In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed. Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek.
Phonology
Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long ᾱ to η.
Examples of Homeric Greek phonology.
Homeric
Attic
English
Τροίη
Τροίᾱ
Troy (nominative singular)
ὥρη
ὥρᾱ
an hour (nominative singular)
πύλῃσι
πύλαις/πύλαισι
gates (dative plural)
Exceptions include nouns like θεᾱ́ ("a goddess"), and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns. For example θεᾱ́ων ("of goddesses"), and Ἀτρεΐδᾱο ("of the son of Atreus").
The nominative singular of most feminine nouns ends in -η, rather than long -ᾱ, even after ρ, ε, and ι (an Ionic feature): χώρη for χώρᾱ. However, θεᾱ́ and some names end in long -ᾱ.
Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short -ᾰ rather than -ης (ναύτης, Ἀτρεΐδης): ἱππότᾰ for Attic ἱππότης.
The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in -ᾱο or -εω (rarely - only after vowels - -ω), rather than -ου: Ἀτρεΐδᾱο for Attic Ἀτρείδου.[note 1]
The genitive plural usually ends in -ᾱων or -εων: νυμφᾱ́ων for Attic νυμφῶν.[note 2]
The dative plural almost always end in -ῃσι(ν) or -ῃς: πύλῃσιν for Attic πύλαις.
Second declension
Genitive singular: ends in -οιο, as well as -ου. For example, πεδίοιο, as well as πεδίου.
Genitive and dative dual: ends in -οιϊν. Thus, ἵπποιϊν appears, rather than ἵπποιν.
Dative plural: ends in -οισι(ν) and -οις. For example, φύλλοισι, as well as φύλλοις.
Third declension
Accusative singular: ends in -ιν, as well as -ιδα. For example, γλαυκῶπιν, as well as γλαυκώπιδα.
Dative plural: ends in -εσσι and -σι. For example, πόδεσσι or ἔπεσσι.
Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek (except in certain masculine α-stem genitive singulars):
Homeric βασιλῆος instead of βασιλέως, πόληος instead of πόλεως
βασιλῆα instead of βασιλέᾱ
βασιλῆας instead of βασιλέᾱς
βασιλήων instead of βασιλέων
Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings:
πόληος alternates with πόλιος
A note on nouns:
After short vowels, the reflex of Proto-Greek *ts can alternate between -σ- and -σσ- in Homeric Greek. This can be of metrical use. For example, τόσος and τόσσος are equivalent; μέσος and μέσσος; ποσί and ποσσί.
A relic of the Proto-Greek instrumental case, the ending -φι(ν) (-οφι(ν)) can be used for the dative singular and plural of nouns and adjectives (occasionally for the genitive singular and plural, as well). For example, βίηφι (...by force), δακρυόφιν (...with tears), and ὄρεσφιν (...in the mountains).
-ν appears rather than -σαν. For example, ἔσταν for ἔστησαν in the third-person plural active.
The third plural middle/passive often ends in -αται or -ατο; for example, ἥατο is equivalent to ἧντο.
Tenses
Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, ἐρέω appears instead of ἐρῶ or τελέω instead of τελῶ.
Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the suffix -σκ- before the ending. For example, φύγεσκον: 'they kept on running away'
Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, βάλον may appear instead of ἔβαλον, and ἔμβαλε may appear instead of ἐνέβαλε.
The subjunctive appears with a short vowel. Thus, the form ἴομεν, rather than ἴωμεν.
The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both -ηαι and -εαι.
The third singular active subjunctive ends in -σι(ν). Thus, we see the form φορεῇσι, instead of φορῇ.
Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks.
Infinitive
The infinitive appears with the endings -μεν, -μεναι, and -ναι, in place of -ειν and -ναι. For example, δόμεναι for δοῦναι; ἴμεν instead of ἰέναι; ἔμεν, ἔμμεν, or ἔμμεναι for εἶναι; and ἀκουέμεν(αι) in place of ἀκούειν.
Contracted verbs
In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an -ω-, Homeric Greek will use -οω- or -ωω- in place of -αο-. For example, Attic ὁρῶντες becomes ὁρόωντες.
