Ancient Witnesses on Deponency in Greek 9 Thrax is the first interpretation: there is an incongruity between the form and function of the verb. The designation of these verbs by Dionysius Thrax as middle tells us that there was an understood incongruity be- tween the form of these verbs (either active or passive) and their function (middle)23. As such, the function of the verb is at odds with its morpholo- gy. This is a category that the ancient grammarians struggled to explain. Rijksbaron sums it up succinctly: All things considered, the discussion of the ‘middle’ voice in Diony- sius... can hardly be called satisfactory. There is a constant hesitation concerning verbs that ‘behave improperly’, i.e. whose meaning is not what it may [sic] expected to be on the basis of their morphology. The primacy of the ‘normal’ verbs that have either active morphology and active, or, rather, transitive, meaning, or passive morphology and passive meaning, apparently was so dominating that the verbs whose morphology and meaning are at variance were a permanent source of uneasiness24. The active or passive form with a middle function is the inverse of what is called deponency today. Therefore, it seems that this unusual use of the verb, which is exceptional because of its incongruous state, was known in our earliest Greek grammar. The exceptional verbal function existed and was wrestled with even in this early stage of the language25. 3. Apollonius Dyscolus Apollonius Dyscolus (ca. a.d. 100-150) lived in Alexandria and wrote several works. However, only four of his works on four different subjects 23 Nevertheless, the second interpretation is not impossible. However, for our purposes, we simply want to observe the inconsistency between form and function. Whether the cause is semantic or lexical is inconsequential at this point (Rijksbaron, “Greek Middle Voice”, 428). Paul Kent Andersen has gone too far in his interpretation of Technē Grammatikē. He argues that the ancient grammarians understood well this incongruity between the form and function of verbs. However, Andersen claims, based on his interpretation of Dionysius Thrax, that there is no passive voice in Classical Greek. He says that ἐνέργειαν means active, and πάθος means middle. Then, μεσότης, the exception to the rule, is a contextually dependent categorization of a verb that reflects this mismatch between form and function. μεσότης then can refer either (1) to an active verb which functions as a middle or (2) a passive verb that functions as an active (P.K. Andersen, “Remarks on Dionysios Thrax’s Concept of ‘Diáthesis’”, Historiographia linguistica 21, no. 1/2 (1994) 1-37). Although this second category is appealing to this study, it seems that Andersen has read more into his interpretation than the text can support. He even alludes to the fact that his interpretation had not previously been well received (Andersen, “Dionysios Thrax’s Concept of ‘Diáthe- sis’”, 17). 24 Rijksbaron, “Greek Middle Voice”, 433. 25 Rijksbaron has further explanation from Heliodorus that supports his conclusions. See Rijksbaron, “Greek Middle Voice”, 428-29.