[B-Greek] Deponent verbs
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Jul 26 07:52:51 EDT 2006
On Jul 26, 2006, at 12:11 AM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:
>
>> But note, Mitch, the future ELEUSOMAI from the same
>> root as HLQON
>> (older HLUQON) and ELHLUQA (older ELHLOUQA).
>> I never would have considered the active forms HLQON
>> and ELHLUQA
>> "deponent" in any sense whatsoever, but I've found
>> that some have
>> referred to them as "deponent" -- perhaps on grounds
>> that any "non-
>> conformity" to expectations with respect to voice
>> forms may be deemed
>> a mark of "deponency." Of course, properly speaking,
>> all "aorist
>> passives" in QHN/QHS/QH are "active" inasmuch as
>> they have an
>> "active" inflection.
>
> Can you explain why these are labeled "active
> inflections" but middle/passive in meaning.
In my view the "active" endings should be understood as the "default"
endings for verbs, while the "middle" endings are "marked" for
subject-focus. The QHN/QHS/QH endings are no different from the
athematic ("third") aorists in -HN/HS/H. These tend to be
intransitive with the sense "come into a state" or "get into a
state." They can be interpreted in a passive sense if there is some
indication or suggestion that entering into the state in question was
occasioned by an external cause or agent. ESTHN is the aorist to
hISTAMAI, whereas ESTHSA is the aorist to the causative form hISTHMI;
so EFANHN is the aorist to FAINOMAI, while EFANA is the aorist to
FAINW, the causative active form of the verb. In the perfect tense
the emergence of a perfect middle-passive form in -MAI/SAI/TAI is
secondary -- primitive verbs have only the active (default) perfect
form: hESTHKA (older hESTAA), GEGONA (older GEGAA), etc.
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/
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