Paul Danove, «Verbs of Transference and Their Derivatives of Motion and State in the New Testament: a Study of Focus and Perspective.», Vol. 19 (2006) 53-71
This article identifies 102 New Testament verbs that designate
transference and describes alternative usages of these verbs as derivates of
motion and state. The discussion first considers the manner in which verbs
grammaticalize the event of transference by assuming a particular focus
and perspective on its elements and by indicating the degree of affectedness
of the subject. The study then develops the usages of motion and state in
terms of the exclusion of elements of the event of transference and changes
in focus and perspective. A concluding discussion summarizes the results of
the investigation.
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Verbs of Transference and their Derivatives of Motion and State...
of transference because they permit retrieval of all four logical entities
of the event. Since the focus on initiation in the active usages precludes
the affectedness of the Agent, the middle usages indicate a change in
focus to include both the initiation and termination of the event of
transference. This dual focus maintains agentive attributes of instigation
and volition (initiation) and introduces the context for the insinuation of
the affectedness of the subject / Agent (termination).
The affectedness of the Agent as beneficiary indicates that the
Agent takes on the additional function of a semantic Benefactive (the
ultimate entity for which an action is performed or for which, literally
or figuratively, something happens or exists). The middle usages appear
in complementary distribution within their active correlates plus a
Benefactive adjunct that is realized lexically as dative case reflexive
pronoun or a reflexive pronoun governed by á½‘Ï€á½³Ï (on behalf of). The
distinction between the middle and the active plus Benefactive adjunct is
one of emphasis. Whereas the middle usage merely signals the affectedness
of the Agent, the active usage qualifies its unaffected Agent with an
affected Benefactive9:
You, place [for your benefit] into your ears these words! (Luke 9,44)
θέσθε ὑμεῖς εἰς τὰ ὧτα ὑμῶν τοὺς λόγους τούτους.
…[blood] which he offers for himself and the sins of the people (Heb 9,7)
…[αἵματος] ὃ Ï€ÏοσφέÏει á½‘Ï€á½²Ï á¼‘Î±Ï…Ï„Î¿á¿¦ καὶ τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀγνοημάτων
The incorporation of the affectedness of the Agent accommodated
by the dual focus on both the initiation and termination of the event
impacts the denotation of the verbs in varying ways10. For τίθημι (place)
/ τίθεμαι (place [for one’s benefit]), the contrast signals merely exclusion /
inclusion of affectedness. For four verbs, the denotations reflect the greater
prominence of the newly focalized Source or Goal: ἀποδίδωμι (restore)
/ ἀποδίδομαι (sell [restore for one’s advantage]); á¼Î¾Î±Î¹Ïέω (remove) /
á¼Î¾Î±Î¹Ïέομαι (rescue); á¼Ï€Î¹Ï„ίθημι (put on) / á¼Ï€Î¹Ï„ίθεμαι (impose on); and
παÏατίθημι (provide) / παÏατίθεμαι (entrust)11. The final verb, δανείζω,
re-conceives the event of transference in the middle usage by reducing the
Classical examples of this phenomenon appear in Allan, Middle Voice, 114-15.
9
See Smyth, Greek Grammar, 393-94, for a comparison of the denotations of verbs in
10
the proposed active and middle usages.
The occurrence of á¼Ï€Î¹Ï„ίθεμαι in Acts 18:10 usually is interpreted with the meaning
11
“attackâ€: cf. H.G. Liddell, R. Scott and H.S. Jones (eds.), A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford
1996) 666. The proposed interpretation, with the translation, “No one will set / impose
[anything] onto youâ€, may clarify the origin of this idiom.
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