Some Comments on the Greek Middle-Passive

From
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2007-August/044099.html

Why the Middle Voice can represent passive sense

On Aug 16, 2007, at 9:10 PM, Kevin Riley wrote:

... I am still puzzling over how a form that is subject focused - the middle - came also to be used to represent the passive where the subject is not the focus, and need not appear at all. ...

I've been meaning to respond to the above question -- or puzzlement -- for several days, but I've decided that I'll forgo a longer and fuller response at this point and try do deal directly with the question why one set of endings associated fundamentally with middle voice, could also be used to represent the passive.

The simple answer is that the middle (or middle-passive) forms (and that's BOTH the μαι/σαι/ται, μην/σο/το endings of the present, imperfect, aorist, future, perfect, and pluperfect -- and a piddling number of non-periphrastic future perfects like κεκλησομαι (not in the GNT) -- AND the -θη- endings in the aorist and future) are all fundamentally marked for subject-affectedness, and this includes verbs and verb-forms where the subject is patient, undergoer, beneficiary or recipient).

When the verb in question is really transitive, then the middle-passive form can have a passive sense because the patient of the process has become the subject of the verb, but in several other cases -- and especially in the case of intransitive verbs -- the middle-passive form simply indicates that the subject is:

• BOTH subject and patient (direct reflexive, e.g., χυραται ο Γοργιας, "Gorgias shaves himself"), or
• BOTH subject and beneficiary or recipient (indirect reflexive, e.g., λυεται ο ιππευς την ιππον, "The rider unties his mare"), or
• BOTH subject and undergoer (intransitive, e.g., εγειρεται το παις, "The child wakes up").

One of the major difficulties for English-speakers trying to understand the Greek middle-passive is that they tend to think of voice in terms of transitive verbs and an active-passive polarity, whereas the Greek voice-system is not so much concerned with transitivity as it is with verbs UNmarked for subject-affectedness and verbs MARKED for subject-affectedness.

- Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)

No Class August 18 & 25 - Next Class September 1

Per my August 16 email, due to the absence of most people and the church consecration on August 25 (see below), I'm asking you to work on your own these next three weeks. I.e.:

• The Week of August 18-24: Read and study Lesson 10, memorize the vocabulary and verb paradigms, and do all the Exercises. Imperfect Active Indicative, and Imperfect forms of ειμι.


• The Week of August 25-31: Read and study Lesson 11, memorize the vocabulary and verb paradigms, and do all the Exercises. Imperfect Middle/Passive Indicative.

Though this is new material, it is not difficult, and if you do your daily work, you will easily master the material. That's what I like about Croy - he gives you the essentials, he gives it to you in small sizes, and he gives you lots of Exercises to put your new knowledge to use. The Exercises really are the key: If you study the grammar and memorize the vocabulary, you should be able to do the Exercises and get most of them correct - which means that you have learned the material.

I'll post the Answers to the Lesson 10 and 11 Exercises here on the class blog in plenty of time for you to do the work and review your answers. I already have audio files through Lesson 15, and I'll get the vocabulary posted, too. (Note: You already have the full vocabulary for the course in this file, Class Vocabulary, which lists the words in Lesson order; my vocabulary lists are just cut-and-pasted from this master list.)

WE WILL NEXT MEET ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, AT 9:15 A.M. We'll briefly review Lessons 10 & 11 (and the Exercises you did), and have a quiz on the material, and we will preview Lesson 12. Thus, we'll stay on track and won't miss a beat.

Call or email me with any questions you have or any problems you encounter. Those of you who have been on vacation have told me that you are keeping pace on your own. BE SURE TO KEEP READING THE BLOG.

Class Notes: August 11, 2007

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 9: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

53. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

55. & 56. Memorize the forms of the Present Middle and Passive Indicative. Note that the endings are identical.

57. Memorize the form of the Present Middle/Passive Infinitive.

60. As I mentioned in class, "Deponent Verbs" is the usual term for these verbs that have Middle/Passive forms with Active meanings, and for which there are no Present "Active" forms of the verb (i.e., forms that end with -ω, -εις, -ει, -ομεν, -ετε, -ουσι) in the literature. Dr. Carl Conrad has written several essays on why he thinks the term "deponent" mischaracterizes these verbs. You can read his essays here. I will continue to refer to them as "deponent verbs" because that is how the textbook treats them.

62. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 1:35.

Aids to Learning Prepositions

Here is a diagram showing the spatial meanings of many of the prepositions you will be learning. I found this on the Internet, and if I find a better one, I'll use that.


And ... here are some fun pictures from Teach Yourself New Testament Greek by D. F. Hudson that someone posted on the Internet:

John Rylands Papyrus 470

Read my post about John Rylands Papyrus 470, our oldest copy of a still-used prayer to the Theotokos.

Class Notes: August 4, 2007

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 8: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

48. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

49. Memorize the forms of the Demonstrative Pronoun.

50. This section is important. In simple terms, demonstrative pronouns used with a noun are in the predicate position, but are translated as attributive adjectives (e.g., "this man," not "this is the man"). When standing alone, they function as a pronoun and can be translated as "this/that (man/woman/thing)," "these/those (men/women/things)"; or "he/she/it," "they."

51. This section is very important to understand. The position of αυτος in the Greek is like its position in English. E.g.:

• INTENSIVE ("self"): Predicate - "The man αυτος" or "αυτος the man" = "The man himself" or "Himself the man"
  
• IDENTICAL ("same"): Attributive - "The αυτος man" or "The man the αυτος" = "The same man" or "The man, the same [one]"

Since as a pronoun (Lesson 7) αυτος is third person, whenever you see it used with a 1st- or 2nd-person personal pronoun (εγω, συ, ημεις, υμεις) and a corresponding 1st- or 2nd-person verb ending (-ω, -εις, -ομεν, -ετε) (even if the subject is not expressed), you know αυτος is modifying the 1st- or 2nd-person pronoun as an intensive adjective, and is not functioning as a personal pronoun. I.e., it's "I myself," "you yourself," "we ourselves," "y'all yourselves" is/are doing (whatever the verb says), and not "he/she/it/they" is/are doing (whatever the verb says).

52. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 1:25.