Re: 1 Cor 11:2

From: Randy LEEDY (Rleedy@bju.edu)
Date: Mon Dec 28 1998 - 09:58:35 EST


I made this inquiry on Christmas Eve, and perhaps the lack of replies
may be due to bad timing. Let me try again one more time, with minor
modifications.

On this thorny issue of the proper voice for "deponent" verbs where
the form is ambiguous, I'm wondering what is inadequate, from Dale's
and Gramcord's (or perhaps I should say Bauer's or Boyer's) viewpoint,
about this simple guide that I think I picked up from my 1st-year
Greek teacher here at BJU: middle if possible. ( I know what's wrong
with the whole idea of deponency from Carl's viewpoint. So, Carl, I'm
not troubling you with a request for further elaboration.)

If I'm reading BDF correctly, it seems that the Koine is located
somewhere in the midst of a process of shifting deponents from the
earlier preference for middle-voice forms to the modern exclusively
passive-voice forms. It does not seem to me that there is any
significant difference in meaning associated with the categories
"middle deponent" vs. "passive deponent," and the water is muddy
enough that we cannot discern even a consistent morphological pattern
in Koine. So, on the understanding that a shift from middle to passive
form is in progress, can we not simply assume that the form is middle
except where it is clearly passive, rather than categorizing
individual verbs as "middle deponent" or "passive deponent"? It seems
to me that such a catgegorization runs into significant problems of
its own, since a good many "deponent" verbs have both middle and
passive forms in the aorist (DUNAMAI, APOKRINOMAI, and GINOMAI are the
first that come to mind). I don't even find it explained and defended
in BAGD, so I'm wondering whether this may be a Boyerism, inferred
from BAGD and perpetuated via Gramcord?

Anyway, I'd appreciate any insight into where Gramcord's scheme
originated and what marks it, at least in the view of some, as
superior to the simpler "middle if possible" approach.

****************************
In love to God and neighbor,
Randy Leedy
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC
RLeedy@bju.edu
****************************

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