Homeric Greek

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Homeric Greek

Homeric Greek is the form of Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
that was used by Homer

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
in the Iliad

ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
and Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek

Ionic Greek

Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek .Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C....
, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek

Aeolic Greek

Aeolic or Aeolian Greek is a Linguistics term used to describe a set of rather Archaic period in Greece Greek language sub-dialects, spoken mainly in Boeotia , in Lesbos Island and in other Greek colonies....
. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter

Dactylic hexameter

Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek language and Latin, and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry....
, of poets such as Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
. Unlike later forms of the language, Homeric Greek did not have available in most circumstances a true definite article

Definite Article

Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England....
. Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 3rd century AD, though its decline was inevitable with the rise of Koine Greek

Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek....
.

irregular forms are provided, omitted forms can usually be predicted by following patterns seen in Ionic Greek.

Nouns

First Declension

Nominative Singular: ends in -?, even after ?,e, and ?.

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Encyclopedia

Homeric Greek is the form of Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
in the Iliad

ILiad

Odyssey

Ionic Greek

Aeolic Greek

Dactylic hexameter

Hesiod

Definite Article

Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the popular form of Greek which emerged in post-Classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek....
.

Main Features

Only irregular forms are provided, omitted forms can usually be predicted by following patterns seen in Ionic Greek.

Nouns

First Declension

Nominative Singular: ends in -?, even after ?,e, and ?. For Example, ????, rather than ???a. However, some nouns do end in -a.

Genitive Plural: usually ends in -a?? or -e??. For example, ??µf???, rather than ??µf??.

Dative Plural: almost always ends in -?s? or -??. For example, p???s?? is equivalent to p??a??.

Certain first declension nouns may end in -a (?pp?ta) rather than -?? (?a?t??, ?t?e?d??). For Example, ?pp?ta, rather than ?pp?t??.

Genitive Singular of these nouns ends in -a? or -e?, rather than -??. For example, ?t?e?da?, as opposed to ?t?e?d??.

Second Declension

Genitive Singular: ends in -???, as well as -??. For example, ped????, as well as ped???.

Genitive and Dative Dual: ends in -????. Thus, ?pp???? appears, rather than ?pp???.

Dative Plural: ends in -??s? and -???. For example, f?????s? , as well as f??????.

Third Declension

Accusative Singular: ends in -??, as well as -?da. For example, ??a???p??, as well as ??a???p?da.

Nouns commonly ending in -ea become -?a. For example, ßas???a is equivalent to Homeric ßas???a.

The common Genitive Singular ending -e?? can become either -??? or -???. For example, ßas????? is equivalent to Homeric ßas?????; while is p??e?? equivalent to p?????.

The common Accusative Singular ending -ea? corresponds to Homeric -?a?. For example, ßas???a? becomes ßas???a?.

The common Genitive Plural ending -e?? becomes -???. For example, ßas????? is equivalent to ßas?????.

Dative Plural: ends in -ess? and -s?. For example, p?dess? or ?pess?.

Pronouns

First Person Singular (I)

Genitive Singular: ?µe??, ?µ??, ?µe?, µe?, ?µ??e?.

First Person Plural (We)

Accusative Plural: ?µ?a?, ?µµe.

Genitive Plural: ?µe???, ?µ???.

Dative Plural: ?µµ?(?)

Second Person Singular (You)

Genitive Singular: se??, s??, se?, se?, s??e?.

Second Person Plural (You)

Accusative Plural: ?µ?a?, ?µµe.

Genitive Plural: ?µe???, ?µ???.

Dative Plural: ?µµ?(?)

Third Person Singular Masculine (Him)

Nominative Singular: ?.

Genitive Singular:e??, ??, e?, ??e?.

Dative Singular: ???, ??.

Third Person Plural (Them)

Accusative Plural: sfe, sf?a?, sfa?.

Genitive Plural: sfe???, sf???.

Dative Plural: sf?, sf?s?.

Third Person Singular Pronoun (He, She, It) (The Relative) OR Singular Article (The) (This is rare)

Nominative Singular: ?, ?, t?. (etc.)

Third Person Plural Pronoun (He, She, It) (The Relative) OR Plural Article (The) (This is rare)

Nominative Plural: ??, a?, t??, ta?.

Dative Plural: t???, t??s?, t??, t?s?, ta??.

