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Re: KAQHMI and "Please be seated!"
At 7:41 AM -0400 6/2/97, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>At 6:57 AM -0400 6/2/97, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>
>>P.S. In church yesterday, I finally figured out how to understand the
>>phrase, "please be seated". Ever since I was a child, this phrase has
>>puzzled me (who was going to seat me, and if someone else was going to do
>>it, why phrase it as a request?). Is this an example of a real middle in
>>English?
>
>O BENE DICTUM, Jonathan! While I would NOT call this "an example of a real
>middle in English," I would argue that the only proper form for this in
>classical or Koiné Greek would in fact be a middle imperative, something
>like KAQISASQE. This is comparable to my observation that Spanish "Aqui se
>habla español" is the equivalent of the English passive, "Spanish is spoken
>here."
I just checked and I can't find any instances of KAQHMAI which are
other than middle voice. Is that unusual? Are there any other verbs
which only show up in the middle voice?
I never noticed that "Please be seated" was an implicit middle voice
(if it makes sense to say that!) before. What an interesting thought.
Thanks Jonathan!
In Christ,
Jim Beale
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