ἦ γὰρ ὀίομαι ἄνδρα χολωσέμεν, ὃς μέγα πάντων
Is ὀίομαι middle of ὀίω? and if so, does that make its meaning -I am thinking to myself-?
Iliad 1:78 a)
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Re: Iliad 1:78 a)
I believe in Homer the middle is most common for this verb.Bert wrote:Is ὀίομαι middle of ὀίω? and if so, does that make its meaning -I am thinking to myself-?
Sometimes it's very hard to tell what's going on with the true significance of the middle. For example, why do futures of many verbs tend to prefer the middle, even when the present is active? Dialects had different defaults, and if Aristophanes wanted to tag a character as non-Athenian Greek he would have them switch around some middles and actives, in addition to some phonetics quirks.
Finally, this middle/active difference between dialects was something Homer could use to allow him to pick the best word for a line, such as ἔφη vs. (agumentless) φάτο.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/ — http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;