Stephen Hughes wrote:Rather than discuss this in the announcements sub-forum, let me ask about it here.
What are the similarities and differences between ἐγείρω and ἀνίστημι?
These are verbs that I have been endeavoring to understand for several years, for the reason that they display some of the most fundamental and clearest distinctions between the "active" and "middle-passive" or "subject-affected" διαθέσεις. The similarities and differences, as I see it, have to do with the association of
erect bodily position and
psychic state of alertness.
ἐγείρειν/ἐγείρεσθαι and ἀνιστάναι/ἀνίσταασθαι overlap in meaning in the transitive sense of “raise (something) up” and in the intransitive or subject-affected sense of “rise up”.
ἐγείρειν/ἐγείρεσθαι is more fundamentally tied to the notion of
awakening in the transitive sense of rousing (somebody, something) to a waking state or in the intransitive subject-affected sense of waking up/coming to a state of alertness.
ἱστάναι/ἵστασθαι is more fundamentally tied to the notion of
settled upright position in the transitive sense of bringing (somebody, something) into a settled upright position or in the intrnasitive subject-affected sense of coming into a settled upright position.
ἀνιστάναι/ᾶνίστασθαι (obviously) emphasizes the “upright” notion of the uncompounded ἱστάναι/ἵστασθαι: in the transitive active, it means “cause to stand up” or “erect”; in the intransitive or subject-affected form it means “stand up” or “rise”
ἐγειρειν/ἐγείρεσθαι and ἀνιστάναι/ἀνίστασθαι pair with κοιμᾶν/κοιμᾶσθαι and κεῖσθαι in the related senses of vertical and horizontal positions and of wakefulness or rest and sleep. Both verb-pairs can be used of rest/sleep/going-to-sleep and of wakingor being awake or “being up”. Inasmuch as “sleep” and “awakening” may be employed in the metaphorical sense of “being dead” and “resurrection”, both verb-pairs can be used in the extended sense of “awakening to new life” or “rising to new life.”
While I've tried to make this precise and concise, I am not a lexicographer (nor the son of a lexicographer), wherefore I am obviously open to corrections.