active-passive ambiguity in ancient Greek adjectives

To various friends and colleagues (some bcc.)--

I'm returning to a topic I worked on a while ago:  the inherent active /
passive ambiguity of Greek compound adjectives, especially
alpha-privatives.  Sometimes this is important in literary or philosophical
texts (Plato especially).   The ambiguity arises in at least three cases:

a) Greek verbals in –τος can be active or passive, e.g. πιστός (active at
Thuc. 1.140.5, “trust” or “confidence”; passive at Thuc. 5.108, where the
poor Melians believe their “trustworthiness” will translate into aid from
Sparta).
b) Some compounds are inherently ambiguous: δυσεκπέρατος
c) And, some other uncompounded adjectives can be active or passive:
φοβερός, “terrifying” at Thuc. 6.55, “timid” at 2.3.

Now, I'm about to include some of this information in an essay, and thought
I'd ask first whether readers have anything to add.  I've checked
*some *journal
articles on Indo-European and Greek linguistics, but now that I may have
missed something.  It's also quite possible that I've overlooked some case
in addition to a)-c) above.

I think the *literary *importance of these cases is often significant,
somewhat deepening our understanding.

If anyone has comments, I'm certainly interested in hearing of them.  As
will be clear, I'm primarily interested in Thucydides, and added instances
as they came up in my reading in other authors.

I haven't checked this list rigorously, and there may be errors!
Corrections welcome.

Yours,

Dan Tompkins


Active Passive
References are to Thucydides unless otherwise noted.

ἀδεής 1.36.1 6.87.4 (text is disputed)
ἀδύνατος 7.28.4 1.59
ἀμαθής Ambiguous at 1.140.1.  I have ideas about this but they’re not well
developed.
ἀνέλπιστος 6.17, 8.1 6.33
ἀνεπαχθῶς 2.37.3, can be active or passive
Φοβερός 3.83 2.3
Other Authors
ἀγνώς Pl. Euthyphro 2b (Meletus is unknown and ignorant?)
ἄγoνoς Homer, Iliad 3.40 (“unborn”?  “without children”?).  But context
makes “unborn” certain.
ἄθεός Denying god, Plato Apology 26c; abandoned by god, Soph OT 661
ἀμέμπτως Sophocles, Philoctetes 1465 ”A voyage that shows that you don't
blame me or, less interestingly, a voyage I will not blame.”  Bers 1/18/19

ἀμήχανος Η Οd 19.560; Amory, “Gates of Horn” (YCS ’66) 16 argues for
ambiguity.
ἀνάριθμος Sophocles, Oedipus the King 167 (passive) vs. 179 (active)
ἄπιστος untrusting; untrustworthy.   Here not only the alpha-privative but
the verbal ending in -τος is ambiguous (compare πιστός, probably active at
Thuc. 2.40.5, passive at Thuc. 5.108)
ἀστραπήφορος Εur Bacchae 3: lightning-bearing or lightning-borne
ἀσφαλεῖς 1.69.5: unlikely to fall; unlikely to cause others to fall.
δυσεκπέρατος Εur Hipp. 677-9: Barrett has longish note on ambiguity of
“Greek compound adjs. In general, and in particular …  –τος. I emphasize
that it is inherent in them.... I take as my stock example ἄπρακτος... this
division is merely one of lexicographical convenience, and the various uss
are not separate meanings but merely different applications of the one
basic meaning ‘such that there is no πρᾶξις.’  (Cf. Fraenkel on A. Ag. 12,
238 …  I would render ἄναυδος ‘such that there is no utterance.’)"
θανατηφόρος
S OT 180  (borne by death? bringing death?)
Θεομισής Ar Birds 1547 – 8 (joke based on its ambiguity)
περιβόατος S OT 191 (maybe) Thuc. 6.31
πολύτροπος Plato, Statesman, 291b Homer, Odyssey 1.1
(dubious)