[B-Greek] Middle voice and passive construction
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Feb 9 05:37:38 EST 2007
On Feb 9, 2007, at 1:21 AM, David E. Kiefer, Registrar wrote:
> You're quite right that Greek textbooks tend to oversimplify the
> concept
> of "deponent," though you are also overgeneralizing the meaning of
> middle voice when you say "it affects me."
>
> Many "deponent verbs" are intransitive (have no object), like
> POREUOMAI,
> which is often not far from middle in meaning. For example, in
> English,
> a verb like "wash" can be transitive, e.g. "I washed something," but
> when intransitive it is reflexive (just one meaning of middle voice),
> e.g. "I washed."
>
> Greek textbooks and teachers often oversimplify "deponent" by simply
> saying "middle or passive forms, but active meanings." In my own
> textbook, I describe eight different manifestations or categories of
> so-called "deponent" verbs.
The term "deponent verb" and "deponency" are more detrimental than
useful. One needs to understand the morphology of the middle-passive
(both the MAI/SAI/TAI;MHN/SO/TO forms and the -QH-) forms and the
diverse types of middle verbs; it would be better to speak of middle
verbs that are essentially intransitive (verbs like POREUOMAI), verbs
that are essentially middle and that indicate a process of change
through which the subject is passing (GINOMAI), verbs that indicate
process undergone by the subject but that also have active causative
forms (EGEIROMAI/EGEIRW; hISTAMAI/hISTHMI) -- generally with
intransitive "second" aorists (HGERQHN, ESTHN), and truly transitive
verbs that have a first-aorist middle indicating self-interested
actions. One really needs to understand the Aktionsart of individual
verbs; perhaps that's what you're referring to, but the terms
"deponent" and "deponency" really should be dispensed with
altogether, inasmuch as they seem to imply such verbs are less than
regular.
>
> Andy Kaylor wrote:
>> I'm in the very early stages of trying to learn Greek on my own
>> from Bill Mounce's book (I just finished with indicative verbs),
>> so whatever I say is likely to be full of misconceptions. That
>> said, the middle voice really makes a lot of intuitive sense to
>> me. I can understand it (as much as I understand anything), even
>> if I can't represent it in English.
>>
>> In fact, as I've been working through Mounce's book, it has at
>> times struck me that things he calls deponent make sense to me as
>> middle. For instance, POREUOMAI he says is deponent and therefore
>> simply means "I go" (or proceed or live or whatever else) as
>> though it were purely active, but it's obvious that when I go it
>> affects me.
>>
>> And so, if I've got this right, it seems to me that just as many
>> prepositions make more sense if I picture them spacially than if I
>> try to memorize a list of their English equivalents, verbs make
>> more sense if I try to understand them from within the shoes of
>> the subject than if I try to picture them in an English sentence,
>> particularly with the middle voice.
>>
>> Of course, all of this is from the perspective of someone who has
>> to take a minute to figure out the meaning of a simple nominative
>> subject, indicative verb, accusative direct object sentence. My
>> opinion may change when I get to the point of being able to read
>> and comprehend with any speed.
>>
>>
>> Andy Kaylor
>> Beaverton, Oregon
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: JFS <bigjfs at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: [B-Greek] Middle voice and passive construction
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
> --
> __________________________
>
> David E. Kiefer, Registrar
> Fuller Theological Seminary
> 135 N Oakland Ave
> Pasadena, CA 91182
>
> dkiefer at fuller.edu
> Phone 626-584-5409
> Fax 626-584-5564
>
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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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