Quantitative metathesis (or transfer of quantity)

Smyth Smyth is an early variant of the common surname Smith (surname), Smith commonly found in Ireland.Citation: Bardsley, 1901 Shown below are notable people who share the surname "Smyth". Notable people sharing the Smyth surname Listed here are peop ...

, ''Greek Grammar''
paragraph 34
on

CCEL The Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) is a digital library that provides free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts. Description CCEL is a volunteer-based project founded and directed by Harry Plantinga, a pr ...

: transfer of quantity is a specific form of '' metathesis'' or ''transposition'' (a

sound change In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...

) involving ''quantity'' or

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived or actual length (phonetics), duration of a vowel sound when pronounced. Vowels perceived as shorter are often called short vowels and those perceived as longer called long vowels. On one hand, many ...

. By this process, two

vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...

s near each other – one long, one short – switch their lengths, so that the long one becomes short, and the short one becomes long. In theory, the definition includes both :long-short → short-long and :short-long → long-short, but

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

, which the term was originally created to describe, displays only the former, since the process is part of long-vowel shortening.

Ancient Greek

In the

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

and Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, ''ēo'' and ''ēa'' often exchange length, becoming ''eō'' and ''eā''. This quantitative metathesis is more accurately described as one form of long-vowel shortening. Usually if quantitative metathesis affects a word, other kinds of shortening do as well, in the forms where quantitative metathesis cannot occur: * ''ēwo'' → ''eō'' (quantitative metathesis) * ''ēōs'' → ''eōs'' (shortening of long diphthong before consonant) * ''ēi'' → ''ei'' (analogical shortening) In general, the vowels affected by this shortening were separated by the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

semivocalic versions of ''u'' or ''i'', usually deleted in later Greek: ''w'' (written ϝ or υ̯ ) or ''y'' (written ι̯ ).

First declension

The

Homeric Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient 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. Despite doubts about his authorship, Homer is ...

form of the genitive singular in the masculine

first declension The first declension is a category of Latin declension, declension that consists of mostly grammatical gender#Overview, feminine nouns in Ancient Greek and Latin with the defining feature of a long ''ā'' (analysed as either a part of the stem or a ...

sometimes undergoes quantitative metathesis: *Πηλεΐδης ''Pēleḯdēs'' (

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

from Πηλεύς ''Pēleús'': "

Peleus In Greek mythology, Peleus (; Ancient Greek: Πηλεύς ''Pēleus'') was a hero, king of Phthia, husband of Thetis and the father of their son Achilles. This myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Biogra ...

-son",

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

) :Πηλεΐδᾱο ''Pēleḯdāo'' → *Πηλεΐδηο ''*Pēleḯdēo'' → Πηλεΐδεω ''Pēleḯdeō'' (genitive singular; alternate form Πηληϊάδεω ''Pēlēïádeō'' in the first line of the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) 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 ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

) The Attic genitive singular Πηλεΐδ-ου ''Pēleḯd-ou'' uses a copy of the second-declension ending, which came from the same original form as the ending ''-oio'' (used in Homer) — ''o-syo'',

thematic vowel In Indo-European studies, a thematic vowel or theme vowel is the vowel or from ablaut placed before the ending of a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the Indo-European languages with this vowel are thematic, and ...

''o'' and case-ending ''-syo''). The Homeric form comes from the same case ending, with the first-declension pseudo-thematic vowel ''ā''.

Second declension

Nouns in a small subclass of the

second declension The second declension is a category of nouns in Latin and Greek with similar case formation. In particular, these nouns are thematic, with an original ''o'' in most of their forms. In Classical Latin, the short ''o'' of the nominative and accusati ...

(known as the "

Attic declension The Attic declension is a group of second-declension nouns and adjectives in the Attic dialect of Ancient Greek, all of whose endings have long vowels. In contrast, normal second-declension nouns have some short vowels and some long vowels. This d ...