Interrogative Pronoun Singular and Plural (Who, What, Which)

Nominative Singular: t??.

Accusative Singular: t??a.

Genitive Singular: t??, te?.

Dative Singular: t??.

Genitive Plural: t???.

A Note on Nouns

I. Take note of the Homeric alternation between -s- and -ss-. This can be of metrical use. For example, t?s?? and t?ss?? are equivalent; µ?s?? and µ?ss??; p?s? and p?ss?.

II. The ending -f? (-?f?) can be used for the Dative Singular and Plural of nouns and adjectives (occasionally for the Genitive Singular and Plural, as well). For example, ß??f? (...by force), da????f?? (...with tears), and ???sf?? (...in the mountains).

Verbs

Person Endings

-? appears rather than -sa?. For example, ?sta? for ?st?sa? in the Third Person Plural Active.

The Third Plural Middle/Passive often ends in -ata? or -at?; for example, ?at? is equivalent to ??t?.

Tenses

Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, ???? appears instead of ??? or te??? instead of te??s?.

Present or Imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the letters -s?- penultimate with the ending. For example, f??es???: 'they kept on running away'

Aorist or Imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, ß???? may appear instead of ?ßa???. Resultantly, necessary adjustments may need to be made in compounds; in this vein, ?µßa?e would appear instead of ???ßa?e.

Moods

Subjunctive

The Subjunctive appears with a short vowel. Thus, the form ??µe?, rather than ??µe?.

The Second Singular Middle Subjunctive ending appears as both -?a? and -ea?.

The Third Singular Active Subjunctive ends in -s?. Thus, we see the form f??e?s?, instead of f???.

Occasionally, the Subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks.

Infinitive

The infinitive appears with the endings -µe?, -µe?a?, and -?a?, in place of -e?? and -?a?. For example, d?µe?a? for d???a?; ?µe? instead of ???a?; ?µe?, ?µµe?, or ?µµe?a? for e??a?; and ?????µe?(a?) in place of ????e??.

Contracted Verbs

In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an -?-, Homeric Greek will use -??- or -??- in place of -a?-. For example, Attic ????te? becomes ?????te?.

Similarly, in places where -ae- contracts to -a- or -ae?- contracts to -?-, Homeric Greek will show either aa or a?.

Adverbs

Adverbial Suffixes

-de: conveys a sense of 'to where'; p??eµ??de: 'to the war'

-d??: conveys a sense of 'how'; ??a???d??: 'with cries'

-?e?: conveys a sense of 'from where'; ????e?: 'from above'

-??:conveys a sense of 'where'; ?????: 'on high'

Particles

??a, ??, ?a: force conveys transition: 'so' or 'next'

d?: force conveys emphasis: 'indeed'

?: force conveys emphasis: 'surely'

pe?: force conveys emphasis: 'just' or 'even'

te: force conveys a general remark or a connective: 'and'

t??: force conveys assertion: 'I tell you ...'

Sample

The Iliad

ILiad

Robert Fitzgerald

Robert Stuart Fitzgerald was a poet, critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students." He was best known as a translator of ancient Greek language and Latin....
(1974):

Anger be now your song, immortal one,

Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous,

that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss

and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,

leaving so many dead men--carrion

for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.

Begin it when the two men first contending

broke with one another--

the Lord Marshal

Agamemnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus.

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope is generally regarded as the greatest England poet of the eighteenth century, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer....
(1720):

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring

Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!

That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign

The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;

Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore,

Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.

Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove!

Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (novelist)

Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian era author who published a variety of works, including the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh , his two best-known works, but also extending to examinations of Christianity orthodoxy, substantive studies of history of evolutionary thought, studies of Italia...
:

Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a prolific Scotland man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the folkloristics of folklore and fairy tales....
:

Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles.

Robert Fagles

Robert Fagles was an United States professor, Poetry of the United States, and Academia, best known for his many translations of ancient Greece classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the Epic poetry of Homer....
:

Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,

murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,

great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,

feasts for the dogs and birds,

and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.

Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,

Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.

External links

has interlinear versions of the Iliad and Odyssey for the Palm Pilot
The Chicago Homer http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer provides a Web-based interface for studying Homer (and Hesiod) suitable for beginners or experts

Books

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.

Homeric Greek

Main Features

Sample

See also

External links

Books