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Word accents

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:53 am
by psilord
Ok, I'm stuck. The accenting rules of Homeric Greek are stumping me. I read this web page http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ancgreek/ ... ation.html
but I still can't figure out how to accent simple words like [size=150]νοῦσος[/size] through the various paradigms. Can someome illustrate the exact reasoning behind the accenting of that particular word with all of its cases?

If I get good enough and detailed responses, I'm willing to collate all of them, with examples and excersizes, and make a pdf out of it.

Thanks.

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:35 am
by Paul
Hi,

Following the paradigm for νοῦσος as presented in Pharr 679, and remembering that substantives try to keep the accent in the same syllable:

Singular:

N - word is accented on the penult. Penult is long AND ultima is short -> accent is circumflex.

G - ultima is long -> accent must be acute

D - same rule as G

A - same rule as N

V - same rule as N


Dual:

N.A.V - same rule as G
G.D. - accent on antepenult (allowed only if ultima is short) must be acute

Plural:

N.V. - the oi diphthong in ultima is considered short for determining accent. Hence same rule as N singular

G - same rule as G singular

D - same rule as G.D. dual for νούσοισι or, for νούσοις, same rule as G singular

A - same rule as G singular

If your question really boils down to "why does the nominative singular take a circumflex rather than an acute?", that's harder. There is no requirement that an accented long penult followed by a short ultima must take a circumflex.

But, if you learn the form in the dictionary along with its accent, you can usually figure out how the accent changes as the word inflects.

Cordially,

Paul