From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 26 1998 - 19:33:49 EST
At 2:14 PM -0600 1/26/98, F. Holly Mitchell wrote:
>bgreekers,
>
>> > My question: How can she be "caught...in the very act" of
>> > being adulterated? What is the significance of being in the
>> > form of the verb? Is this the normal way to speak of a woman
>> > in an adulterous act?
>>
>> I think that MOICEUOMENH should probably be understood here as a middle
>> voice rather than as a passive. To be sure, it is normally active MOICEUW
>> of both the man and the woman, the implication here is clearly that the
>> woman is no mere victim, and for that reason the middle might be
>> appropriate.
>
>Kittel's dictionary indicates that MOIXAOMAI is typically used passively
>in refering to women in both the NT and the LXX, noting that in marriage,
>the woman has become the possession of her husband (who, by the way is
>not necessarily called to fidelity by the law). I notice also that the
>word 'adulterate' in English means 'to make impure, by adding a prohibited
>substance'. Thus, the idea that she has become impure, (or has actively
>allowed herself to be adulterated) seems to fit the cognitive model of
>marital possession.
>
>Can you point me to an example of MOIXEUW being used actively in reference
>to a woman, Carl? (Or do we only assume inclusivity?) I'd *love* to find
>out that I'm wrong!
No, I can't. I've done a check in Accordance on MOICEUW and don't find it
used anywhere else of a woman. I've check LSJ and find it asserted there
(the older LSJ on the Perseus web site) that it's used in the passive of a
woman, but it looks to me from the examples provided that it's what's
called a "passive deponent" which simply means that it's probably middle
but has -QH- forms in the aorist and future. I want to check the newer LSJ
in my office tomorrow and also do a TLG search on MOICEUW. I still suspect
that it is like GAMEW which is active of the male and middle of the female.
But I won't try to argue that position without first doing the TLG search
and seeing what I find.
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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