Homeric Greek

Main features

In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed. Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek.

Phonology

Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long ᾱ to η: thus, Homeric Τροίη, ὥρη, πύλῃσι for Attic Τροίᾱ, ὥρᾱ, πύλαις/πύλαισι "Troy", "hour", "gates (dat.)". Exceptions include nouns like θεᾱ́ "goddess", and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns: θεᾱ́ων, Ἀτρεΐδᾱο "of goddesses, of the son of Atreus".

Nouns

First declension

Nominative singular: ends in -η, rather than long -ᾱ, even after ρ, ε, and ι (an Ionic feature): χώρη for χώρα. However, θεά and some names end in long -ᾱ. Some masculine nouns end in short -ᾰ rather than -ης (ναύτης, Ἀτρεΐδης): ἱππότα for Attic ἱππότης. The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in -αο or -εω, rather than -ου: Ἀτρεΐδαο for Attic Ἀτρείδου. The genitive plural usually ends in -αων or -εων: νυμφάων for Attic νυμφῶν. The dative plural almost always end in -ῃσι or -ῃς: πύλῃσιν for Attic πύλαις.

Second declension

Genitive singular: ends in -οιο, as well as -ου. For example, πεδίοιο, as well as πεδίου. Genitive and dative dual: ends in -οιϊν. Thus, ἵπποιϊν appears, rather than ἵπποιν. Dative plural: ends in -οισι and -οις. For example, φύλλοισι , as well as φύλλοις.

Third declension

Accusative singular: ends in -ιν, as well as -ιδα. For example, γλαυκῶπιν, as well as γλαυκώπιδα. Dative plural: ends in -εσσι and -σι. For example, πόδεσσι or ἔπεσσι. Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek: Homeric Greek sometimes uses different stems:

Pronouns

First-person singular ("I")

Nominative singular: ἐγώ, ἐγών Genitive singular: ἐμεῖο, ἐμέο, ἐμεῦ, μεῦ, ἐμέθεν Dative singular: ἐμοί, μοι Accusative singular: ἐμέ, με

First-person plural ("we")

Nominative plural: ἡμεῖς, ἄμμες Genitive plural: ἡμείων, ἡμέων Dative plural: ἡμῖ(ν), ἄμμι(ν) Accusative plural: ἡμέας, ἧμας, ἄμμε

First-person dual ("we both")

Nominative/Accusative dual: νῶι, νώ Genitive/Dative dual: νῶιν

Second-person singular ("you")

Nominative singular: σύ, τύνη Genitive singular: σεῖο, σέο, σεῦ, σευ, σέθεν, τεοῖο Dative singular: σοί, τοι, τεΐν Accusative singular: σέ

Second-person plural ("you")

Nominative plural: ὑμεῖς, ὔμμες Genitive plural: ὑμέων, ὑμείων Dative plural: ὑμῖν, ὔμμι, ὗμιν Accusative plural: ὑμέας, ὔμμε

Second-person dual ("you both")

Nominative/Accusative dual: σφῶϊ, σφώ Genitive/Dative dual: σφῶϊν, σφῷν

Third-person singular masculine ("him")

Genitive singular: οὗ, εἷο, ἕο, εὗ, ἕθεν Dative singular: ἑοῖ, οἱ Accusative singular: ἕ, ἑέ, μιν

Third-person plural ("them")

Genitive plural: σφείων, σφέων Dative plural: σφι(ν), σφίσι(ν) Accusative plural: σφε, σφέας, σφας

Third-person dual ("them both")

Dative dual: σφωϊν Accusative dual: σφωε

Third-person plural pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or singular article ("the")

rare Nominative singular: ὁ, ἡ, τό. (etc.)

Third-person plural pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or plural article ("the")

rare Nominative plural: οἰ, αἰ, τοί, ταί. Dative plural: τοῖς, τοῖσι, τῇς, τῇσι, ταῖς.

Interrogative pronoun, singular and plural ("who, what, which")

Nominative singular: τίς. Accusative singular: τίνα. Genitive singular: τέο, τεῦ. Dative singular: τέῳ. Genitive plural: τέων.

A note on nouns:

-σ- and -σσ- alternate in Homeric Greek. This can be of metrical use. For example, τόσος and τόσσος are equivalent; μέσος and μέσσος; ποσί and ποσσί.

The ending -φι (-οφι) can be used for the dative singular and plural of nouns and adjectives (occasionally for the genitive singular and plural, as well). For example, βίηφι (...by force), δακρυόφιν (...with tears), and ὄρεσφιν (...in the mountains).

Verbs

Person endings

-ν appears rather than -σαν. For example, ἔσταν for ἔστησαν in the Third-person plural Active. The third plural middle/passive often ends in -αται or -ατο; for example, ἥατο is equivalent to ἧντο.

Tenses

Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, ἐρέω appears instead of ἐρῶ or τελέω instead of τελέσω. Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the letters -σκ- penultimate with the ending. For example, φύγεσκον: 'they kept on running away' Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, βάλον may appear instead of ἔβαλον, and ἔμβαλε may appear instead of ἐνέβαλε.

Subjunctive

The subjunctive appears with a short vowel. Thus, the form ἴομεν, rather than ἴωμεν. The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both -ηαι and -εαι. The third singular active subjunctive ends in -σι. Thus, we see the form φορεῇσι, instead of φορῇ. Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks.

Infinitive

The infinitive appears with the endings -μεν, -μεναι, and -ναι, in place of -ειν and -ναι. For example, δόμεναι for δοῦναι; ἴμεν instead of ἰέναι; ἔμεν, ἔμμεν, or ἔμμεναι for εἶναι; and ἀκουέμεν(αι) in place of ἀκούειν.

Contracted verbs

In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an -ω-, Homeric Greek will use -οω- or -ωω- in place of -αο-. For example, Attic ὁρῶντες becomes ὁρόωντες. Similarly, in places where -αε- contracts to -α- or -αει- contracts to -ᾳ-, Homeric Greek will show either αα or αᾳ.

Adverbs

Adverbial suffixes

-δε conveys a sense of 'to where'; πόλεμόνδε 'to the war' -δον conveys a sense of 'how'; κλαγγηδόν 'with cries' -θεν conveys a sense of 'from where'; ὑψόθεν 'from above' -θι conveys a sense of 'where'; ὑψόθι 'on high'

Particles

ἄρα, ἄρ, ῥα 'so' or 'next' (transition) τε 'and' (a general remark or a connective)

Emphatics

δή 'indeed' ἦ 'surely' περ 'just' or 'even' τοι 'I tell you ...' (assertion)

Other features

In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article.

Vocabulary

Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey) uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are proper names. Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena.

Sample

The Iliad, lines 1–7

Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.

Robert Fitzgerald (1974):

Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. Begin it when the two men first contending broke with one another—                     the Lord Marshal Agamemnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus.