The middle voice is the same as the passive voice in the imperfect tense. I prefer to call that voice the “middle-passive” but for the aorist and future, I call the three voices: the active, the middle and the passive and for all the other tenses I call the two voices: the active and the middle-passive. Up till now I’ve seen Cambridge share this convention but for the entry below they have departed from that convention. They say that the verb ends with ‘μην’ which would mean that it is passive or middle-passive but they are calling it ‘middle’. They repeat this error in sense 4 so it is not a typo. I’m guessing that they are calling it ‘middle’ because it has a middle sense in that it is reflexive since most middle verbs are reflexive rather than passive. In other entries, they will list passive verbs and then say “w.mid.sens” (see following entry). That is my guess as to why they are doing it but I would prefer they stick to the convention of calling it passive (w.mid.sens). I just want to make sure that I understand everything correctly here.
ἀμπ-ίσχω vb. [ ἀμφί ] | only pres. and impf. | impf. ἤμπισχον
| impf.mid. ἠμπισχόμην | 1 place (w.acc. tapestries) as a
covering all around —w. ἐπί + dat. on walls E.; place
(w.acc. scanty covering) around —w.dat. children Arist.
2 (hyperbol.) clothe —w.dbl.acc. someone in an oven (i.e. in
excessively warm clothing) Ar.
3 (fig., of the art of a statesman) clothe —inhabitants of a
city (in a woven fabric of friendship and community spirit)
Pl.; (of a god) invest —creatures (w.dat. w. smallness) Pl.
4 || mid. clothe oneself, dress —w.adv. in a certain way Ar.;
(tr.) wear —a garment E. Ar. —tattered clothing (fig.ref. to a
worn-out argument) Pl.
5 (of a suppliant) embrace, clasp —someone᾽s knee (w.dat.
w. one᾽s hand) E.
6 (of darkness) envelop —sthg. E.
ἁμιλλάομαι mid.contr.vb. | aor. ἡμιλλησάμην (Plu.)
| aor.pass. (w.mid.sens.) ἡμιλλήθην (E. +) , dial.subj.
ἁμιλλᾱθῶ || neut.impers.vbl.adj. ἁμιλλητέον |
1 take part in a competitive event, compete (on foot,
horseback, w. a chariot, ship, or sim.) And. Lys. Pl. Plb. —w.
πρός + acc. against someone E. —w.prep.phr. for a prize,
victory Pi. Isoc.
2 (gener.) engage in competition or rivalry, compete (sts.
w.dat. or prep.phr. in an activity, for or over sthg.) Hdt. E.
Isoc. Pl. Call. Plu. —w.dat. w. someone or sthg. E. Isoc. Plu. —w.
πρός + acc. E. Th. Din. Plb. Plu.
3 contend —w.intern.acc. in an argument E. — (w.dat.
against another᾽s arguments) E. || pass. (of opposite points
of view) be put forward in contention —w.prep.phr. by
witnesses to the same event Aeschin. (quot. E.)
4 hasten (to reach a place before others) , race X.
—w.prep.phr. towards a place or objective E. X.
5 go eagerly or quickly, hasten (sts. w.adv. or prep.phr. to
or fr. a place) E. Ar. X. Plu.
6 strive eagerly —w.prep.phr. towards an objective Isoc. Pl.
Arist. Plu. —w. ὡς + subj. to acquire sthg. Pl. —w.inf. to do
sthg. Plu.
7 engage —w.intern.acc. in lamentation E.
We mustn’t confuse form with function. λέγω, for example, can be either indicative or subjunctive. The form is identical in either case, but the syntactical function is contextually determined. When the lexicon calls ἠμπισχόμην middle it is referring both to its form and to its function. It is not an error.
An aorist passive with middle sense ἡμιλλήθην is a completely different thing from an imperfect middle that gets used as a middle ἠμπισχόμην.
The aorist passive indicative (ex. ἐλύθην) has a different form from the aorist middle indicative (ex. ἐλυσάμην). Therefore, when an only-passive aorist form like ἡμιλλήθην gets used as a middle (for example, with a direct object), it’s a uncommon thing that dictionaries call out.
That’s right, except that ἡμιλλήθην wouldn’t be used with a direct object, since it functions as the aorist of ἁμιλλῶμαι (middle), which is intransitive across all tenses (cf. e.g. ἑρίζειν).
Some other aorist passive forms are routinely not passive in sense—ἐβουλήθην for instance. That’s another reason it’s important not to confuse form with function.
Thanks both mwh and Jeidsath. I really appreciate that.