tmesis in homer

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
chad
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 757
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2003 2:55 am

tmesis in homer

Post by chad »

hi, i just read that preverbs are already appended to their verbs in mycenean (i.e. pre-homeric) greek, e.g. ἀπέδωκε, ἐπιδέδαστοι.

(Yves Duhoux, Le système verbal grec: L'état mycénien, Proceedings of the Int. Colloq. in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Raphael Kühner's Ausführliche..., Amsterdam 1986)

does this mean that 'tmesis' common in homer (i.e. separating the preverb from the verb, often throwing the object inside, e.g. ... Iliad 1.25, ἐπὶ μῦθον ἔτελλεν) is not just an 'earlier stage of greek where the preverb wasn't connected yet' but an artificial literary or metrical device in homer?

i mean, has someone seen an article or something on this i could read? thanks :)



[face=Arial][/face]

chad
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 757
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2003 2:55 am

Post by chad »

sorry pls ignore above. just read in pulleyn that tmesis is found in vedic and hittite, indicating the antiquity of homer's poetic tradition, i.e. tmesis is an archaism not a literary device (unless they're the same thing here of course). :)

Post Reply