Utente:Ptolemaios/Sandbox4

Si ritiene che l'accento greco antico sia stato di tipo musicale.

In greco antico una delle tre sillabe finali di una parola porta l'accento. Ogni sillaba contiene una vocale con una o due more, e una mora di una parola è accentata; la mora accentata è melodicamente più acuta rispetto alle altre.

L'accento non può risalire oltre la terzultima sillaba. Se l'ultima sillaba ha una vocale lunga, o è chiusa da due consonanti, l'accento non può risalire oltre la penultima sillaba; ma all'interno di queste limitazioni l'accento è libero..

Nei sostantivi l'accento è il più delle volte imprevedibile. Di solito l'accento si colloca il più indietro possibile rispettando le leggi di limitazioni, ad esempio πόλεμος pòlemos 'guerra' (queste parole hanno un accento detto recessivo) oppure è collocato sull'ultima mora, come in ποταμός potamòs 'fiume' (le parole di questo tipo sono dette ossitone). Ma in alcune parole come παρθένος parthènos '[ragazza] vergine', l'accento si colloca fra i due estremi.

Nei verbi l'accento è solitamente prevedibile e ha una funzione grammaticale piuttosto che lessicale, cioè differenzia le varie parti del verbo invece che vari verbi fra di loro. I modi finiti del verbo hanno in genere un accento recessivo, ma in certi participi, infiniti e imperativi non è recessivo.

Nel periodo classico (IV-V sec. a .C.) gli accenti non erano segnate nella scrittura, ma dal II sec. a.C. in poi furono inventati vari segni diacritici, inclusi l'accento acuto, circunflesso e grave, che indicavano rispettivamente il tono alto, il tono discendente e il tono basso o semibasso. Gli accenti grafici erano usati sporadicamente all'inizio e non entrarono nell'uso corrente fino al 600 a.C..

I frammenti sopravvissuti della musica greca, in particolare i due inni delfici incisi su una pietra di Delfi nel II sec.a.C., sembrano seguire molto strettamente gli accenti scritti sulle parole e possono essere usati per ricavare informazioni sulla realizzazione degli accenti.

Fra il II e il IV sec. a.C. la distinzione fra accento grave, acuto e cironflesso si perse e tutti e tre gli accenti iniziarono a essere pronunciati come accenti intensivi, generalmente sulla sillaba dove una volta c'era il tono alto.

Tipi di accento

I grammatici greci antichi indicavano l'accento con tre segni: l'accento acuto (ά), l'accento circonflesso (ᾶ) e l'accento grave (ὰ). L'accento acuto era quello più comune; si può trovare su ciascuna delle tre ultime sillabe della parola. Alcuni esempi:

• ἄνθρωπος ànthrōpos 'persona, essere umano'
• πολίτης polìtēs 'cittadino'
• ἀγαθός agathòs 'buono'

L'accento circonflesso, che rappresentava il tono discendente, si trova solo su vocali lunghe e dittonghi, e solo sulle ultime due sillabe di una parola:

• σῶμα sṑma 'corpo'
• γῆ ghḕ 'terra'

Quando un accento circonflesso si trova sulla sillaba finale di una parola polisillabica solitamente rappresenta l'esito di una contrazione:

• ποιῶ poiṑ 'faccio' (contratto da ποιέω poièō)

L'accento grave si trova, in sostituzione dell'acuto, solo sull'ultima sillaba di una parola. Quando una parola come ἀγαθός agathòs 'buono' con accento finale è seguita da una pausa (cioò quando si trova alla fine di una frase o di un verso) o prima di un'enclitica come la forma debole di ἐστίν estìn 'è' (vedi oltre) l'accento è scritto acuto:

• ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός anḕr agathòs '[un] uomo buono'
• ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός ἐστιν anḕr agathòs estin 'è [un] uomo buono'

Tuttavia, quando la parola non si trova prima di una pausa o un'enclitica l'accento acuto è sostituito dal grave:

• ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος agathòs ànthrōpos 'a good person'

Si ritiene generalmente che l'accento grave indichi l'assenza di elevazione della voce, oppure un tono meno acuto dell'accento acuto.

