deponent
/dɪˈpəʊnənt
/adjective Grammar
(Of a verb, especially in Latin or Greek) passive or middle in form but active in meaning.It is a misnomer to classify this as a deponent verb; the middle force of the verb is not absent....
- Typical is Wenham: ‘A deponent verb is one which is Middle or Passive in form, but Active in meaning.’
- He argues that in light of recent discussion we can do a better job of classifying deponent forms and understanding them than we have in the past.
noun
1 Grammar A deponent verb.Just because an active form doesn't exist in the relatively small corpus of the New Testament, this is no reason to deem a verb deponent....
- When one examines the ‘passive deponent’ verbs in question, they are a subset of the eighty-five-plus verbs that we have argued are true middles, not deponents.
- Mounce gives the figure of approximately seventy-five percent of the middle forms in the NT should be classified as deponent.
2 Law A person who makes a deposition or affidavit under oath.I understand from the affidavits that the various deponents have inconvenienced themselves by coming to the Court today....
- The deponents to these affidavits state that they have suffered injuries which were not fully compensated for under the prior settlements.
- You are the deponent of the affidavit which you have provided to the Court Registry in support of the application?
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin deponent- 'laying aside, putting down' (in medieval Latin 'testifying'), from the verb deponere, from de- 'down' + ponere 'place'. The use in grammar arose from the notion that the verb had ‘laid aside’ the passive sense (although in fact these verbs were originally reflexive).