[B-Greek] active voice & subject -affectedness MK 6:35-36
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Feb 12 10:24:18 EST 2008
On Feb 10, 2008, at 4:54 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> 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.
Yes. Moreover, to take these verbs hUSTERON PROTERON, ESQIW, which
functions as a present for the root FAG, is also active, although no
less implicitly self-affected; as for AGORAZW, that means, most
fundamentally, "trade in the market." There is a standard verb PRIAMAI
for "buy" that is found in the LXX and is still used in Hellenistic
Greek, even if it doesn't appear in the GNT.
Of interest to me within the same area of concern is the way in which
EGEIRE, EGEIRETE is used in the present active imperative in the
intransitive sense, "get up," although the standard Hellenistic
indicative forms are EGEIROMAI, EGERQHSOMAI, HGERQHN. In older Greek
the "active" perfect EGRHGORA is intransitive, although the standard
Hellenistic perfect is EGHGERMAI. I've sometimes wondered whether
EGEIRE is as much of an interjection as it is an imperative, like
DEURO/DEUTE ("here! over here!") and AGE/AGETE ("come on! move!").
I've also wondered about IDOU and whether it's really semantically
different from IDE. IDOU seems much like a "Hey!" or French "voilà."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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