Terminologia

Ci sono in tutto cinque possibilità di collocamento dell'accento. I termini usati dai grammatici greci per indicare i vari tipi di parole erano:

• ossitona (ὀξύτονος): accento acuto sulla sillaba finale. Ad esempio: πατήρ 'padre'
• parossitona (παροξύτονος): accento acuto sulla penultima. Ad esempio: μήτηρ 'madre'
• proparossitona (προπαροξύτονος): accento acuto sulla terzultima. Ad esempio: ἄνθρωπος 'persona'
• perispomenona (περισπώμενος): accento circonflesso sull'ultima. Ad esempio: ὁρῶ 'vedo'
• properispomenona (προπερισπώμενος): accento circonflesso sulla penultima. Ad esempio: σῶμα 'corpo'

Una paroda baritona (βαρύτονος) indica una parola che non sia accentata sull'ultima sillaba, ossia alla terza, quarta e quinta delle possibilità descritte sopra.

Posizionamento dei segni di accento

Se l'accento cade su un dittongo o su una vocale scritta con due vocali come ει l'accento si scrive sempre sulla seconda lettera, ad esempio:

• τοῖς ναύταις tòis nàutais 'ai marinai'
• εἷς hḗs 'uno'

Quando una parola, come un nome proprio, inizia con la maiuscola l'accento e lo spirito si mettono prima della lettera. Se una parola inizia con un dittongo l'accento è scritto sulla seconda lettera. Ma in ᾍδης (o Ἅιδης) Hàdēs 'Ade', dove il dittongo è formato dallo iota sottoscritto (ossia ᾇ) si scrive davanti:

• Ἥρα Hḕrā 'Era'
• Αἴας Àiās 'Aiace'
• ᾍδης (o Ἅιδης) Hàdēs 'Ade'

Quando si combina con uno spirito l'accento circonflesso di mette sopra, mentre gli accenti acuti e gravi si mettono a destra degli spiriti, come negli esempi sopra. Quando un accento si combina con la dieresi, come in νηΐ nēì l'accento si mette sopra.

Coppie minime tonali

Se, da una parte, è in larga parte prevedibile se l'accento su una determinata sillaba sia acuto o circonflesso, dall'altra ci sono casi in cui il cambio di accento su una vocale lunga indica un diverso significato; ad esempio:

• λύσαι lúsai 'che [egli] possa liberare' – λῦσαι lûsai 'liberare'
• οἴκοι oíkoi 'in casa' – οἶκοι oîkoi 'case'
• φώς phṓs 'uomo' (poetico) – φῶς phôs 'luce'

In altri casi ancora il significato cambia se l'accento si sposta su un'altra sillaba:

• πείθω peíthō 'io persuado' – πειθώ peithṓ 'persuasione'
• ποίησαι poíēsai 'fa'!' (imperativo medio) – ποιήσαι poiḗsai 'che [egli] possa fare' – ποιῆσαι poiêsai 'fare'
• μύριοι múrioi 'ten thousand' – μυρίοι muríoi 'countless'
• νόμος nómos 'legge' – νομός nomós 'pascolo'
• Ἀθήναιος Athḗnaios 'Ateneo' (nome proprio) – Ἀθηναῖος Athēnaîos 'ateniese'

C'è inoltre distinzione fra forme non accentate (o con accento grave) e parole accentate come:

• τις tis 'qualcuno' – τίς; tís? 'chi?'
• που pou 'da qualche parte' / 'presumo' – ποῦ; poû 'dove?'
• ἢ ḕ 'o' – ἦ ê 'in realtà' / 'ero' / '[egli] disse'
• ἀλλὰ allà 'ma' – ἄλλα álla 'altre cose'
• ἐστὶ estì 'è' – ἔστι ésti 'c'è' / 'esiste' / 'è possibile'

Storia dell'accento nella scrittura greca

I tre segni impiegati per indicare l'accento in greco antico, l'acuto (´), il circomflesso (῀) e il grave (`), sono attribuiti al filologo Aristofane di Bisanzio, che era a capo della celebre Biblioteca di Alessandria in Egitto all'inizio del II sec. a.C.. Il primo papiro che riporta segni di accento risale a questo periodo. Nei papiri gli accenti erano usati all'inizio solo sporadicamente, con lo scopo di aiutare i lettori a pronunciare correttamente la poesia greca e l'accento grave poteva essere usato su ogni vocale non accentata. Questi accenti erano utili, dal momento che il greco in questo periodo era scritto senza spazi fra le parole. Ad esempio, in un papiro la parola ὸρὲιχάλκωι òrèikhálkōi 'all'ottone' è scritta con accenti gravi sulle prime due sillabe, nel caso in cui il lettore leggesse erroneamente la prima sillaba come ὄρει órei 'a una montagna'.

