Attic Greek? |
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Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek. It differs from most Greek dialects, including Doric, by frequently changing long ā to ē; from Ionic in not changing all of them. The Homeric dialect was an artificial compound, which resembled Ionic; but it also differed from Attic in losing the augment on the past tenses, and much more frequent use of the dual and other archaic forms. The later Koiné was largely Attic; but Attic differed from it, and most other dialects in saying "tt" for "ss" (e.g. tettares tattomenoi for tessares tassomenoi).
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Grammar
Nouns
Attic Greek nouns have three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative). The two major noun declensions are the vowel declension and the consonant declension. The vowel declension is split into the alpha-declension and the omicron-declension. There is also the minor consonant declension.
Alpha Declension
The alpha declension is predominantly, but not exclusively, feminine. Nouns belonging to the alpha declension have stems ending in alpha, short or long. In certain circumstances the alpha may change its length or become eta.
In the table below of feminine nouns there are three examples: long-alpha stem (ᾱ-stems), short-alpha stems (α-stems), and a stems which can end in eta (η-stems).
| Feminine | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᾱ-stems (χώρᾱ 'land') | α-stems (Μοῦςα 'Muse') | η-stems (τῑμή 'honor') | |||||||
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative | χώρᾱ | χώρᾱ | χώραι | Μοῦσα | Μούσᾱ | Μοῦσαι | τῑμή | τῑμᾱ́ | τῑμαί |
| Vocative | χώρᾱ | χώρᾱ | χώραι | Μοῦσα | Μούσᾱ | Μοῦσαι | τῑμή | τῑμᾱ́ | τῑμαί |
| Accusative | χώρᾱν | χώρᾱ | χώρᾱς | Μοῦσαν | Μούσᾱ | Μούσᾱς | τῑμήν | τῑμᾱ́ | τῑμᾱ́ς |
| Genitive | χώρᾱς | χώραιν | χώρῶν | Μούσης | Μούσαιν | Μουσῶν | τῑμῆς | τῑμαιν | τῑμῶν |
| Dative | χώρᾳ | χώραιν | χώραις | Μούσῃ | Μούσαιν | Μούσαις | τῑμῇ | τῑμαιν | τῑμαῖς |
The short alpha stem is not present in masculine nouns, thus only ᾱ-stems and η-stems are declined.
| Masculine | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᾱ-stems (ταμίᾱς steward) | η-stems (ποιπτής poet) | ||||||||
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
| Nominative | ταμίᾱς | ταμίᾱ | ταμίαι | ποιπτής | ποιπτᾱ́ | ποιπταί | |||
| Vocative | ταμίᾱ | ταμίᾱ | ταμίαι | ποιπτ | ποιπτᾱ | ποιπταί | |||
| Accusative | ταμίᾱν | ταμίᾱ | ταμίᾱς | ποιπτήν | ποιπτᾱ́ | ποιπτάς | |||
| Genitive | ταμίου | ταμίαιν | ταμίῶν | ποιπτοῦ | ποιπταῖν | ποιπτῶν | |||
| Dative | ταμίᾳ | ταμίαιν | ταμίαις | ποιπτῇ | ποιπταῖν | ποιπταῖς | |||
Omicron Declension
Nouns in the omicron declension can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, though they are predominantly masculine and neuter. Masculine and feminine nouns are declined alike.
| Masculine and Feminine stems (λόγος 'word') | Neuter stems (δῶρον 'gift') | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative | λόγος | λόγω | λόγοι | δῶρον | δώρω | δῶρα |
| Vocative | λόγε | λόγω | λόγοι | δῶρον | δώρω | δῶρα |
| Accusative | λόγον | λόγω | λόγους | δῶρον | δώρω | δῶρα |
| Genitive | λόγον | λόγοιν | λόγων | δώρου | δώροιν | δῶρων |
| Dative | λόγῳ | λόγοιν | λόγοις | δώρῳ | δώροιν | δῶροις |
The Article
Attic Greek has only a definite article, which declines with its noun. It does not have an indefinite article which can be translated as "a(n)," "some," or "a certain." Frequently proper names take the definite article. A common construction is a definite article followed by a definite article in the gentive, the noun in the genitive, and finally the noun of the first article. For example: τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔργον. Translated literally as "the (of the man) deed", or more clearly rendered in English: "The deed of the man."
The definite article is declined thus:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative | ὁ | τώ | οἱ | ἡ | τά | αἱ | τό | τώ | τά |
| Accusative | τόν | τώ | τούς | τήν | τά | τάς | τό | τώ | τά |
| Genitive | τοῦ | τοῖν | τῶν | τῆς | ταῖν | τῶν | τοῦ | τοῖν | τῶν |
| Dative | τῷ | τοῖν | τοῖς | τῇ | ταῖν | ταῖς | τῷ | τοῖν | τοῖς |
Verbs
Verbs have three numbers (singular, dual, plural), three persons (first person, second person, third person), seven tenses (present, imperfect, aorist, future, present perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect), two aspects (simple (or aorist) and continuous), three voices (active voice, middle voice, passive voice), and four moods (indicative mood, imperative mood, subjunctive mood, optative mood). Note that the aorist construction is more than a tense: with the augment it is a tense and an aspect: past simple; without the augment (as is the case for participles, infinitives, and imperatives) it signifies simple aspect only.
See also
| History of the Greek language (see also: Greek alphabet) |
| Proto-Greek (c3000BC)
|
| Mycenaean (c1600BC-1100BC)
|
| Ancient Greek Dialects: Ionic, Attic, Doric, Aeolic |
| Koine Greek (from c323 BC)
|
| Medieval Greek (c330-1453)
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| Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Tsakonic, Pontic, Katharevousa |
References
- Goodwin, William W. (1879). Greek Grammar, Macmillan Education Ltdw/ ISBN 0-892-4111-8-X
- Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar, Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-36250-0