[B-Greek] John 15:7 - Middle/Passive imperatives?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri May 11 10:16:58 EDT 2007


No, the subjunctive on QELHTE is a consequence of the indefinite  
character of the wish:

hO EAN QELHTE = "whatever you wish"

The indicative, hO QELETE = "what you want."

But in this sort of construction we really expect that indefinite  
formulation,
hO EAN QELHTE ...

On May 11, 2007, at 8:08 AM, Pete Harwood wrote:

>
> Carl,
>
> Thanks for the swift reply!
>
> As I suspected, passive makes no sense.
>
> But does the middle 'make certain' the subjunctive QELHTE? Or is that
> sunjunctive because
> of the previous condition: EAN MEINHTE EN EMOI KAI TA hRHMATA MOU  
> EN hUMIN
> MEINHi?
>
> Why doesn't John use an Active instead of a Middle? What would the
> difference in meaning be?
>
> Pete.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl W. Conrad [mailto:cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu]
> Sent: 11 May 2007 11:54
> To: Pete Harwood
> Cc: B-Greek
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] John 15:7 - Middle/Passive imperatives?
>
>
>
> On May 11, 2007, at 7:43 AM, Pete Harwood wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Sorry to keep asking questions but I'm studying by myself
>> and don't have a tutor to ask!
>>
>> John 15:7 reads:
>>
>> EAN MEINHTE EN EMOI KAI TA hRHMATA MOU EN hUMIN MEINHi, hO EAN QELHTE
>> AITHSASQE, KAI GENHSETAI hUMIN.
>>
>> In Mounces Graded Reader he asks:
>>
>> Is AITHSASQE middle or passive? Bibleworks states it is middle. The
>> question then is, what is the significance of its voice?
>
> It think the question is directed to the reader; of course it's
> middle in form
> and it certainly isn't passive in meaning.
>
>>
>> In ESNT, Wallace states:
>>
>> "But in general, in the middle voice the subject performs or
>> experiences the
>> action expressed by the verb in such a way that emphasizes the
>> subject’s
>> participation. It may be said that the subject acts “with a vested
>> interest."
>>
>> In this case, is the subject the person who asks? And the middle
>> voice just
>> emphasises that
>> they perform it 'with a vested interest'? Is it to 'make certain' the
>> subjunctive QELHTE, or does
>> that link back into the previous condition?
>
> Yes, the subject is the person asking; a simple English version
> would be "Put your request(s)."
>
>> If it was passive, would it translate... 'be asked for whatever you
>> want'?
>> Which doesn't make much sense!
>
> Yes, and no, it doesn't make a bit of sense.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>
>
>
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