Nei secoli seguenti vari altri grammatici scrissero sull'accentazione greca. Il più famoso di questi, Elio Erodiano, che visse e insegnò a Roma nel II sec. d.C., scrisse un lungo trattato in venti libri, diciannove dei quali dedicati all'accentazione. Sebbene il libro di Erodiano non ci sia giunto interamente, disponiamo di un'epitome (sintesi) redatta intorno al 400 d.C.. Un'altra testimonianza autorevole è quella di Apollonio Discolo, padre di Erodiano.

I nomi di questi diacritici in italiano, e la parola "accento", derivano da calchi latini dei termini greci. Accentus in latino corrisponde al greco προσῳδία prosōidía "canto accompagnato da strumento, variazione di altezza nella voce" (da questa parola deriva inoltre prosodia), acūtus a ὀξεῖα oxeîa "acuta", gravis a βαρεῖα bareîa "pesante" o "grave", e circumflexus a περισπωμένη perispōménē "tirata intorno" o "piegata". Le parole greche dei diacritici sono aggettivi femminili nominalizzati che in origine erano attributi di προσῳδία e quindi accordati al genere femminile.

I segni diacritici non erano usati nel periodo classico (V-IV sec. a.C.); furono gradualmente introdotti a partire dal II sec. d.C., ma nei manoscritti divennero cumuni soltanto dopo il VII secolo.

Origine dell'accento

L'accento greco antico, almeno nei sostantivi, sembra essere stato prevalentemente ereditato dalla lingua progenitrice dalla quale il greco e varie altre lingue europee e indiane derivano, il protoindoeuropeo. Ciò può essere osservato confrontando gli accenti in greco con quelli degli inni vedici (la più antica forma di sanscrito). Molto spesso sono gli stessi, ad esempio:

• vedico pā́t, greco antico πούς 'piede' (nominativo)
• vedico pā́dam, greco antico πόδα 'piede' (accusativo)
• vedico padás, greco antico ποδός 'di piede' (genitivo)
• vedico padí, greco antico ποδί 'per piede' (dativo)

Ci sono inoltre altre corrispondenze di accento fra greco e vedico, ad esempio:

• vedico yugáṃ, greco antico ζυγόν zygón 'giogo'
• vedico áśvaḥ, greco antico ἵππος híppos 'cavallo'
• vedico śatáṃ, greco antico ἑκατόν hekatón '100'
• vedico návaḥ, greco antico νέος néos 'nuovo'
• vedico pitā́, greco antico πατήρ patḗr 'padre'

Una differenza fra il greco e il vedico, comunque, è che in greco l'accento può trovarsi solo su una delle ultime tre sillabe, mentre il vedico (e presumibilmente in protoindoeuropeo) poteva cadere su qualunque sillaba di una parola.

La distinzione in greco fra accento acuto e circonflesso sembra essere un'innovazione propria, e non è rintracciabile nell'indoeuropeo.

Pronuncia dell'accento

Caratteristiche generali

È generalmente ritenuto che l'accento greco antico fosse principalmente musicale piuttosto che intensivo.. Così, in una parola come ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos 'essere umano, persona', la prima sillaba era pronunciata più acuta rispetto alle altre, ma non necessariamente più forte. Già nel XIX secolo si supponeva che in una parola con accento recessivo il tono acuto potesse cadere non improvvisamente, ma gradualmente in una sequenza alto-medio-basso, con l'ultimo elemento sempre breve.

Le prove di questo vengono da varie fonti. La prima sono le affermazioni dei gramamtici greci, che descrivono sempre l'accento in termini musicali, usando parole come ὀξύς oxýs 'acuto' e βαρύς barýs 'grave'.

