Homeric Greek

Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Ancient Greek Ionic Greek Homeric Greek; ; ; ;
Early form	Proto-Greek
Writing system	Greek alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	grc-hom

Last updated December 11, 2024

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.^[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. Some compositions in Epic Greek 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 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").

Nouns

First declension^[2]: 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 ends 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 α-stem genitive plurals and 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).

Pronouns

First-person pronoun (singular "I", dual "we both", plural "we")
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἐγώ, ἐγών	νῶι, νώ	ἡμεῖς, ἄμμες
Genitive	ἐμεῖο, ἐμέο, ἐμεῦ, μεῦ, ἐμέθεν	νῶιν	ἡμείων, ἡμέων, ἀμμέων
Dative	ἐμοί, μοι	νῶιν	ἡμῖν, ἄμμι(ν)
Accusative	ἐμέ, με	νῶι, νώ	ἡμέας, ἧμας, ἄμμε

Second-person pronoun (singular "you", dual "you both", plural "you")
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	σύ, τύνη	σφῶϊ, σφώ	ὑμεῖς, ὔμμες
Genitive	σεῖο, σέο, σεῦ, σευ, σέθεν, τεοῖο	σφῶϊν, σφῷν	ὑμέων, ὑμείων, ὔμμέων
Dative	σοί, τοι, τεΐν	σφῶϊν, σφῷν	ὑμῖν, ὔμμι(ν)
Accusative	σέ	σφῶϊ, σφώ	ὑμέας, ὔμμε

Third-person pronoun (singular "he, she, it", dual "they both", plural "they")
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	—	σφωέ	σφεῖς
Genitive	οὗ, εἷο, ἕο, εὗ, ἕθεν	σφωΐν	σφείων, σφέων
Dative	ἑοῖ, οἱ	σφωΐν	σφι(ν), σφίσι(ν)
Accusative	ἕ, ἑέ, μιν	σφωέ	σφε, σφέας, σφας

Third-person singular pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or rarely singular article ("the"): ὁ, ἡ, τό
Third-person plural pronoun ("they") (the relative) or rarely plural article ("the"): nominative οἰ, αἰ, τοί, ταί, dative τοῖς, τοῖσι, τῇς, τῇσι, ταῖς.

Interrogative pronoun, singular and plural ("who, what, which")
Nominative	τίς
Accusative	τίνα
Genitive	τέο, τεῦ
Dative	τέῳ
Genitive	τέων^{[ clarification needed ]}

Verbs

Person endings: -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.; 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 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 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]

Sample

The Iliad , lines 1–7

Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε,
πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν
ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή·
ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε
Ἀτρεΐδης 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

Poets of the Epic Cycle

Notes

↑ 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.

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References

↑ 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
↑ Kirk, G. S.; Edwards, Mark W.; Janko, Richard; Hainsworth, John Bryan; Richardson, Nicholas James (1985). The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 5, Books 17-20. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31208-0.
↑ Pharr, Clyde (1920). Homeric Greek, a book for beginners. D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers. p. xxii.
↑ Reece, Steve (2011-01-01). "Homeric Encyclopaedia: Digressions; Epithets; Hapax Legomena; Hospitality; Metacharacterism; Type-Scenes". Homeric Encyclopedia (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011).

Bibliography

Pharr, 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.