[B-Greek] Present Passive Imperative Prohibition
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Aug 16 05:43:59 EDT 2007
On Aug 16, 2007, at 5:08 AM, wmhboyd at aol.com wrote:
> Ephesians 5:18 says, MH MEQUSKESQE
>
> This is a present passive imperative prohibition, but is it the
> continuous prohibition of an action, or the prohibition of a
> continuous
> action, and if the latter, can we tell if the action is a "process" or
> a "state of being." I can think of three possibilities:
>
> 1. Continue to stop being filled (continuous prohibition),
> 2. Stop continuing in the process of filling yourselves
> (prohibition of
> a continuous process),
> 3. Stop continuing in the state of having been filled (prohibition
> of a
> continuous state of being).
Well, unless by "continuing to stop" you mean "pausing," I don't know
that I'd ever use such a verbal phrase. I'd say this is a matter of
"Aktionsart" (in the sense of kind of action): "stop" is essentially
a perfective action, while "pause" is an imperfective action.
(1) MEQUSKESQE is middle rather than passive: you cannot issue a
command to a person that someone else do something to him; getting
drunk is something that one does to oneself and for oneself (or
against one's better interests).
(2) Prohibition (except in the social/political usage of the word) is
not what's involved here but rather self-restraint: "Don't get
drunk." You may understand the force of the present tense here
aspectually as a matter of (a) initiating a process and continuing it
-- start drinking and keep on keeping on, all the time getting more
and more inebriated --, or (b) repeatedly doing just that -- drinking
oneself again and again into a state of inebriation.
> Willaim (The Barbarian) Boyd
> In high temperature record breaking
> Greensboro, North Carolina
Then are the barbarians really at the gate?
Yes, you guys over in the Piedmont have it far worse than those of us
over here in the mountains -- we're uncomfortably warm but not really
sizzling.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list