Secondo Dionigi di Alicarnasso (I sec. d.C.), la melodia del parlato si estende per un intervallo 'di circa una quinta'. Questa affermazione è stata interpretata in diversi modi, ma si suppone generalmente che non si trattasse sempre costantemente di una quinta, ma che questa fosse l'intervallo massimo fra la sillaba acuta e quella grave. Si ritiene probabile che occasionalmente, soprattutto in fine di frase, l'intervallo fosse molto più piccolo. Dionigi inoltre descrive come l'accento circonflesso combini il tono alto e il tono basso nella stessa sillaba, mentre con l'accento acuto i due toni si trovano su sillabe diverse.

Un'altra indicazione che l'accento fosse musicale è che nel periodo classico gli accenti delle parole sembrano non aver avuto nessun ruolo nella metrica poetica, diversamente da lingue come l'italiano che hanno un accento intensivo. Fu soltanto dal IV sec. d.C. che si iniziò a scrivere poesia impiegando l'accento (vedi oltre).

Tracce dalla musica

Un importante segnale della natura melodica dell'accento greco viene dalle testimonianze musicali che ci sono pervenute, in particolare i due Inni delfici (II sec. a.C.), l'Epitaffio di Sicilo (I sec. d.C.) e gli inni di Mesomede di Creta (II sec. d.C.). Un esempio è la preghiera a Calliope e Apollo scritta da Mesomede, musicista di corte dell'imperatore Adriano:

Preghiera a Calliope e Apollo di Mesomede trascritta in notazione moderna; esempio adattato da Landels, John G. 1999. Music in Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 255. Il testo dice: "Saggia Calliope, guida delle gradite muse, e tu, saggio iniziatore ai misteri, figlio di Latona, Guaritore delio, assistimi con benevolenza." (Per una registrazione, vedi Collegamenti esterni oltre.)

Come si può vedere, le sillabe accentate hanno solitamente la nota più alta in una parola, sebbene talvolta le sillabe precedenti o seguenti sono comunque alte.

Quando l'accento è circonflesso la musica mostra spesso una caduta da una nota più alta a una più bassa all'interno della sillaba, esattamente come afferma Dionigi di Alicarnasso; esempi sono le parola Μουσῶν Mousôn 'delle muse' ed εὐμενεῖς eumeneîs 'benevolo' nella preghiera qui sopra. Tuttavia, a volte non c'è discesa nella stessa sillaba, ma il circonflesso sta su una singola nota, come in τερπνῶν terpnôn 'gradite' o Λατοῦς Latoûs 'di Latona' qui sopra.

Se l'accento è grave spesso il tono non subisce innalzamento, o a volte solo poco, come in σοφὲ sophè qui sopra.

Questa pratica greca di imitazione dei toni degli accenti nel canto musicale è molto vicina a varie lingue vive asiatiche o africane che hanno un accento tonale. Per questa ragione gli studiosi americani A.M. Devine e Laurence Stephens hanno sostenuto che questi innalzamenti e abbassamenti di tono che troviamo nella musica greca ci possano dare un'indicazione ragionevolmente precisa di ciò che accadeva nel parlato.

In ogni caso, sembra però che la musica non seguisse sempre esattamente l'accentazione. Dionigi di Alicarnasso ci dà un esempio di musica scritta da Euripide per la tragedia Oreste. In questi versi che nelle edizioni moderne sono scritti σῖγα, σῖγα, λεπτὸν ἴχνος ἀρβύλας // τίθετε, μὴ κτυπεῖτ᾽ (sîga, sîga, leptòn íkhnos arbýlas // títhete, mḕ ktypeît') 'Silenzio, silenzio! Posate piano le suole delle scarpe, non battete!', Dionigi riferisce che nelle prime tre parole e nell'ultima non c'era innalzamento del tono, mentre sia in ἀρβύλας arbýlas 'della scarpa' che in τίθετε títhete 'posate' una nota grave era seguita da due note più acute, nonostante l'accento sulla prima sillaba in τίθετε títhete.

