In
Ancient Greek grammar
Ancient Greek grammar is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected.
A comp ...
, a barytone is a word without any
accent on the
last syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
. Words with an acute or
circumflex
The circumflex () is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from "bent around"a translation of ...
on the second-to-last or third-from-last syllable are barytones, as well as words with no accent on any syllable:
*τις 'someone' (unaccented)
*ἄνθρωπος 'person' (
proparoxytone
In linguistics, a proparoxytone (, ) is a word with stress on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable, such as the English language, English words "cinema" and "operational". Related concepts are paroxytone (stress on the penultimate syllable) ...
)
*μήτηρ 'mother' (
paroxytone
In linguistics, a paroxytone (, ') is a word with stress on the penultimate syllable, that is, the second-to-last syllable, such as the English language, English word ''potáto''.
In English, most words ending in ''-ic'' are paroxytones: ''músic ...
)
*μοῦσα 'muse' (
properispomenon)
Etymology
Like the word
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
, it comes from
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 ...
''barýtonos'', from ''barýs'' 'heavy; low' and ''tónos'' 'pitch; sound'.
See also
*
Pitch accent
A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...
*
Oxytone
In linguistics, an oxytone (; from the , ', 'sharp-sounding') is a word with the stress on the last syllable, such as the English words ''correct'' and ''reward''.
It contrasts with a paroxytone, stressed on the penultimate (second-last) syll ...
*
Ultima (linguistics)
References
Herbert Weir Smyth
Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom h ...
. ''Greek Grammar''
paragraph 158
Phonology
Greek grammar
Ancient Greek
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