Homeric Greek is the form of the

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...

that was used by

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

in the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'', ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', and

Homeric Hymns The ''Homeric Hymns'' () are a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. The hymns are "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter— dactylic hexameter—as the ''Iliad'' and '' Odyssey' ...

. It is a literary dialect of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

consisting mainly of Ionic, with some

Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anato ...

forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic. It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of

epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

, typically in dactylic hexameter, by poets such as

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet ...

and

Theognis of Megara Theognis of Megara ( grc-gre, Θέογνις ὁ Μεγαρεύς, ''Théognis ho Megareús'') was a Greek lyric poet active in approximately the sixth century BC. The work attributed to him consists of gnomic poetry quite typical of the time, ...

. Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 5th century CE, and it only fell out of use by the end of

Classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

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 to : thus, Homeric for Attic "

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

", "hour", "gates (dat.)". Exceptions include nouns like "goddess", and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns: "of goddesses, of the son of Atreus".

Nouns

; First declension : The nominative singular of most feminine nouns ends in , rather than long , even after , , and (an Ionic feature): for . However, and some names end in long . : Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short rather than (, ): for Attic . : The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in or (rarely - only after vowels - ), rather than : for Attic .Some suggest that -ᾱο may have originally been the more expected -ηο, with -ηο later being transcribed -ᾱο under the influence of other (literary) dialects, whilst others suggest that -ᾱο may have been an Aeolic form. (See λᾱός and Ποσειδᾱ́ων for expected ληός and Ποσειδήων.) : The genitive plural usually ends in or : for Attic .-ᾱων for expected -ηων would occur for the reasons given in Note 1. : The dative plural almost always end in or : for Attic . ; Second declension : Genitive singular: ends in , as well as . For example, , as well as . : Genitive and dative dual: ends in . Thus, appears, rather than . : Dative plural: ends in (ν) and . For example, , as well as . ; Third declension : Accusative singular: ends in , as well as . For example, , as well as . : Dative plural: ends in and . For example, or . : Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek (except in certain masculine α-stem genitive singulars): :* Homeric instead of , instead of :* instead of :* instead of :* instead of : Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings: :* alternates with A note on nouns: * After short vowels, the reflex of Proto-Greek *''ts'' can alternate between and in Homeric Greek. This can be of metrical use. For example, and are equivalent; and ; and . * A relic of the Proto-Greek instrumental case, the ending (ν) ((ν)) can be used for the dative singular and plural of nouns and adjectives (occasionally for the genitive singular and plural, as well). For example, (...by force), (...with tears), and (...in the mountains).

Pronouns

* Third-person singular pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or rarely singular article ("the"): * Third-person plural pronoun ("they") (the relative) or rarely plural article ("the"): nominative , dative .

Verbs

; Person endings : appears rather than . For example, for in the third-person plural active. : The third plural middle/passive often ends in or ; for example, is equivalent to . ; Tenses : Future: Generally remains uncontracted. For example, appears instead of or instead of τελῶ. : Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the suffix before the ending. For example, : 'they kept on running away' : Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments. For example, may appear instead of , and may appear instead of . : Homeric Greek does not have a historical present tense, but rather uses injunctives. Injunctives are replaced by the historical present in the post-Homeric writings of

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

and

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

. ; Subjunctive : The subjunctive appears with a short vowel. Thus, the form , rather than . : The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both and . : The third singular active subjunctive ends in (ν). Thus, we see the form , instead of . : Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks. ; Infinitive : The infinitive appears with the endings , , and , in place of and . For example, for ; instead of ; , , or for ; and in place of . ; Contracted verbs : In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an , Homeric Greek will use or in place of . For example, Attic becomes . : Similarly, in places where contracts to or contracts to , Homeric Greek will show either or .

Adverbs

; Adverbial suffixes : conveys a sense of 'to where'; 'to the war' : conveys a sense of 'how'; 'with cries' : conveys a sense of 'from where'; 'from above' : conveys a sense of 'where'; 'on high'

Particles

: 'so' or 'next' (transition) : 'and' (a general remark or a connective) ; Emphatics : 'indeed' : 'surely' : 'just' or 'even' : 'I tell you ...' (assertion)

Other features

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

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

. , , and their inflected forms do occur, but they are in origin and usually used as

demonstrative pronoun Demonstratives ( abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular fram ...

Vocabulary

Homer (in the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'') uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

s. Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena. According to classical scholar Clyde Pharr, "the ''Iliad'' has 1097 ''hapax legomena'', while the ''Odyssey'' has 868". Others have defined the term differently, however, and count as few as 303 in the ''Iliad'' and 191 in the ''Odyssey''.Reece, Steve. "Hapax Legomena," in Margalit Finkelberg (ed.), ''Homeric Encyclopedia'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2011) 330-331
Hapax Legomena in Homer
/ref>

Sample

The ''

'', 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.

Theodore Alois Buckley (1860):

Sing, O goddess, the destructive wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought countless woes upon the Greeks, and hurled many valiant souls of heroes down to Hades, and made themselves a prey to dogs and to all birds but the will of Jove was being accomplished, from the time when Atrides, king of men, and noble Achilles, first contending, were disunited.

Authors

Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...

* Quintus Smyrnaeus *

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Theb ...

* Author(s) of the

Poets of the Epic Cycle

* Stasinus * Arctinus of Miletus * Lesches *

Agias Agias or Hagias ( el, ) was an ancient Greek poet, whose name was formerly written ''Augias'' through a mistake of the first editor of the ''Excerpta of Proclus''. This misreading was corrected by Friedrich Thiersch, from the Codex Monacensis, ...

* Eumelus of Corinth * Eugammon of Cyrene *

Musaeus of Athens Musaeus of Athens ( el, Μουσαῖος, ''Mousaios'') was a legendary polymath, philosopher, historian, prophet, seer, priest, poet, and musician, said to have been the founder of priestly poetry in Attica. He composed dedicatory and purificato ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Pharr, Clyde. ''Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, new edition, 1959. Revised edition: John Wright, 1985.
First edition of 1920 in public domain.
*