Homeric Greek Explained
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 an archaic form of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic. 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.
Main features
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 Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η.
Examples of Homeric Greek phonology| Homeric | Attic | English |
|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Τροίη | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Τροίᾱ | Troy (nominative singular) |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὥρη | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὥρᾱ | an hour (nominative singular) |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πύλῃσι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πύλαις/πύλαισι | gates (dative plural) | |
Exceptions include nouns like Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ ("a goddess"), and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns.For example Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ων ("of goddesses"), and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀτρεΐδᾱο ("of the son of Atreus").
Nouns
- First declension
The nominative singular of most feminine nouns ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -η, rather than long Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱ, even after Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ρ, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε, and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι (an Ionic feature): Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρη for Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱ. However, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ and some names end in long Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱ.
Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾰ rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ης (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ναύτης, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀτρεΐδης): Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἱππότᾰ for Attic Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἱππότης.
The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱο or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εω (rarely - only after vowels - Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ω), rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ου: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀτρεΐδᾱο for Attic Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀτρείδου.[1]
The genitive plural usually ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱων or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εων: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νυμφᾱ́ων for Attic Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νυμφῶν.[2]
The dative plural almost always ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ῃσι(ν) or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ῃς: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πύλῃσιν for Attic Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πύλαις.
- Second declension
Genitive singular: ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οιο, as well as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ου. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πεδίοιο, as well as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πεδίου.
Genitive and dative dual: ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οιϊν. Thus, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἵπποιϊν appears, rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἵπποιν.
Dative plural: ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οισι(ν) and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οις. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φύλλοισι, as well as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φύλλοις.
- Third declension
Accusative singular: ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ιν, as well as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ιδα. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλαυκῶπιν, as well as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλαυκώπιδα.
Dative plural: ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εσσι and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σι. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόδεσσι or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔπεσσι.
Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek (except in certain α-stem genitive plurals and certain masculine α-stem genitive singulars):- Homeric Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''ῆος''' instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''έως''', Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλ'''ηος''' instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλ'''εως'''
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''ῆα''' instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''έᾱ'''
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''ῆας''' instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''έᾱς'''
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''ήων''' instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλ'''έων'''
Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings:
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλ'''η'''ος alternates with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλ'''ι'''ος
A note on nouns:
- After short vowels, the reflex of Proto-Greek *ts can alternate between Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σ- and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σσ- in Homeric Greek. This can be of metrical use. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τόσος and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τόσσος are equivalent; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μέσος and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μέσσος; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποσί and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποσσί.
- A relic of the Proto-Greek instrumental case, the ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -φι(ν) (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -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, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βίηφι (...by force), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δακρυόφιν (...with tears), and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὄρεσφιν (...in the mountains).
Pronouns
First-person pronoun (singular "I", dual "we both", plural "we")! !! Singular !! Dual !! Plural| Nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐγώ, ἐγών | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νῶι, νώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡμεῖς, ἄμμες |
|---|
| Genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐμεῖο, ἐμέο, ἐμεῦ, μεῦ, ἐμέθεν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νῶιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡμείων, ἡμέων, ἀμμέων |
|---|
| Dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐμοί, μοι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡμῖν, ἄμμι(ν) |
|---|
| Accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐμέ, με | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νῶι, νώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡμέας, ἧμας, ἄμμε | |
|---|
Second-person pronoun (singular "you", dual "you both", plural "you")! !! Singular !! Dual !! Plural| Nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σύ, τύνη | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφῶϊ, σφώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑμεῖς, ὔμμες |
|---|
| Genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σεῖο, σέο, σεῦ, σευ, σέθεν, τεοῖο | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφῶϊν, σφῷν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑμέων, ὑμείων, ὔμμέων |
|---|
| Dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σοί, τοι, τεΐν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑμῖν, ὔμμι(ν) |
|---|
| Accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σέ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφῶϊ, σφώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑμέας, ὔμμε | |
|---|
Third-person pronoun (singular "he, she, it", dual "they both", plural "they")! !! Singular !! Dual !! Plural| Nominative | - | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφωέ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφεῖς |
|---|
| Genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οὗ, εἷο, ἕο, εὗ, ἕθεν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφωΐν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφείων, σφέων |
|---|
| Dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἑοῖ, οἱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφι(ν), σφίσι(ν) |
|---|
| Accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἕ, ἑέ, μιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφωέ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σφε, σφέας, σφας | |
|---|
- Third-person singular pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or rarely singular article ("the"): Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ, ἡ, τό
- Third-person plural pronoun ("they") (the relative) or rarely plural article ("the"): nominative Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰ, αἰ, τοί, ταί, dative Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῖς, τοῖσι, τῇς, τῇσι, ταῖς.
