Re: Medio-passive (was: A Survey)

Staving Ray Brown:


>"tas sas kheiras louomai" or
>"tas kheiras sou louomai" - are both OK but would mean rather more than
>just "I'm washing your hands". It would mean that the subject has an
>interest in making sure the hands do get washed: the sort of thing an
>ancient Greek Mum might say to recalcitrant son  :)
>Indeed, it needn't even mean that the subject does the washing; merely
>that the subject initiates the washing and is involved in someway in the
>process.  To revert to the ancient Greek example, Mum may well have
>got(ten) a slave to do the actual washing.  It's more like the  the
>English:
>"I'm getting your hands washed [whether you like it or not]"
This looks like a cue for any theologians who might be around to post a
linguistic analysis of the "Lord, do you wash my feet?" passage of John's
Gospel (St. Peter took offence that Jesus, his master, was taking the role
of a servant).

Pete

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