Digammatic words

[annis]

I have sometimes wanted a list more convenient than digging into Seymour, Benner or Monro, so I produced a list from all three: Words with Digamma in Epic.

[Chris Weimer]

What's the reason for εξ (six) to be placed in this category? Does it not follow the pattern like the rest of the s->h words?

[annis]

What's the reason for εξ (six) to be placed in this category? Does it not follow the pattern like the rest of the s->h words?

I'll have to dig into that, since I simply lifted it from Seymour's list. It's true that the list I present isn't exactly "words that started with digamma" but "words which regularly cause hiatus or lengthen preceding short syllables." Most of these were w-, but some were sw-.

[swiftnicholas]

That's a great idea Will, thanks. I was surprised to see Ἴλιον on the list, I didn't realize that.

I noticed one thing in the first paragraph, "The starting point my list", presumably "of" or "for my list".

And I noticed that Ἑκάτη wasn't on the list, which would put you one up on Cunliffe. And when I checked Cunliffe just now for Ἑκάτη, to avoid looking stupid, I also noticed some words which aren't on the list, but some of these might just fall under ἑκάς....

ἑκάεÏ￾γος
á¼￾κάτεÏ￾θεν
ἑκατηβελέτης
ἑκατηβόλος
ἕκατος
ἑκηβόλος

[annis]

What's the reason for εξ (six) to be placed in this category?

Now that I've had time to check my books...

Six shows a varied ancestry among the IE languages. Some go back to *seks, some to *sweks (Sihler). Monro cites several cases of not only hiatus but syllable-closing before ἕξ which would suggest Greek was in the *sweks group.

[annis]

I noticed one thing in the first paragraph, "The starting point my list", presumably "of" or "for my list".

Drat. Thank you.

And I noticed that Ἑκάτη wasn't on the list, which would put you one up on Cunliffe.

I checked the index nominum to both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer not once mentions Hecate.

And when I checked Cunliffe just now for Ἑκάτη, to avoid looking stupid, I also noticed some words which aren't on the list, but some of these might just fall under ἑκάς....

Hmm. I should work in some comment about compounds.

[Chris Weimer]

Thanks William for the clarification. I had forgotten about the *seks v. *sweks variation. I did know that. Great job, by the way!

[annis]

Thanks William for the clarification. I had forgotten about the *seks v. *sweks variation. I did know that.

I didn't know that, so I'm happy to have done the digging.

[swiftnicholas]

I checked the index nominum to both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer not once mentions Hecate.

Well, I guess I didn't try hard enough to avoid looking stupid. But that's very interesting. I've come across it a couple of times in the Hymn to Demeter, but searching Greek hexameter on Perseus, I see that it occurs again in epic only in one section of the Theogony. At least I learned something new....

Thanks again for the list!

[Bert]

I was reviewing my vocabulary in preparation for Iliad-β when I came across δόÏ￾Ï… δουÏ￾ός Ï„á½¹
According to Cunliffe, the spelling was influenced by the Digamma.
I am not sure if this is important for the purpose of your list but I mention it in case it is.

[annis]

I was reviewing my vocabulary in preparation for Iliad-β when I came across δόÏ￾Ï… δουÏ￾ός Ï„á½¹
According to Cunliffe, the spelling was influenced by the Digamma.
I am not sure if this is important for the purpose of your list but I mention it in case it is.

I had forgotten about that one.

For the web page list I'm most interested in words which cause metrical strangeness. In the case of δόÏ￾Ï… it appears the meter has been tweaked in the manuscript tradition by a spelling change — δοÏ￾Ï￾ός > δουÏ￾ός — and shouldn't confuse beginners trying to scan.

But please do mention digammatic words to me if they're not on the list. I'm sure there are a few I've missed.

[Chris Weimer]

Does δοÏ￾Ï￾ός affect the scansion at all? I wouldn't think so...

[Bert]

What is the fourth letter in δοÏ￾Ï￾ός? (On my screen it looks like something midway between an Alpha and an Omicron.)

[Chris Weimer]

It's the digamma.

[Bert]

Thanks. So what does a lower case Digamma look like? It appears a lot like the "at" sign. (@)
And what is the keystroke for it?

[annis]

Does δοÏ￾Ï￾ός affect the scansion at all? I wouldn't think so...

I'm not sure I understand your question. Both forms scan -x.

[annis]

Thanks. So what does a lower case Digamma look like? It appears a lot like the "at" sign. (@)

Both large and small a digamma should look a lot like 'F'.

And what is the keystroke for it?

That will depend on your keyboard input method/program.

[Bert]

Thanks. So what does a lower case Digamma look like? It appears a lot like the "at" sign. (@)

Both large and small a digamma should look a lot like 'F'.

Maybe my unicode font (from Keyman) does not include any of the obsolete letters so it gives me this @ looking thing.

And what is the keystroke for it?

That will depend on your keyboard input method/program.

What is it in SPIonic.
My unicode font has very similar keying to Spionic

[annis]

What is it in SPIonic.

Uppercase 'V'.

[Bert]

But please do mention digammatic words to me if they're not on the list. I'm sure there are a few I've missed.

When I mentioned δόÏ￾Ï… δουÏ￾ός Ï„á½¹ I had missed that your list is of words beginningwith digamma.
Here are a few. (I never realized there are that many. These five are from two pages of Cunliffe.)
ῥάκος
ῥέα (ῥεῖα)
ῥέζω
ῥέπω
ῥήγνυμι

[annis]

Here are a few. (I never realized there are that many. These five are from two pages of Cunliffe.)
ῥάκος

Words starting with rho are a little difficult. Most of the time (and nearly without exception in later poetry) any final short vowel before a word starting with á¿¥ is scanned long, regardless of the etymology of the rho.

This may require another separate note at the bottom.