A Latin Definition of ‘Deponent’ (Donatus)
Posted: June 11th, 2021, 8:09 pm
I came across the following definition of deponent verbs by Donatus, Ars Minor (4th cen. CE):
In other words, those verbs with ‘passive’-only morphology in the present. There’s nothing about ‘active in meaning, passive in form.’Deponentia quae sunt? Quae in ‘r’ desinunt, ut passiva, sed ea dempta Latina non sunt, ut ‘luctor,’ ‘loquor’.
What are the deponents? Those which end in ‘r’, like the passives, but when removed are not Latin, like ‘luctor’, ‘loquor’.