Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/261

* GREEK LANGUAGE. 227 GREEK LANGUAGE. tract icin ami admits successive vowel sounds. It includes: (a) Old Ionic, the language of the Homeric poems, and uf cjiic poolrv in general, a dialect partly artificial and probably never spoken at any one time. (6) New Ionic, the spoken language of the Ionian cities, with many local variations, but show- ing a jirefcrcnce for k instead of ir in pronominal roots (kolos, k6(7os ^^ Att. woios. 7r6(rost, trfipicnt lireference tor a instead ol'ai; urou {6uina, <ji'=Att. davfia^o^p) ,i d liislike of aspirates (^Tropai', o^Ko/iai = .tt. ((popan, S^xofiai). Tliis is the language of the early logographers, of Herodotus and Hippocrates. (2) Attic. — Closely related to Ionic, but dif- fering from it in the retention of a in certain positions (TrpdrTcu, fjLavla={on. Trp^trtrw, fjiavi-q), and in a marked tcnck'iicy to contraction of vowels. This is the principal literary dialect, used in the works of Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, the dram- atists and the orators. It is commonly taken by grammarians as the norm, and the other dialects are regarded as variants, although there is no historical justitication for such a proceed- ing. Doric. — Doric was spoken on the Isthmus, in the greater part of the Peloponnesus, Corcyra, Magna Gra;cia, Sicily, Cyrene, Crete, Byzantium, Rhodes, the southwestern corner of Asia Minor, Melos. and some of the other islands of the .lilgean. It is, in the main, the language of Pindar and Theocritus. It is characterized by ( 1 ) retention of a where the Attic prefers ij (judTT)/) ^ Att. fi'fiTrip) : (2) formation of the gen. plu. in S.V, gen. sing. masc. in a (TroXiraf, iroKlra^ Att. iroXiTwv, TToXirov ) ; (.3) /xfs, for fxev, in first pers. plu., vTi in third pers. (jJKOiiies, €x<»'"< ^ -^tt. fiKOfifv. ex"""''' ! ( -t ) formation of the future in cr^u. irii; (5 ) contraction of ae tor;. A special group of dialects (sometimes called Northern Doric) is to be recognized in the inscriptions of Phocis, Locris, and the neighboring districts. JEolic. — The dialect of .^^;olis (Northern Asia Minor). With this are commonly grouped the dialects of Boeotia and Thessaly, although they difter from it in many particulars. The poems of .lc;ieus and Sappho were written in .-Eolic, as well as three idyls of Theocritus. The dialect is characterized by (1) an objection to oxytones {k6.o$. ffd/poi, aCToi^.tt. Kas, coipSj, avrds) ; (2) frequent objection to an initial rough breath- ing (fxepos, {'fiij.es = Att. ?repos, vfieis) ; (3) in- stability of vowel sounds, combined with a fond- ness for I and v sounds ( ir(pcs, iiivij.a=Att. TiTTCLpe!. 6vofia) ; (4) preference for oi instead of ov where lioth arose from original ov (XlTroura, Tort=.tt. XiiroCfl-a, Toiis ) . The closely related group of .Orcadian and Cyprian was formerly classified as .-Eolic. but is now placed in a sep- arate category by conservative scholars. Relation to the Primitive (Indo-Eueopean) Language. The Greek vowels usually represent similar sounds in the parent language. In many cases, however, they are of secondary origin, no- tably the characteristic Ionic and .ttie t;, which not only represents orig. c (/i^i>^I.,at. mensis), but also orig. a (.tt. >-ny6s^T>or. <piiy6s, Lat. faf/iifs). Short a before or after X. ^.;<, or p is often derived from an original sonant liquid or nasal (irarpacri = Skt. pitr-su) . The diphthongs ai. et, 01, av, (V, and ov often represent corresponding sounds in the parent language ( oiprj, T.at. oinus, unus; ai!