I’ve noticed that in prose, some words never elide, others (like ἀλλά) almost always do, and still others seem to elide randomly. For example, in the book I’m currently reading δὲ ἄρχεται and δ’ οὖν both show up in the same paragraph.
I have been unable to find a pattern to determine when words like δέ and με elide and the papers I have found haven’t been helpful.
Do any of you know the pattern or any books that might have the information I need?
There cannot be given any strict rules for elision coz mss are inconsistent in this respect. See Smyth 70ff.
Remark: in 74 he says that the elision of the final άι happens mostly in Aristophanes. He should have mentioned also Homer.
W. Sydney Allen, Vox Graeca 3rd ed. (Cambridge 1987), pp. 96 ff., chap. 4 “Vowel Juncture”.
In antiquity elided vowels were often written in full (“scriptio plena”), as likewise in our modern printed prose texts, but it’s safe to assume that elision was normally effected, except at a break such as the end of a clause. No-one will have said δὲ ἄρχεται, for instance.