") lengthen the ''o, oi'' of the ending to ''ō, ōi''. Sometimes this is quantitative metathesis:Smyth
paragraph 238 c
transfer of quantity and shortening in "Attic declension" forms :Ionic ληός ''lēós'' (from λᾱϝός ''lāwós'') → Attic λεώς ''leṓs'' "people" :ληοί ''lēoí'' → λεῴ ''leōí'' (nominative plural) But sometimes, when a long vowel occurs in the ending, ''ē'' is shortened to ''e'' without an accompanying lengthening of the vowel in the ending (but ''ou'' changes to ''ō'' to follow the other forms):Smyth

shortening of long vowel before another long vowel :ληοῦ ''lēoú'' → λεώ ''leṓ'' (genitive singular) :ληῷ ''lēōî'' → λεῴ ''leōí'' (dative singular)

Third declension

Some third-declension

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

s had, in

, stems in ''-u'' or ''-i'' in zero-grade, ''-ew'' or ''-ey'' in short e-grade, and ''-ēw'' or ''-ēy'' in long ''ē''-grade.Smyth
paragraph 270
stem variation of i, u-stemsSmyth

stem variation of au, eu, ou-stems Others had ''-āw'' with no variation in ablaut grade, which changed in some forms to ''ēw'', by the Attic-Ionic ''ā'' → ''ē'' shift. In many cases, the ''w'' or ''j'' was deleted, but sometimes it is preserved as the last element of a

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

(''-eus'', ''-aus''). Stems with ''ē'' underwent shortening in Classical Attic-Ionic, but early forms with long ē are preserved in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient 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. Despite doubts about his autho ...

to maintain the original

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

. Some forms exemplify the quantitative-metathesis type of shortening: *βασιλεύς ''basileús'' (shortened from *βασιλήϝς ''*basilḗws'')Smyth
paragraph 40
shortening of long vowel before u, i, nasals, liquid + a consonant "king" :

(early

- Ionic) βασιλῆος ''basilêos'' (from βασιλῆϝος ''basilêwos'') → Classical Attic βασιλέως ''basiléōs'' (genitive singular) :βασιλῆα ''basilêa'' → βασιλέᾱ ''basiléā'' (accusative singular) :βασιλῆας ''basilêas'' → βασιλέᾱς ''basiléās'' (accusative plural) *Attic ναῦς ''naûs'' "ship" (from *νᾱῦς ''*nāûs'' by shortening of ''ā'':

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''nāv-is'') :νηός ''nēós'' (from *νᾱϝός ''*nāwós'') → νεώς ''neṓs)'' (genitive singular) *πόλις ''pólis'' "city" :πόληος ''pólēos'' (from *πόληι̯ος ''*pólēyos'') → πόλεως ''póleōs'' (genitive singular) *ἄστυ ''ástu'' "town" : *ἄστηος ''*ástēos'' (from *ϝάστηϝος ''*wástēwos'') → ἄστεως ''ásteōs'' (genitive singular) The accent of the genitive singular of the last two words violates the rules of accentuation. Normally the long vowel of the last syllable would force the accent forward to the second-to-last syllable, giving *πολέως ''*poléōs'' and *ἀστέως ''*astéōs'', but instead the accent remains where it was before shortening.Smyth
paragraph 271
accent of genitive singular and plural of some i, u-stemsSmyth

exceptions to rules for antepenult accent Other forms of these nouns shorten ''ē'' to ''e'', but because the vowel of the ending is long, no quantitative metathesis occurs: :*βασιλήων ''*basilḗōn'' → βασιλέων ''basiléōn'' (genitive plural) Some forms shorten ''ē'' to ''e'' before ''i'' according to the analogue of the other forms, but without lengthening the ''i'': :Homeric βασιλῆi ''basilêi'' → Attic βασιλεῖ ''basileî'' (dative singular) Other forms involve no shortening, since they come from a short ''e''-grade form of the stem. The accent of the genitive plural is sometimes irregular because it follows the analogue of the genitive singular: : *πολέι̯-ων ''poléy-ōn'' → πόλεων ''póleōn'' (genitive plural — re-accented after genitive singular) : *ϝαστέϝ-ων *''wastéw-ōn'' → ἄστεων ''ásteōn'' (also re-accented)

Participle

The perfect participle of the verb θνῄσκω ''thnēískō'' "die" undergoes vowel shortening, and quantitative metathesis in the

oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) *Oblique angle, in geometry * Oblique triangle, in geometry * Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the ...

forms: * *τεθνηϝώτς ''tethnēwṓts''Smyth
paragraph 301 c
masculine/neuter endings for perfect active participle → τεθνεώς ''tethneṓs'' "dead" (masculine nominative singular:

perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection; completeness, and excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film and television * ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * ''Perfect'' (20 ...

with

stative In linguistics, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are static, or unchanging ...

meaning) : *τεθνηϝότος ''*tethnēwótos'' → τεθνεῶτος ''tethneôtos'' (masculine/neuter genitive singular)

References