Comunque, sebbene i frammenti di musica più antica presentino a volte incongruenze, gli Inni delfici in particolare sembrano mostrare una stretta relazione fra la musica e le parole accentate, con solo tre discrepanze su 180 parole analizzate. Altri dettagli del modo in cui gli accenti venivano messi in musica verranno dati oltre. Da notare che negli esempi musicali l'altezza assoluta è convenzionale, risalente a una pubblicazione di Friedrich Bellermann del 1840. Nell'esecuzione l'altezza sarebbe stata più bassa di almeno una terza minore.

Accento acuto

Quando i segni delle note della musica greca sono trascritti in notazione moderna si può vedere come un accento acuto sia solitamente seguito da una discesa che talvolta si estende su due sillabe. Normalmente la discesa è piccola, come in θύγατρες thýgatres 'figlie', Ὄλυμπον Ólyumpon 'Olimpo' o ἔτικτε étikte 'partoriva' qui in basso. Talvolta invece il salto è più ampio, come in μέλψητε mélpsēte 'che voi cantiate' o νηνέμους nēnémous 'senza vento':

Selezione di cinque parole dalla musica greca: notare la discesa dopo l'accento acuto.

Prima dell'accento l'innalzamento è in media minore rispetto alla discesa seguente. Talvolta c'è un salto da una nota più grave, come nella parola μειγνύμενος meignýmenos 'mescolando' dal secondo inno; più spesso c'è un innalzamento graduale, come in Κασταλίδος Kastalídos 'di Castalia', Κυνθίαν Kynthían 'Cinzia' o ἀνακίδναται anakídnatai 'diffonde verso l'alto':

Quattro parole dalla musica greca che mostrano un innalzamento prima dell'accento

Tuttavia in certi casi prima di un accento invece di un innalzamento troviamo una stasi su una o due note della stessa altezza dell'accento, come in Παρνασσίδος Parnassídos 'di Parnasso', ἐπινίσεται epinísetai 'fa visita', Ῥωμαίων Rhōmaíōn 'dei Romani', o ἀγηράτῳ agērátōi 'senza età' dagli inni delfici:

Quattro parole dagli inni delfici che mostrano una stasi prima dell'accento

L'anticipazione del tono alto di un accento in questo modo si ritrova anche in altre lingue tonali come alcune varietà di giapponese, turco o serbo, dove ad esempio la parola papríka 'peperone' pronunciata pápríka. Non sarebbe quindi sorprendente se anche il greco avesse questa caratteristica. Devine e Stephens, tuttavia, citando l'affermazione di Dionigi secondo la quale una parola ha un solo tono alto, affermano che di norma le sillabe non accentate in greco fossero gravi.

Quando l'accento acuto si trova su una vocale lunga o su un dittongo si ritiene generalmente che il tono alto fosse sulla seconda mora della vocale, cioè che ci fosse un innalzamento del tono all'interno della sillaba. Talvolta la musica greca ci mostra esattamente questo, come nella parola αἴθει aíthei 'brucia' nel primo inno delfico, o φαίνου phaínou 'mostrati!' nell'epitaffio di Sicilo, o Σελάνα Selána 'luna' nell'Inno al sole, nel quale la sillaba acuta costruisce un melisma di due o tre note che salgono gradualmente.

Tre esempi di tono ascendente nella musica greca

Più spesso, invece, su una vocale lunga accentata nella musica non troviamo alcun innalzamento del tono e la sillaba resta su una nota della stessa altezza, come nelle parole Ἅφαιστος Hā́phaistos 'Efesto' dal primo inno delfico oppure ἐκείνας ekeínas 'quelle' o Ῥωμαίων Rhōmaíōn 'dei Romani' al secondo inno:

Tre esempi di tono statico nella musica greca

Poiché ciò è così comune, è possibile che almeno qualche volta il tono non si alzasse su una vocale lunga con accento acuto, bma rimanesse fermo. Un'altra considerazione è che sebbene gli antichi grammatici descrivessero sempre l'accento circonflesso come di "due toni" (δίτονος) o 'composto' (σύνθετος) o 'doppio' (διπλοῦς), non facevano simili osservazioni per l'accento acuto. Altri invece sembrano menzionare un "circonflesso invertito", che potrebbe riferirsi a questo tipo di accento.

