24 Rules Relating to Homeric Language (R)

The following compilation of the characteristics of Homeric language emphasizes its deviations from Attic grammar. Linguistic notes are included only exceptionally (but can be found in the 'Grammar of Homeric Greek' [G] in the Prolegomena volume; references to the relevant paragraphs of that chapter are here shown in the right margin).

R 1 Homeric language is an artificial language, characterized by: G 1.1 meter (which can result in a variety of remodellings); 3 1.2 the technique of oral poetry (frequently repeated content is rendered in formulae, often with metrically different variants); 3 1.3 different dialects: Ionic is the basic dialect; interspersed are forms from other dialects, particularly Aeolic (so-called Aeolicisms) that often provide variants according to 1.1 and 1.2. 2 Phonology, meter, prosody R 2 Sound change of ? > ?: In the Ionic dialect, old ? has changed to ?; in non-Attic Ionic (i.e. also in Homer), this occurs also after e, ?, ? (1.30: p?t???). 5-8 When ? is nonetheless found in Homer, it is generally: 2.1 'late', i.e. it developed after the Ionic-Attic sound change (1.3: ?????); 2.2 or adopted from the Aeolic poetic tradition (1.1: ?e?). R 3 Vowel shortening: Long vowels (esp. ?) before another vowel (esp. ?/?/a) in medial position are frequently shortened, although not consistently (e.g. gen. pl. ßas????? rather than the metrically impossible four-syllable -???; the related phenomenon of quantitative metathesis [lengthening of a short second vowel] does often not occur [e.g. gen. sing. ßas????? rather than -???]). 39?f. R 4 Digamma (?): The Ionic dialect of Homer no longer used the phoneme /w/ (like Engl. will). The phoneme is, however, 4.1 attested in Mycenaean, as well as in some dialects still in the alphabetic period (Mycenaean ko-wa /korwa/, Corinthian ????a); 19 4.2 in part deducible etymologically (e.g. Homeric ????? - with compensatory lengthening after the disappearance of the digamma - in contrast to Attic ????). 27 In addition, digamma can often be deduced in Homer on the basis of the meter; thus in the case of: 4.3 hiatus (see R 5) without elision (1.7: ?t?e?d?? te (?)??a?); 22 4.4 hiatus without shortening of a long vowel at word end (1.321: t? (?)??, cf. R 5.5); 21 4.5 a single consonant 'making position' (1.70: ?? (?)e?d?). 24 4.6 Occasionally, digamma is no longer taken into account (1.21: ???? ???ß????, originally ?e?-). 26 R 5 Hiatus: The clash of a vocalic word end with a vocalic word beginning (hiatus 'gaping') is avoided through: 5.1 elision: short vowels and -a? in endings of the middle voice are elided (1.14: st?µµat' ????; 1.117: ß????µ' ???; 5.33: µ???as?' ?pp?t????s?), occasionally also -?? in µ??/s?? (1.170); hiatus that results from elision is left unchanged (1.2: ???e' ????e?); 30/37 5.2 ny ephelkystikon (movable ny): only after a short vowel (e and ?), esp. dat. pl. -s?(?); 3rd sing. impf./aor./perf. -e(?); 3rd sing. and pl. -s?(?); the modal particle ?e(?); the suffix -f?(?), cf. R 11.4; the suffix -?e(?), cf. R 15.1. ny ephelkystikon also provides metrically convenient variants; 33 5.3 contraction across word boundaries (noted as crasis: t???a, ??µe??). 31 - Hiatus is admissible predominantly in the case of: 5.4 loss of digamma (cf. R 4.3); 34 5.5 so-called correption: a long vowel/diphthong at word end is shortened (1.17: ?t?e?da? te ?a? ????? ?????µ?de?; 1.15 [with synizesis: R 7]: ???s??? ??? s??pt??); 35 5.6 metrical caesura or more generally a semantic break; 36 5.7 after words ending in -? and 'small words' such as p?? and ?. 37 R 6 Vocalic contraction (e.g. following the loss of intervocalic /w/ [digamma], /s/ or /j/) is frequently not carried out in Homeric Greek (1.74: ???ea? [2nd sing. mid., instead of Attic -?]; 1.103: µ??e?? [gen. sing., instead of -???]). 43-45 R 7 Synizesis: Occasionally, two vowels are to be read as a single syllable, especially in the case of quantitative metathesis (1.1: ??????de??: R 3) but also in the gen. pl. -???? (synizesis is indicated by a sublinear curved line connecting the affected vowels, 1.18: ?e???.). 46 R 8 Diectasis: Contracted forms (e.g. ????te?) may be 'stretched' (?????te?); the metrically necessary prosodic shape of older uncontracted forms (*?????te?, ?-?) is thus artificially reconstructed. Similarly, the aor. inf. -e?? is written -?e?? (rather than the older *-?e?). 48 R 9 Change in consonant quantity creates metrically convenient variants (which usually derive originally from different dialects: R 1.3): 9.1 t?s(s)??, p?s(s)?, ?d?s(s)e??, ?s(s)es?a?, te??s(s)a?; ????(?)e??; ?p(p)??, etc. 17 9.2 Variation at word beginning creates similar flexibility in p(t)??eµ??, p(t)????. 18 R 10 Adaptation to the meter: Three (or more) short syllables in a row, or a single short between two longs (both metrically impossible), are avoided by: 49?f. 10.1 metrical lengthening (?????at??, d???e???, ???ea rather than ??ea; µ??ea p?e???te? rather than p??-); 10.2 changes in word formation (p??eµ????...