Interrogative pronoun, singular and plural ("who, what, which")| Nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τίς |
|---|
| Accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τίνα |
|---|
| Genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τέο, τεῦ |
|---|
| Dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τέῳ |
|---|
| Genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τέων | |
|---|
Verbs
- Person endings
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν appears rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σαν. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔσταν for Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔστησαν in the third-person plural active.
The third plural middle/passive often ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -αται or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ατο; for example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥατο is equivalent to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἧντο.
- Tenses
Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐρέω appears instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐρῶ or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τελέω instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τελῶ.
Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the suffix Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σκ- before the ending. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φύγεσκον: 'they kept on running away'
Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βάλον may appear instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔβαλον, and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔμβαλε may appear instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐνέβαλε.
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 Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἴομεν, rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἴωμεν.
The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηαι and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εαι.
The third singular active subjunctive ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σι(ν). Thus, we see the form Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φορεῇσι, instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φορῇ.
Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks.
- Infinitive
The infinitive appears with the endings Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -μεν, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -μεναι, and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ναι, in place of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ειν and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ναι. For example, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δόμεναι for Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δοῦναι; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἴμεν instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰέναι; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔμεν, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔμμεν, or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔμμεναι for Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εἶναι; and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκουέμεν(αι) in place of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκούειν.
- Contracted verbs
In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ω-, Homeric Greek will use Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οω- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ωω- in place of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -αο-. For example, Attic Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁρῶντες becomes Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁρόωντες.
Similarly, in places where Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -αε- contracts to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -α- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -αει- contracts to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾳ-, Homeric Greek will show either Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αα or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αᾳ.Adverbs
- Adverbial suffixes
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -δε conveys a sense of 'to where'; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλεμόνδε 'battleship'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -δον conveys a sense of 'how'; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλαγγηδόν 'with cries'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -θεν conveys a sense of 'from where'; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑψόθεν 'from above'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -θι conveys a sense of 'where'; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὑψόθι 'on high'Particles
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄρα, ἄρ, ῥα 'so' or 'next' (transition)
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τε 'and' (a general remark or a connective)
- Emphatics
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δή 'indeed'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἦ 'surely'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: περ 'just' or 'even'
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοι 'I tell you ...' (assertion)Other features
In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article. Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ὁ, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: 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]
Sample
The Iliad, lines 1–7
Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆοςοὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε,πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψενἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσινοἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή·ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντεἈτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.
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
See also
Bibliography
- Pharr, Clyde. Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, new edition, 1959. Revised edition: John Wright, 1985. . First edition of 1920 in public domain.
- Book: Stanford, William Bedell . 1959 . William Bedell Stanford . Homer: Odyssey I-XII . 1 . Introduction, Grammatical Introduction . ix-lxxxvi. 1947 . 2nd . Macmillan Education Ltd . 1-85399-502-9 .
Further reading
- 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.
Notes and References
- Some suggest that Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱο may have originally been the more expected Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηο, with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηο later being transcribed Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱο under the influence of other (literary) dialects, whilst others suggest that Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱο may have been an Aeolic form. (See Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λᾱός and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ποσειδᾱ́ων for expected Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ληός and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ποσειδήων.)
- Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱων for expected Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηων would occur for the reasons given in Note 1.
- 64. 4. 486–500. Carroll D. Osburn. The Historical Present in Mark as a Text-Critical Criterion. Biblica. 1983. 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, p53, footnote 72
- https://books.google.com/books?id=-sKGGd1JuqoC&pg=PA53 Google preview
- Book: Pharr, Clyde. Homeric Greek, a book for beginners. 1920. D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers. xxii.
- Reece, Steve. "Hapax Legomena," in Margalit Finkelberg (ed.), Homeric Encyclopedia (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011) 330-331. Hapax Legomena in Homer
