Homeric Greek is the form of the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

that was used in the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'', ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', and ''Homeric Hymns''. It is a literary dialect of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

consisting mainly of an archaic form of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

. It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of

epic poetry In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard t ...

, 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 D and it only fell out of use by the end of

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

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 Ionic or Ionian Greek () was a subdialect of the Eastern or Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek. The Ionic group traditionally comprises three dialectal varieties that were spoken in Euboea (West Ionic), the northern Cyclades (Centr ...

, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long to . Exceptions include nouns like ("a goddess"), and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns. For example ("of goddesses"), and ("of the son of Atreus").

Nouns

; First declension : The

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...

singular of most feminine nouns ends in , rather than long , even after , , and (an Ionic feature): for . However, and some names end in long . : Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short rather than (, ): for Attic . : The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in or (rarely - only after vowels - ), rather than : for Attic .Some suggest that may have originally been the more expected , with later being transcribed under the influence of other (literary) dialects, whilst others suggest that may have been an Aeolic form. Alternatively, it may be that as of the Homeric period, original ᾱ had not yet merged with η in front of ο or ω, and was instead still pronounced �ː Then, in later Ionic, when vernacular �ːoand �ːɔːhad disappeared via metathesis to ɔː the metrically-constrained ᾱο of epic poetry came to be pronounced ːo (See and for expected and .) : The genitive plural usually ends in or : for Attic . for expected would occur for the reasons given in Note 1. : The dative plural almost always ends in or : for Attic . ; Second declension : Genitive singular: ends in , as well as . For example, , as well as . : Genitive and dative dual: ends in . Thus, appears, rather than . : Dative plural: ends in (ν) and . For example, , as well as . ; Third declension : Accusative singular: ends in , as well as . For example, , as well as . : Dative plural: ends in and . For example, or . : 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 instead of , instead of :* instead of :* instead of :* instead of : Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings: :* alternates with A note on nouns: * After short vowels, the reflex of Proto-Greek *''ts'' can alternate between and in Homeric Greek. This can be of metrical use. For example, and are equivalent; and ; and . * A relic of the Proto-Greek instrumental case, the ending (ν) ((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, (...by force), (...with tears), and (...in the mountains).

Pronouns

* Third-person singular pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or rarely singular article ("the"): * Third-person plural pronoun ("they") (the relative) or rarely plural article ("the"): nominative , dative .

Verbs

; Person endings : appears rather than . For example, for in the third-person plural active. : The third plural middle/passive often ends in or ; for example, is equivalent to . ; Tenses : Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, appears instead of or instead of . : Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the suffix before the ending. For example, : 'they kept on running away' : Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, may appear instead of , and may appear instead of . : 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 Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

and

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

. ; Subjunctive : The subjunctive appears with a short vowel. Thus, the form , rather than . : The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both and . : The third singular active subjunctive ends in (ν). Thus, we see the form , instead of . : Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks. ; Infinitive : The infinitive appears with the endings , , and , in place of and . For example, for ; instead of ; , , or for ; and in place of . ; Contracted verbs : In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an , Homeric Greek will use or in place of . For example, Attic becomes . : Similarly, in places where contracts to or contracts to , Homeric Greek will show either or .

Adverbs

; Adverbial suffixes : conveys a sense of 'to where'; 'to war' : conveys a sense of 'how'; 'with cries' : conveys a sense of 'from where'; 'from above' : conveys a sense of 'where'; 'on high'

Particles

: 'so' or 'next' (transition) : 'and' (a general remark or a connective) ; Emphatics : 'indeed' : 'surely' : 'just' or 'even' : 'I tell you ...' (assertion)

Other features

In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true

definite article In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

. , , and their inflected forms do occur, but they are in origin and usually used as demonstrative pronouns.

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. According to classical scholar Clyde Pharr, "the ''Iliad'' has 1097 ''hapax legomena'', while the ''Odyssey'' has 868". Others have defined the term differently, however, and count as few as 303 in the ''Iliad'' and 191 in the ''Odyssey''.

Sample

The ''

'', 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

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

* Hesiod * Theognis of Megara * Apollonius Rhodius * Quintus Smyrnaeus * Nonnus * Author(s) of the Homeric Hymns

Poets of the Epic Cycle

* Stasinus * Arctinus of Miletus * Lesches * Agias * Eumelus of Corinth * Eugammon of Cyrene * Musaeus of Athens

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Pharr, Clyde. ''Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, new edition, 1959. Revised edition: John Wright, 1985.
First edition of 1920 in public domain.
*