Similarly, in places where -αε- contracts to -α- or -αει- contracts to -ᾳ-, Homeric Greek will show either αα or αᾳ.
Adverbs
Adverbial suffixes
-δε conveys a sense of 'to where'; πόλεμόνδε 'to the war'
-δον conveys a sense of 'how'; κλαγγηδόν 'with cries'
-θεν conveys a sense of 'from where'; ὑψόθεν 'from above'
-θι conveys a sense of 'where'; ὑψόθι 'on high'
Particles
ἄρα, ἄρ, ῥα 'so' or 'next' (transition)
τε 'and' (a general remark or a connective)
Emphatics
δή 'indeed'
ἦ 'surely'
περ 'just' or 'even'
τοι 'I tell you ...' (assertion)
Other features
In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article. Ὁ, ἡ, τό and their inflected forms do occur, but they are in origin and usually used as demonstrative pronouns.[4]
Vocabulary
Homer (in the Iliad and the Odyssey) uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are proper names. Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena.[5][6] According to classical scholar Clyde Pharr, "the Iliad has 1097 hapax legomena, while the Odyssey has 868".[7] Others have defined the term differently, however, and count as few as 303 in the Iliad and 191 in the Odyssey.[8]
Sing, O goddess, the destructive wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought countless woes upon the Greeks, and hurled many valiant souls of heroes down to Hades, and made themselves a prey to dogs and to all birds but the will of Jove was being accomplished, from the time when Atrides, king of men, and noble Achilles, first contending, were disunited.
^Some suggest that -ᾱο may have originally been the more expected -ηο, with -ηο later being transcribed -ᾱο under the influence of other (literary) dialects, whilst others suggest that -ᾱο may have been an Aeolic form. (See λᾱός and Ποσειδᾱ́ων for expected ληός and Ποσειδήων.)
^-ᾱων for expected -ηων would occur for the reasons given in Note 1.
^Carroll D. Osburn (1983). "The Historical Present in Mark as a Text-Critical Criterion". Biblica. 64 (4): 486–500. JSTOR 42707093.
^Goodwin, William W. (1879). A Greek Grammar (pp 204). St Martin's Press.
^The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 5, Books 17-20, Geoffrey Stephen Kirk, Mark W. Edwards, Cambridge University Press, 1991, ISBN978-0-521-31208-0 p53, footnote 72
^Pharr, Clyde (1920). Homeric Greek, a book for beginners. D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers. p. xxii.
^Reece, Steve. "Hapax Legomena," in Margalit Finkelberg (ed.), Homeric Encyclopedia (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011) 330-331. Hapax Legomena in Homer
Bibliography
Pharr, Clyde. Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, new edition, 1959. Revised edition: John Wright, 1985. ISBN0-8061-1937-3. First edition of 1920 in public domain.
Bakker, Egbert J., ed. 2010. A companion to the Ancient Greek language. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Christidis, Anastasios-Phoivos, ed. 2007. A history of Ancient Greek: From the beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Colvin, Stephen C. 2007. A historical Greek reader: Mycenaean to the koiné. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edwards, G. Patrick. 1971. The language of Hesiod in its traditional context. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hackstein, Olav. 2010. "The Greek of epic." In A companion to the Ancient Greek language. Edited by Egbert J. Bakker, 401–23. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Horrocks, Geoffrey C. 1987. "The Ionian epic tradition: Was there an Aeolic phase in its development?" Minos 20–22: 269–94.
––––. 2010. Greek: A history of the language and its speakers. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Janko, Richard. 1982. Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns: Diachronic development in epic diction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
––––. 1992. "The origins and evolution of the Epic diction." In The Iliad: A commentary. Vol. 4, Books 13–16. Edited by Richard Janko, 8–19. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lord, Albert B. 1960. The singer of tales. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nagy, Gregory. 1995. "An evolutionary model for the making of Homeric poetry: Comparative perspectives." In The ages of Homer. Edited by Jane Burr Carter and Sarah Morris, 163–79. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Palmer, Leonard R. 1980. The Greek language. London: Faber & Faber.
