quantitative metathesis

Quantitative metathesis (or transfer of quantity)Smyth, ''Greek Grammar''
paragraph 34
on CCEL: transfer of quantity is a specific form of '' metathesis'' or ''transposition'' (a sound change) involving ''quantity'' or vowel length. By this process, two

vowel

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

First declension

The Homeric form of the genitive singular in the masculine first declension sometimes undergoes quantitative metathesis:

*Πηλεΐδης ''Pēleḯdēs'' (patronym from Πηλεύς ''Pēleús'': "Peleus-son",

Achilles

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

Iliad

)

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 ''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 (known as the " Attic declension") 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

s had, in Proto-Indo-European, 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 (''-eus'', ''-aus'').

Stems with ''ē'' underwent shortening in Classical Attic-Ionic, but early forms with long ē are preserved in

Homer

to maintain the original meter. 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"
:Homeric (early Attic-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

''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 forms:
* *τεθνηϝώτς ''tethnēwṓts''Smyth
paragraph 301 c
masculine/neuter endings for perfect active participle → τεθνεώς ''tethneṓs'' "dead" (masculine nominative singular: perfect with stative meaning)
: *τεθνηϝότος ''*tethnēwótos'' → τεθνεῶτος ''tethneôtos'' (masculine/neuter genitive singular)

See also

*Metathesis (linguistics)
* Ancient Greek nouns: Vowel-stems

References

{{reflist

Phonology
Historical linguistics
Vowel shifts
Ancient Greek language
Greek grammar