Homeric Greek by Clyde Pharr - Lesson XLIX, vocabulary, ἀνδροφόνος, η, ον

Greek Homeric Greek and Early Greek Poetry
1

I suppose the feminine termination η does not belong there; I would appreciate if someone can confirm. Thank you…

2

Hi Vasile,

A feminine ending for ἀνδροφόνος, -ον does not appear in the Vocabulary section of Pharr, nor does it appear in the LSJ. It only appears in Lesson XLIX.

3

Hi Aetos,
Thank you…

4

Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t this just the distinction between what forms Homer actually uses and what forms should gramatically exist? There just don’t happen to be any man-killing women in the story.

5

Hi Ben,

ἀνδροφόνος,-ον normally just has the two terminations as most compound adjectives. In tragedy, however, it is possible to see occasionally a feminine ending for adjectives that normally have only two endings. You may be right though about the fem. ending not appearing in Homer. Man-killing women don’t show up until the Αἰθιοπίς (Penthesilea and her Amazons).

6

Ah, I see – that’s clearly the grammar point that I needed to learn. Thanks!