In Latin and Greek poetry, correption (/kərˈrɛpʃən/; Latin correptiō [korˈreptɪoː] "a shortening") is the shortening of a long vowel at the end of one word before a short vowel at the beginning of the next. Vowels next to each other in neighboring words are in hiatus.
Homer uses correption in dactylic hexameter:
πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ Τροίης ἱερὸν πτολίεθρον ἔπερσε·
— Odyssey 1.2
many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.
— translation by A.T. Murray
Here the sequence η ε in bold must be pronounced as ε ε to preserve the long—short—short syllable weight sequence of a dactyl. Thus, the scansion of the second line is thus:
πλαγχ θε, ε | πει Τροι | ης ι ε | ρον πτο λι | εθ ρο νε | περ σε
Attic
Typically, in Homeric meter, a syllable is scanned long or "closed" when a vowel is followed by two or more consonants. However, in Attic Greek, a short vowel followed by a plosive and a liquid consonant or nasal stop remains a short or "open" syllable. This is called Attic Correption.
Therefore, the first syllable of a word like δάκρυ (ᾰ) could be scanned as "δά | κρυ" (open/short), exhibiting Attic correption, or as "δάκ | ρυ" (closed/long), in keeping with the conventions of Homeric verse.