masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

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Bert
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masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

Post by Bert »

In pharr paragraph 724 it says: "The masculine form of many adjectives is often used for both masculine and feminine, even in the case of those which have seperate forms for the feminine".<br />My question is; Did this continue to happen in later dialects, specifically in koine?<br />Thank you in advance.

annis
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Re:masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

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Background<br /><br />Many adjectives (especially those that are compound) decline the same (often the 2nd declension) for M and F, and like 2nd neuter for N. Sometimes this is spoken of as "adjectives of two terminations" or "two endings."<br /><br />So, "deathless" [size=150]ἀθάνατος, ‐ον, because it is a compound (that a- bit at the front, meaning -less, along with the thanatos part), it only has two sets of endings: one for M and F, one for N. Thus, "The Deathless Muses" would be [size=150]αἱ ἀθάνατοι μοῦσαι.<br /><br />But you should think of these adjectives as sharing a single declension for both M and F, rather than thinking of them as taking masculine adjectives for feminine nouns. Keep in mind that the noun [size=150]νόσος "disease" is grammatically feminine, though it also takes the 2nd declension. Don't wed gender to declension too tightly - there are always exceptions.<br /><br />Homer regularly gives 2-ending adjectives a first declension feminine form when it suits him to do so. Other poets take similar liberties.<br /><br />These 2-ending adjectives survive in Attic, and in Koine, Greek. In the Koine you find more of them shifting allegiance to the 3-ending systems, but a quick look at my NT dictionary shows the 2-ending system was still robust.<br /><br />However<br /><br />While poets, imitating Epic diction, might have used 3-declension adjectives like 2-declension systems, I don't believe this practice existed in later Greek. Smyth gives no guidance except to say poets can do this, but that it does rarely occur in prose.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Bert
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Re:masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

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[quote author=William Annis link=board=2;threadid=266;start=0#1531 date=1058487802]<br /> <br /><br />So, "deathless" [size=150]ἀθάνατος, ‐ον, because it is a compound (that a- bit at the front, meaning -less, along with the thanatos part), it only has two sets of endings: one for M and F, one for N. Thus, "The Deathless Muses" would be [size=150]αἱ ἀθάνατοι μοῦσαι.<br />But you should think of these adjectives as sharing a single declension for both M and F, rather than thinking of them as taking masculine adjectives for feminine nouns. <br /><br />The Greek-English vocabulary at the back of the book lists "deathless" as [size=150]ἀθάνατος, η, ον so I would have expected to see;[size=150]αἱ ἀθάναται μοῦσαι.<br />With adjectives like [size=150]πλείων, ον or [size=150]τίς, τί I would not look for a noun to be either masc. or fem. because these are listed as sharing a single declension for m. and f.<br /><br />[quote author=William Annis link=board=2;threadid=266;start=0#1531 date=1058487802]<br /> <br /><br /> <br />Homer regularly gives 2-ending adjectives a first declension feminine form when it suits him to do so. Other poets take similar liberties.<br /><br /> Is this the reason "deathless" is listed with a feminine form?[/quote][/quote]

annis
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Re:masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

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[quote author=Bert de Haan link=board=2;threadid=266;start=0#1538 date=1058498699]<br />[quote author=William Annis link=board=2;threadid=266;start=0#1531 date=1058487802]<br /> <br />Homer regularly gives 2-ending adjectives a first declension feminine form when it suits him to do so. Other poets take similar liberties.<br /><br /> Is this the reason "deathless" is listed with a feminine form?[/quote]<br /><br />I would say so, yes. In my L&S dictionary it's listed as a two ending form, but then says, "Epic also [size=150]‐η, ‐ον indicating some flexibility the Epic poets had with this particular adjective. [size=150]ἄπρακτος, ον is listed as having only the two.<br /><br />Perhaps only certain usually 2-ending adjectives were used by the poets with a separate feminine form. That'd take some research.[/quote]
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Bert
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Re:masc. adjectives with fem. nouns

Post by Bert »

Thank you very much!

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