[B-Greek] Function of the Greek aorist

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Mar 16 05:39:54 EDT 2008


On Mar 16, 2008, at 3:41 AM, George F Somsel wrote:

> How then would you deal with the passive where it is not the subject  
> which acts but on whom the action is performed?  Consider Mt 17.2
>
> καὶ (1) μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν,  
> καὶ (2) ἔλαμψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς  
> ὁ ἥλιος, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ (3)  
> ἐγένετο λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς.
>
>
> KAI METEMORFWQH EMPROSQEN AUTWN, KAI ELAMYEN TO PROSWPON AUTOU hWS  
> hO hHLIOS, TA DE hIMATIA AUTOU EGENETO LEUKA hWS TO FWS
>
> Here we find the aorist in different voices:
>
> 1. μετεμορφώθη [METEMORFWQH], aorist passive :  Here is is  
> not Jesus who is said "to change", but that he "is changed", i.e.  
> the action is performed upon him.

Although this verb is lemmatized in BDAG and LSJ as METAMORFOW  
(μεταμορφόω), it probably should preferably be lemmatized as  
METAMORFOUMAI (μεταμορφοῦμαι). In the GNT it appears only  
in the middle-passive; LSJ gives active forms only with reflexive  
pronoun hEAUTON (ἑαυτόν). In Rom 12:2 the imperative  
METAMORFOUSQE (μεταμορφοῦσθε) is usually Englished as "be  
changed" but the imperative certainly indicates subject participation  
in the transformation.

>
> 2. ἔλαμψεν [ELAMYEN], aorist active :  His face is portrayed  
> as active "his face shone."  This use would conform to your  
> suggestion.
> 3. ἐγένετο [EGENETO] aorist middle :  The subject performs  
> the action and participates in the results "his clothing became …"   
> Here you have it both ways -- the subject both acts and is the  
> "recipient" of the action (probably a bad choice of words).

I think the academic linguists call it "patient." For my part, I  
wouldn't argue that the subject "performs" any action here. There are  
two major kinds of middle verbs, transitive verbs that usually involve  
a subject performing an act on himself/herself/itself or on his/her/ 
its behalf, and intransitive verbs that usually involve a subject  
undergoing a process.

>
> _________
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Don Dwight <dddwight1234 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:42:34 PM
> Subject: [B-Greek] Function of the Greek aorist
>
>
> Request your comments on the proposition
> that the function of the Greek aorist is
> to specify the activity of the subject of the verb.
>
> By specification of activity, I mean,
> the kind of activity that the subject does,
> as distinct from predication (what the subject is),
> and from attribution (what the subject has).
>
> In other words, for the aorist, subject is as subject does.
>
> To illustrate with a contrived example:
>
> The red ball bounced merrily along the pavement at noon.
>
> Red (the subject has redness: attribution)
> Ball (the subject is a ball: predication)
> Bounces merrily along the pavement at noon
> (what the subject does: specification)
>
> To illustrate with an example from Lk 1,47:
>
> KAI HGALLIASEN TO PNEUMA MOU EPI TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU,
>
> (TO PNEUMA MOU is the kind which
> HGALLIASEN EPI TWi QEWi TWi SWTHRI MOU).
>
> Donald D.Dwight
> Monterey, California
>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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