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.
Eureka
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 741 Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:52 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Post
by Eureka » Tue Jul 20, 2004 4:54 am
I'm hoping someone can explain what this German symbol is doing on my Greek words.
i.e.
What do these two dots mean:
ι5 ?
And what are they called?
Paul
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 708 Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2003 4:47 pm
Location: Maryland
Contact:
Post
by Paul » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:12 am
Hi Eureka,
The two dots over a vowel - called a diaeresis mark - mean that the vowel doesn't form a diphthong with the preceding vowel.
E.g., in the patronymic from Iliad 1.1 - πηληϊάδεω - the second eta and the following iota make two distinct sounds.
Cordially,
Paul
Eureka
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 741 Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:52 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Post
by Eureka » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:39 am
Thanks, Paul.
For the metre's sake, it looks like ηϊ is still just one syllable.
Paul
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 708 Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2003 4:47 pm
Location: Maryland
Contact:
Post
by Paul » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:25 pm
Hi,
I'm no expert in meter (or anything else for that matter) but I'm pretty sure that the second eta and subsequent iota (with diaeresis) are sounded as two distinct vowels.
But, by synizesis, the εω sequence at the end of the patroynmic makes a single vowel sound.
Cordially,
Paul
Bert
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1889 Joined: Sat May 31, 2003 2:28 am
Location: Arthur Ontario Canada
Post
by Bert » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:06 am
Paul wrote: Hi,
I'm no expert in meter (or anything else for that matter)....
Uh... Don't believe everything he says.
Eureka
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 741 Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:52 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Post
by Eureka » Wed Jul 21, 2004 10:59 am
Paul wrote: But, by synizesis, the εω sequence at the end of the patroynmic makes a single vowel sound.
That
is suprising.