[B-Greek] active voice & subject -affectedness MK 6:35-36

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Sun Feb 10 16:54:33 EST 2008


MK 6:35 KAI HDH hWRAS POLLHS GENOMENHS PROSELQONTES AUTWi hOI MAQHTAI  
AUTOU ELEGON hOTI ERHMOS ESTIN hO TOPOS KAI HDH hWRA POLLH:  36  
APOLUSON AUTOUS, hINA APELQONTES EIS TOUS KUKLWi AGROUS KAI KWMAS  
AGORASWSIN hEAUTOIS TI FAGWSIN.

R.Allan [1] p.19 states " ... the active voice is neutral as to the  
semantic feature of subject-affectedness." In MK 6:36 we see two  
active verbs AGORASWSIN and FAGWSIN which have as part of their  
lexical value the semantic feature subject-affectedness. AGORASWSIN  
and FAGWSIN are both active verbs signifying actions that are  
typically (not always [2]) performed on behalf of the subject. The  
the use hEAUTOIS makes this explicit.

Allan pps. 25-27 explains several types of neutralization, his term  
for situations where both active and middle forms could be used. The  
active voice may be used in contexts where it is clear that the  
subject benefits from the action. The active voice may be used when  
the semantic feature "for the benefit of the subject" is inherent in  
the meaning of the verb, such as verbs of eating and drinking. The  
active voice may also be used when the beneficiary is coded with a  
reflexive pronoun that is coreferential with the subject of the verb.

In Mk 6:36 FAGWSIN meets the first two criteria and AGORASWSIN meets  
the first and third criteria and marginally the second criteria. What  
we see here is a somewhat redundant coding of subject-affectedness  
where the use of the middle form is omitted on the principle of  
economy. In other words the middle form isn't required since subject- 
affectedness is unambiguous without it.


Elizabeth Kline


[1] Rutger Allan, "Middle Voice in Ancient Greek: A Study of  
Polysemy" Amesterdam 2003.


[2] One might argue that the semantic feature subject-affectedness is  
less typical of AGORASWSIN than FAGWSIN, both might signify actions  
that might be performed on behalf of others. 



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