[B-Greek] John 15:7 - Middle/Passive imperatives?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri May 11 07:53:40 EDT 2007


On May 11, 2007, at 7:43 AM, Pete Harwood wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> Sorry to keep asking questions but I'm studying by myself
> and don't have a tutor to ask!
>
> John 15:7 reads:
>
> EAN MEINHTE EN EMOI KAI TA hRHMATA MOU EN hUMIN MEINHi, hO EAN QELHTE
> AITHSASQE, KAI GENHSETAI hUMIN.
>
> In Mounces Graded Reader he asks:
>
> Is AITHSASQE middle or passive? Bibleworks states it is middle. The
> question then is, what is the significance of its voice?

It think the question is directed to the reader; of course it's  
middle in form
and it certainly isn't passive in meaning.

>
> In ESNT, Wallace states:
>
> "But in general, in the middle voice the subject performs or  
> experiences the
> action expressed by the verb in such a way that emphasizes the  
> subject’s
> participation. It may be said that the subject acts “with a vested
> interest."
>
> In this case, is the subject the person who asks? And the middle  
> voice just
> emphasises that
> they perform it 'with a vested interest'? Is it to 'make certain' the
> subjunctive QELHTE, or does
> that link back into the previous condition?

Yes, the subject is the person asking; a simple English version
would be "Put your request(s)."

> If it was passive, would it translate... 'be asked for whatever you  
> want'?
> Which doesn't make much sense!

Yes, and no, it doesn't make a bit of sense.

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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