In
ancient Greek grammar
Ancient Greek grammar is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected.
A complication of Greek grammar is th ...
, movable nu, movable N or ephelcystic nu ( grc, νῦ ἐφελκυστικόν ''nû ephelkustikón'', literally "nu dragged onto" or "attracted to") is a letter
nu (written ; the Greek equivalent of the letter ''n'') placed on the end of some grammatical forms in
Attic or
Ionic Greek. It is used to avoid two vowels in a row (
hiatus
Hiatus may refer to:
*Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure
* Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy
*''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes''
* Gl ...
) and to create a
long syllable
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical Indo-European verse, as developed in Greek, Sanskrit, and Latin, distinctions of syllable ...
in poetic
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
.
Grammatical forms
Movable nu may appear at the end of certain forms of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. In grammatical
paradigms, it is usually written with a parenthesis to indicate that it is optional.
Usage
Movable nu is used before words starting in a vowel to prevent
hiatus
Hiatus may refer to:
*Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure
* Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy
*''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes''
* Gl ...
.
* πᾶσιν ἔλεγεν ἐκεῖνα "he said those things to everyone"
It is often omitted before consonants, but may be included there to produce a
heavy syllable
In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In classical Indo-European verse, as developed in Greek, Sanskrit, and Latin, distinctions of syllable ...
where the
poetic meter
In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...
requires one
* πᾶσι λέγουσι ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone"
* πᾶσι λέγουσιν ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone" with the
dactylic pattern – ⏑ ⏑ , – – , – ×
It is often used at the end of clauses or verses.
See also
*
Nu (letter)
Nu ( ell, νι ''ni'' ) is the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet (uppercase Ν, lowercase ν), representing the voiced alveolar nasal . In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50. It is derived from the ancient Phoenician language nu ...
*
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 peri ...
**
Attic Greek
**
Ionic Greek
* , a similar rule in
German dialects
Sources
*
Herbert Weir Smyth, ''A Greek Grammar''
par. 134
Ancient Greek
Greek letters
Koine Greek
{{AncientGreek-lang-stub