking with someone
>> about deponent verbs, and
>> I was trying to find the discussions on B-Greek
>> about whether or not
>> deponents should be referred to as "middle/passive
>> in form but active in
>> meaning."
>
> Change in that last sentence 'active' to 'middle' and
> you will have a better grasp on "deponents." Hence,
>
> "middle/passive in form but MIDDLE in meaning." You
> will not find a deponent verb that is active in
> meaning, except in an English translation. The Greek
> remains middle.

Well, the term itself ("deponent"), as I have come to find
out, is used by some to refer to ACTIVE forms of verbs
that are essentially MIDDLE: for instance, ERCOMAI
is a middle verb, but its aorist HLQON and perfect
ELHLUQA are sometimes referred to as "deponent."
But the term "deponent" is not really very useful for
understanding the idiosyncracies of voice in ancient
Greek verbs.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





More information about the B-Greek mailing list