Parry, Milman. 1971. The making of Homeric verse: The collected papers of Milman Parry. Edited by Adam Parry. Oxford: Clarendon.
Reece, Steve. 2009. Homer's Winged Words: the Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Theory. Amsterdam: Brill.
West, Martin L. 1988. "The rise of the Greek epic." Journal of Hellenic Studies 108: 151–72.
February 13, 2023
homeric, greek, form, greek, language, that, used, iliad, odyssey, homeric, hymns, literary, dialect, ancient, greek, consisting, mainly, ionic, with, some, aeolic, forms, from, arcadocypriot, written, form, influenced, attic, later, named, epic, greek, becaus. Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used in the Iliad Odyssey and Homeric Hymns It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of Ionic with some Aeolic forms a few from Arcadocypriot and a written form influenced by Attic 1 It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of epic poetry typically in dactylic hexameter by poets such as Hesiod and Theognis of Megara Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 5th century CE and it only fell out of use by the end of Classical antiquity Homeric GreekLanguage familyIndo European Proto Greek languageSouthern GreekAttic Ionic GreekIonic GreekHomeric GreekWriting systemGreek alphabetLanguage codesISO 639 3 Linguist Listgrc hom Contents 1 Main features 1 1 Phonology 1 2 Nouns 1 3 Pronouns 1 4 Verbs 1 5 Adverbs 1 6 Particles 1 7 Other features 2 Vocabulary 3 Sample 4 Authors 4 1 Poets of the Epic Cycle 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further readingMain features EditIn the following description only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek Phonology Edit Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek and unlike Classical Attic in shifting almost all cases of long ᾱ to h Examples of Homeric Greek phonology Homeric Attic EnglishTroih Troiᾱ Troy nominative singular ὥrh ὥrᾱ an hour nominative singular pylῃsi pylais pylaisi gates dative plural Exceptions include nouns like 8eᾱ a goddess and the genitive plural of first declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first declension nouns For example 8eᾱ wn of goddesses and Ἀtreidᾱo of the son of Atreus Nouns Edit First declension 2 The nominative singular of most feminine nouns ends in h rather than long ᾱ even after r e and i an Ionic feature xwrh for xwrᾱ However 8eᾱ and some names end in long ᾱ Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short ᾰ rather than hs nayths Ἀtreidhs ἱppotᾰ for Attic ἱppoths The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in ᾱo or ew rarely only after vowels w rather than oy Ἀtreidᾱo for Attic Ἀtreidoy note 1 The genitive plural usually ends in ᾱwn or ewn nymfᾱ wn for Attic nymfῶn note 2 The dative plural almost always end in ῃsi n or ῃs pylῃsin for Attic pylais Second declension Genitive singular ends in oio as well as oy For example pedioio as well as pedioy Genitive and dative dual ends in oiin Thus ἵppoiin appears rather than ἵppoin Dative plural ends in oisi n and ois For example fylloisi as well as fyllois Third declension Accusative singular ends in in as well as ida For example glaykῶpin as well as glaykwpida Dative plural ends in essi and si For example podessi or ἔpessi Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek except in certain masculine a stem genitive singulars Homeric basilῆos instead of basilews polhos instead of polews basilῆa instead of basileᾱ basilῆas instead of basileᾱs basilhwn instead of basilewn Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings polhos alternates with poliosA note on nouns After short vowels the reflex of Proto Greek ts can alternate between s and ss in Homeric Greek This can be of metrical use For example tosos and tossos are equivalent mesos and messos posi and possi A relic of the Proto Greek instrumental case the ending fi n ofi n can be used for the dative singular and plural of nouns and adjectives occasionally for the genitive singular and plural as well For example bihfi by force