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Medial Verbs in Linguistics

A Review of the Literature on the Hellenic-Byzantine and Modern Grammatical Interpretations of the Mesotes

Summary/Abstract: Since the first ancient grammarians’ classifications, three verbs have been identified in ancient Greek - the active, the passive and the “middle” (mesotic). However, the definition of the latter - usually known as the ‘middle or medial verb’ - has always proved problematic throughout the history of Western grammar. However, given the cultural importance of the ancient Greek language, acquired primarily through the Greek philosophical and literary heritage and then through the New Testament, the linguistic phenomenon of the mesotes cannot be ignored. However, in order to appreciate its range of meanings to some extent, we must also be familiar with its grammatical interpretations. This is what the present study aims to contribute to. In two main parts, it provides a comprehensive overview of the definitions of the medial verb and the main trends that have emerged in the course of its interpretative history, drawing on the excellent writings summarising the subject, both by eighteen authorities in the Hellenic-Byzantine grammatical tradition and by twenty-seven authors in the modern international linguistic literature produced over the last century or so.

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