|tlK.) = Lat. auyeo) ; often, however, they are the result of a chance concurrence of two vowels, frequently due to the loss of an interven- ing consonant (el, from ^[) ; elsewhere they are of secondary origin ( fxfSiot, from pdMios, cipfu, from (TttK'fo)). .Vjipaieiit ly tju and vt were not original, but new formations during Die indepen- dent existence of (ircck. Often « and oi' arc not Inic diphthongs at all (see below). t)f tlii' con- sonants, p, 7, S, IT, K, T, and a- usually represent the same sounds in the parent language. ^, x. ^ usually rci)resent orig. bh, yh, and (III ((pipa, XfiMW", T^Tj/ixir^ 8kt. bhtirati, himd, dadhdmi) . The liipiids X and p correspond, as a. rule, to 1. E. / and r (apbia, KKiui ^ Lat. aro, duo) ; p. and v are commonly equivalent to I. E. la and n, al- though at the end of words v frequently represents orig. Ill ( j'i<7i5i'= Skt. ijuijihn, Lat. juyuin). Ini- tial f=:y (cf. j'"ii74>'), but f usually represents a com- bination of 5 or 7 with i ; f and ^are simply con- ventional symbols for a palatal (t, 7, x) or a labial (t, /3, 0) mute with a. f, when it appears, represents I. E. v, Eng. w (/:o(/cos=:Skt. vCsd, Lat. vlcus) . The rough breathing never corre- sponds to I. E. h, but often marks the loss of one or more consonants (iiX!=:Lat. sal, Eng. salt ; ijdvs, orig.* <r/ra5i/s =; Lat. suadvis, suavis, Eng. sweet) . Phonetic Changes. Many changes in the form of Greek words are to be traced to phonetic causes. The most important of the changes are: (1) Loss of consonants. f, al- though retained in some dialects until compara- tively late times, shows a constant tendency to disappear {ohos, orig. *fOivoi, cf. Lat. vinum; (ISov, orig. 'ifiSov, Lat. vidi) ; <r disappears at the beginnin,g of words and between vowcls|f7n-d:=: Lat. septem, -yivovs, from *7£i'e(ros, through *7e«os^ Lat. generis) ; even irf h;is disappeared in some cases (I5pijs=Lat. sudor, Eng. sweat). At the end of words, consonants are often lost, owing to the law that only k, p, and o- can terminate a word (nom. SpxaiK, from stem apxai-T-) ; t, 5, and $, regularly disappear before a iJXttIs, for *A- 7ri5-s) ; as well as p {dalpo(n, for *Saip.ov-(ri), and the combinations vt, vS, vB {yiya!, ior -YiyavT-!). (2) Vliangc of consonants. The combination of a consonant and t (representing an original semi-consonant /) is the cause of many changes: 5i becomes f(0pdfw for *i/)pa3iM); ict and x' become (T(r, Att. TT (0uXd(r(rw, Att. ^vXdTTio, for *0uXaKt£j); 7i becomes sometimes .V the addition of an i (the so-called epenthesis, i.e. tpalpa, for *0ai'iw). The vowel i sometimes changes a preceding t to a((f>^pov<n. Dor. 0^poi/Ti:=: Lat. fcrtint). Before /i, — tt, /3, and become a (XAfi^/iOi for *tfnr-/xai) : k and x become 7 iw^weyp.ai.. for *7rcirXeK-/[iai ) ; t, 5. and S become a (ir{iTti(rp.ai for *ircwu8-p.ai). The combinations p.p and ^X arc strcngthencd liy the insertion of /3 (p.^fipoKa for *;ut/iXu(fa) ; and po is strengthened l.y the insertion of 5 (di'Spis for ^di/pos) ; :it the be- ginning of a word, such p. or 1/ is diojipcd (/3poT4$ tor *pPpoTos, cf. Lat. inon'or) . {^) Loss of roirels. (Sometimes becomes consonant ) and is then lost CAS-rifda for ^Adripala) . So, too, u between two
 * dXiosz=l.at. »/iHs); pl and pi become wand pp, with