dakryofin with tears and ὄresfin in the mountains Pronouns Edit First person pronoun singular I dual we both plural we Singular Dual PluralNominative ἐgw ἐgwn nῶi nw ἡmeῖs ἄmmesGenitive ἐmeῖo ἐmeo ἐmeῦ meῦ ἐme8en nῶin ἡmeiwn ἡmewn ἀmmewnDative ἐmoi moi ἡmῖn ἄmmi n Accusative ἐme me nῶi nw ἡmeas ἧmas ἄmmeSecond person pronoun singular you dual you both plural you Singular Dual PluralNominative sy tynh sfῶi sfw ὑmeῖs ὔmmesGenitive seῖo seo seῦ sey se8en teoῖo sfῶin sfῷn ὑmewn ὑmeiwn ὔmmewnDative soi toi tein ὑmῖn ὔmmi n Accusative se sfῶi sfw ὑmeas ὔmmeThird person pronoun singular he she it dual they both plural they Singular Dual PluralNominative sfwe sfeῖsGenitive oὗ eἷo ἕo eὗ ἕ8en sfwin sfeiwn sfewnDative ἑoῖ oἱ sfi n sfisi n Accusative ἕ ἑe min sfwe sfe sfeas sfasThird person singular pronoun he she it the relative or rarely singular article the ὁ ἡ to Third person plural pronoun they the relative or rarely plural article the nominative oἰ aἰ toi tai dative toῖs toῖsi tῇs tῇsi taῖs Interrogative pronoun singular and plural who what which Nominative tisAccusative tinaGenitive teo teῦDative teῳGenitive tewn clarification needed Verbs Edit Person endings n appears rather than san For example ἔstan for ἔsthsan in the third person plural active The third plural middle passive often ends in atai or ato for example ἥato is equivalent to ἧnto Tenses Future Generally remains uncontracted For example ἐrew appears instead of ἐrῶ or telew instead of telῶ Present or imperfect These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the suffix sk before the ending For example fygeskon they kept on running away Aorist or imperfect Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments For example balon may appear instead of ἔbalon and ἔmbale may appear instead of ἐnebale Homeric Greek does not have a historical present tense but rather uses injunctives Injunctives are replaced by the historical present in the post Homeric writings of Thucydides and Herodotus 3 Subjunctive The subjunctive appears with a short vowel Thus the form ἴomen rather than ἴwmen The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both hai and eai The third singular active subjunctive ends in si n Thus we see the form foreῇsi instead of forῇ Occasionally the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks Infinitive The infinitive appears with the endings men menai and nai in place of ein and nai For example domenai for doῦnai ἴmen instead of ἰenai ἔmen ἔmmen or ἔmmenai for eἶnai and ἀkoyemen ai in place of ἀkoyein Contracted verbs In contracted verbs where Attic employs an w Homeric Greek will use ow or ww in place of ao For example Attic ὁrῶntes becomes ὁrowntes Similarly in places where ae contracts to a or aei contracts to ᾳ Homeric Greek will show either aa or aᾳ Adverbs Edit Adverbial suffixes de conveys a sense of to where polemonde to the war don conveys a sense of how klagghdon with cries 8en conveys a sense of from where ὑpso8en from above 8i conveys a sense of where ὑpso8i on high Particles Edit ἄra ἄr ῥa so or next transition te and a general remark or a connective Emphatics dh indeed ἦ surely per just or even toi I tell you assertion Other features Edit In most circumstances Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article Ὁ ἡ to and their inflected forms do occur but they are in origin and usually used as demonstrative pronouns 4 Vocabulary EditHomer in the Iliad and the Odyssey uses about 9 000 words of which 1 382 are proper names Of the 7 618 remaining words 2 307 are hapax legomena 5 6 According to classical scholar Clyde Pharr the Iliad has 1097 hapax legomena while the Odyssey has 868 7 Others have defined the term differently however and count as few as 303 in the Iliad and 191 in the Odyssey 8 Sample EditThe Iliad lines 1 7 Mῆnin ἄeide 8ea Phlhiadew Ἀxilῆos oὐlomenhn ἣ myri Ἀxaioῖs ἄlge ἔ8hke pollὰs d ἰf8imoys psyxὰs Ἄidi proiapsen ἡrwwn aὐtoὺs dὲ ἑlwria teῦxe kynessin oἰwnoῖsi te daῖta Diὸs d ἐteleieto boylh ἐ3 oὗ dὴ tὰ prῶta diasththn ἐrisante Ἀtreidhs te ἄna3 ἀndrῶn kaὶ dῖos Ἀxilleys Theodore Alois Buckley 1860 Sing O goddess the destructive wrath of Achilles son of Peleus which brought countless woes upon the Greeks and hurled many valiant souls of heroes down to Hades and made themselves a prey to dogs and to all birds but the will of Jove was being accomplished from the time when Atrides king of men and noble Achilles first contending were disunited Authors EditHomer Hesiod Theognis of Megara Apollonius Rhodius Quintus Smyrnaeus Nonnus Author s of the Homeric HymnsPoets of the Epic Cycle Edit Stasinus Arctinus of Miletus Lesches Agias Eumelus of Corinth Eugammon of Cyrene Musaeus of AthensSee also Edit Wiktionary has a category on Epic Greek Ancient Greek dialects Homer s works Hesiod s worksNotes Edit Some suggest that ᾱo may have originally been the more expected ho with ho later being transcribed ᾱo under the influence of other literary dialects whilst others suggest that ᾱo may have been an Aeolic form See lᾱos and Poseidᾱ wn for expected lhos and Poseidhwn ᾱwn for expected hwn would occur for the reasons given in Note 1 References Edit Stanford 1959 pp lii liii the Homeric dialect Stanford 1959 pp lvii lviii first declension Carroll D Osburn 1983 The Historical Present in Mark as a Text Critical Criterion Biblica 64 4 486 500 JSTOR 42707093 Goodwin William W 1879 A Greek Grammar pp 204 St Martin s Press The Iliad A Commentary Volume 5 Books 17 20 Geoffrey Stephen Kirk Mark W Edwards Cambridge University Press 1991 ISBN 978 0 521 31208 0 p53 footnote 72 Google preview Pharr Clyde 1920 Homeric Greek a book for beginners D C Heath amp Co Publishers p xxii Reece Steve Hapax Legomena in Margalit Finkelberg ed Homeric Encyclopedia Oxford Blackwell 2011 330 331 Hapax Legomena in HomerBibliography EditPharr Clyde Homeric Greek A Book for Beginners University of Oklahoma Press Norman new edition 1959 Revised edition John Wright 1985 ISBN 0 8061 1937 3 First edition of 1920 in public domain Stanford William Bedell 1959 1947 Introduction Grammatical Introduction Homer Odyssey I XII Vol 1 2nd ed Macmillan Education Ltd pp ix lxxxvi ISBN 1 85399 502 9 Further reading EditBakker Egbert J ed 2010 A companion to the Ancient Greek language Oxford Wiley Blackwell Christidis Anastasios Phoivos ed 2007 A history of Ancient Greek From the beginnings to Late Antiquity Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press Colvin Stephen C 2007 A historical Greek reader Mycenaean to the koine Oxford Oxford University Press Edwards G Patrick 1971 The language of Hesiod in its traditional context Oxford Blackwell Hackstein Olav 2010 The Greek of epic In A companion to the Ancient Greek language Edited by Egbert J Bakker 401 23 Oxford Wiley Blackwell Horrocks Geoffrey C 1987 The Ionian epic tradition Was there an Aeolic phase in its development Minos 20 22 269 94 2010 Greek A history of the language and its speakers 2nd ed Oxford Wiley Blackwell Janko Richard 1982 Homer Hesiod and the Hymns Diachronic development in epic diction Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press 1992 The origins and evolution of the Epic diction In The Iliad A commentary Vol 4 Books 13 16 Edited by Richard Janko 8 19 Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press Lord Albert B 1960 The singer of tales Cambridge MA Harvard University Press Nagy Gregory 1995 An evolutionary model for the making of Homeric poetry Comparative perspectives In The ages of Homer Edited by Jane Burr Carter and Sarah Morris 163 79 Austin University of Texas Press Palmer Leonard R 1980 The Greek language London Faber amp Faber Parry Milman 1971 The making of Homeric verse The collected papers of Milman Parry Edited by Adam Parry Oxford Clarendon Reece Steve 2009 Homer s Winged Words the Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Theory Amsterdam Brill West Martin L 1988 The rise of the Greek epic Journal of Hellenic Studies 108 151 72 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Homeric Greek amp oldid 1132334138, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
