From: Kimmo Huovila (kimmo@kaamas.kielikone.fi)
Date: Fri Jan 12 2001 - 03:20:44 EST
"Carl W. Conrad" wrote:
> What I meant is that in traditional terminology one would at the very least
> have to call EZHMIWQHN here a "passive deponent." So far as I know there is
> no aorist middle of ZHMIOOMAI and the agent inflicting the loss upon Paul,
> the loss which he indicates with a direct object, TA PANTA, is none other
> than Paul himself--and therefore I'd be inclined to translate it (into
> English, at any rate) as "I allowed myself to suffer loss of everything."
> And that seems to me fundamentally the middle notion.
The passive deponent seems to work fine with KOINH, but in Classical
Greek the verb occurs in all three voices. Active meaning is to inflict
loss (or to fine). The passive voice seems to me more suitable for Phil.
3:8 than the middle, because Paul is not inflicting any loss on himself,
but rather expressing willingness to receive any (passive) for a greater
purpose. If there is something anomalous with this use of passive, it
seems to have more to do with the volitional element, not why the middle
is not used.
I am not sure that your translation has the agentive sense either.
Allowing oneself suffer loss if very different than causing oneself loss
or damage.
This is not to say that the middle could not be used here. The middle
voice is semantically quite flexible. But it is understandable that for
Paul's sense, it was the passive and not the middle that came to be
used.
Kimmo
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