From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sun Dec 28 1997 - 10:13:18 EST
At 11:58 PM -0600 12/27/97, Revcraigh wrote:
>In a message dated 12/28/97 4:08:18 AM, you wrote:
>
>>B-Greekers:
>>
>>Perhaps some generous listmembers will come to my assistance.
>>Can you suggest a good book (or set of books) that explains why various
>>grammatical choices were made by the writers of the NT?
>>For example: I have been trying to work my way through John, and I
>>notice that the verb POREUQW is used in 14:3. My analytical lexicon
>>tells me that this is
>>aorist-passive-subjunctive. I understand why it is subjunctive, and I
>>think I understand why it is aorist, but I fail to grasp why it is
>>passive. So that I do not have to continually bother all of you with
>>such basic issues, maybe you can recommend a reference work that goes
>>through the NT on a pretty much verse by verse basis, explaining such
>>matters.
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Ted
>
>Your analytical lexicon is correct in so far as it goes. What it apparently
>doesn't tell you is that in the New Testament and other Christian literature,
>the verb POREUW is found only in middle and passive forms. That is to say,
>John wrote POREUQW (passive voice) because the active forms of the verb had
>passed out of usage in the language and the passive forms were being used
>where we English speakers would normally expect an active form. Such verbs are
>called deponent.
Craig has responded with some reasonable advice on reference works. You'll
find a nice discussion of them also at Jonathan's Little Greek site:
Little Greek Home Page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/koine
I'd add a brief note on POREUOMAI/EPOREUQHN in accordance with my lengthy
post, "Observations on the Passive Voice" of 5/27/97 (if you want to
consult the BG Archives): the -QH- infix which was used as a passive marker
was not and is not always that; originally it was a formative element used
to create athematic aorists for mostly intransitive verbs that are
generally middle in the present and future. One clear indication of this is
the fact that ACTIVE ENDINGS are used with it in the aorist, even when the
verb is genuinely passive in meaning. Such verbs are traditionally called
"deponent" (as I have lamented on grounds that the term seems to imply
there's something irregular about those Greek verbs--that they would have
had active forms if the Greeks had been rational like English-speakers),
and some grammars even distinguish between "middle deponents" and "passive
deponents" in terms of whether the aorist of a particular verb happens to
be middle (e.g. DECOMAI, aor. EDEXAMHN) or passive (e.g.
BOULOMAI/EBOULHQHN, DUNAMAI/HDUNHQHN--which is also irregular in augmenting
with 'H'). These are details that one must learn as important features of
the irregular verbs. I must say, however, that I think it is really
insufficient identification or parsing of a verb form POREUQW to mark it
simply as "aor. subj. pass. 1 sg." without indicating that it is NOT
passive in sense--a more detailed account is really called for with such
verbs for the sake of students who haven't acquired familiarity with this
feature of the Greek verb.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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