--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:
> I am calling on you various scholars to please help me out with a
difficulty I have regarding Greek and Sanskrit grammar.
> I don't really understand the meaning of the "middle" voice.
The middle is definitely not the same as a reflexive, unless you would
count 'He baked himself a cake' as reflexive.
The textbook explanation of its meaning is that the action affects the
doer, e.g. for his own benefit. The second point is that the middle
does not carry the active / passive distinction, which is where the
following examples are relevant:
> Many people who explain the middle voice to English speakers use
examples such as "the cake bakes in the oven", "his book sold a
thousand copies", and the like. But to me such expressions are really
passive, i.e. the cake is being baked (by the baker) in the oven, and
a thousand copies of the book were sold.
The lack of an active/passive contrast is better seen in English in
infinitives and gerunds (also in participles), as in a traditional fox
hunt needing hounds for hunting (active meaning) and foxes for hunting
(passive meaning).
> Is this really how the middle was used in Greek and Sanskrit?
No.
The best example is in the use of the middle for fitting out one's own
warship - one's life will depend on how well it is done - as opposed
to the active for fitting it out for someone else.
> Furthermore, Greek verbs in the present and imperfect of the middle
voice are identical to the same tenses of the passive voice - did
Greek really distinguish middle from passive?
Yes, though there are a good many instances where the middle was used
when one would expect the passive.
A noteworthy feature is that many Greek verbs have an active in the
present, but regularly use the middle in the perfect or future. I
believe the reasons are different.
In Classical Sanskrit, the active and the middle have the same
meaning, and there is a separate derived stem for the passive. Vedic
Sanskrit shows some traces of a distinction in meaning, along the
Greek lines of 'doing something for oneself'.
Richard.