Activa Tantum and Greek Lemmas

I am studying the Greek lemma γηθέω. This is a very important term in New Testament Greek. It seems per the entry in Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics by Rutger Allan that it is a Activa Tantum verb. I searched for Activa Tantum in the search box within Logos Bible Software. I also did a search on the Greek lemma. Nothing explains this and I do not understand how Greek verbs can be active only. I have some questions. Are Activa Tantum verbs finite? Could this be explained in a Logos search?

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop App

Comments

MJ. Smith

a Chat bot or google quickly provided the answer. Greek verbs can be classed as activa tantum, passiva tantum or passiva et activa communia ... which translates as active only, passive only, and both active and passive.

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1278921#Comment_1278921

I am trying to find discussion in recent Greek linguistics. Could Logos be of help with this?

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1278964#Comment_1278964

What recent linguistic resources do you own in Logos? I find nothing in what I happen to own.

Christian Alexander

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1278969#Comment_1278969

Voice and Mood by David L. Mathewson

Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation by David Alan Black; Katharine Barnwell; Stephen H. Levinsohn

Linguistics and the New Testament: Critical Junctures by Stanley E. Porter; D. A. Carson

Baker Academic Biblical Greek Collection (6 vols.)

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1279006#Comment_1279006

Mathewson is the only one of these that looks as if it might have a discussion. Search for "only NEAR (active OR passive)" (omit the quotation marks). As the activa tantum is simply an observation on usage without effect on meaning, I would expect to find it discussed rather than simply mentioned in journal articles and more likely from an historical perspective rather than an interpretative perspective. What information regarding it are you looking for? Or are you somewhat like myself and simply love to slice and dice data in legitimate (but not neccessarily useful) ways? Note that this feature is present in Proto-IndoEuropean (PIE) for verbs that are active and middle voices ... I can't find it in the passive which doesn't mean it isn't there, only that I didn't find it.

Exclusively active verbs are verbs that can only be conjugated in the active voice and have an active meaning. For example, the PIE verb *dʰeh₁-/*dʰom- "to run" is an exclusively active verb. It cannot be conjugated in the middle or passive voice, and it always has an active meaning. So, the phrase dʰeh₁-dʰom-e-t means "he runs".

Exclusively middle verbs are verbs that can only be conjugated in the middle voice and have a middle meaning. For example, the PIE verb *mem-/*mnō- "to think" is an exclusively middle verb. It cannot be conjugated in the active or passive voice, and it always has a middle meaning. So, the phrase mem-m̥ne-t-ur means "he thinks" (literally, "he thinks himself").

Exclusively active and exclusively middle verbs are less common than deponents in PIE. There are about 200 exclusively active verbs in PIE, which is about 5% of all verbs. There are about 100 exclusively middle verbs in PIE, which is about 2.5% of all verbs.

Here are some examples of PIE exclusively active and exclusively middle verbs:

Exclusively active verbs: *dʰeh₁-/*dʰom- "to run", *dʰekʷ-/*dʰekʷ- "to bite", *dʰer-/*dʰor- "to carry", *dʰew-/*dʰōw- "to puff", *dʰwes-/*dʰwes- "to cough"

Exclusively middle verbs: *ǵʰel-/*ǵʰol- "to desire", *ǵʰwen-/*ǵʰwen- "to strike", *ǵneh₃-/*ǵneh₂- "to be born", *mem-/*mnō- "to think", *sed-/*sed- "to sit"

Warning: it took a bit of time and knowledge to train Bard for a correct answer; it kept switching the subject to deponent verbs.