Assimilazione tonale

Devine e Stephens notano che talvolta in fine di parola il tono risale ancora, come se accompagnasse o anticipasse l'accento della parola seguente. Chiamano questo fenomento "innalzamento secondario". Esempi sono ἔχεις τρίποδα ékheis trípoda 'hai un tripode' o μέλπετε δὲ Πύθιον mélpete dè Pýthion 'cantate il pizio' nel secondo inno delfico. Secondo Devine e Stephens, ciò "probabilmente riflette un autentico processo di assimilazione del tono nel parlato spontaneo".

Due frasi del secondo inno delfico che mostrano un innalzamento secondario in fine di parola

Nella stragrande maggioranza della musica il tono scende sulla sillaba immediatamente successiva all'accento acuto. Ci sono tuttavia delle eccezioni. Una situazione in cui questo può accadere è quando due parole sono unite in una stasi o semistasi, come nelle frasi ἵνα Φοῖβον hína Phoîbon 'cosicché Febo' (primo inno) e πόλει Κεκροπίᾳ pólei Kekropíāi 'nella città di Cecropia' nel secondo inno delfico:

Due frasi dagli inni delfici che mostrano una stasi fra accenti.

L'assimilazione tonale o sandhi tonale fra toni vicini è comune nelle lingue tonali. Devine e Stephens, citando un fenomeno simile nella lingua nigeriana hausa, commentano: "Questa non è un'incongruenza, ma riflette una caratteristica dell'intonazione di frase nel parlato spontaneo.".

Accento circonflesso

L'accento circonflesso veniva scritto solo su vocali lunghe o dittonghi. In musica è solitamente posto su un melisma di due note, con la prima più alta della seconda. Così ad esempio nel primo inno delfico la parola Φοῖβον Phoîbon 'Febo' è posta sulle stesse note di θύγατρες thýgatres 'figlie' poco prima sulla stessa riga, con l'unica eccezione che le prime due note stanno sulla stessa sillaba invece che a cavallo di due sillabe. Esattamente come l'accento acuto, il circonflesso può essere preceduto sia da una nota alla stessa altezza, come in ᾠδαῖσι ōidaîsi 'con canti', o da un innalzamento, come in μαντεῖον manteîon 'oracolare':

Esempi di accenti circonflessi dal primo inno delfico

Sembra quindi che l'accento circonflesso fosse pronunciato esattamente come l'acuto, con la differenza che la discesa avveniva solitamente all'interno della stessa sillaba. Ciò è chiaro dalla descrizione di Dionigi di Alicarnasso (vedi sopra), che ci riferisce che l'accento circonflesso era una giustapposizione di tono alto e di tono basso nella stessa sillaba, ed è suggerito dalla parola ὀξυβαρεῖα oxybareîa 'acuto-grave', che è uno dei nomi dati all'accento circonflesso nei tempi antichi. Un'altra descrizione era δίτονος dítonos 'di due toni'.

Un'altra prova della pronuncia dell'accento circonflesso è il fatto che quando due vocali si contraevano in una, se la prima aveva l'accento acuto il risultato era un accento circonflesso: ad esempio ὁρά-ω horá-ō 'vedo' è contratto in ὁρῶ horô con accento circonflesso che combina i due toni rispettivamente acuto e grave delle due vocali originarie.

Nella maggior parte degli esempi negli inni delfici l'accento circonflesso è posto su un melisma di due note. Tuttavia, negli inni di Mesomede, soprattutto nell'inno a Nemesi, è più comune trovare l'accento circonflesso su una singola nota. Devine e Stephens vedono in questo la perdita graduale nel tempo della distinzione fra acuto e circonflesso.

Uno dei punti in cui un accento circonflesso può stare su una singola nota è in frasi dove un sostantivo è unito a un genitivo o un aggettivo. Esempi sono μῆρα ταύρων mêra taúrōn (primo inno delfico) 'cosce di toro', Λατοῦς γόνε Latoûs góne 'figlio di Latona' (preghiera a Calliope e Apollo di Mesomede), γαῖαν ἅπασαν gaîan hápasan 'tutto quanto il mondo' (inno al sole di Mesomede). In queste frasi l'accento della seconda parola è più alto o alla stessa altezza di quello della prima parola, e proprio in frasi come ἵνα Φοῖβον hína Phoîbon menzionate in precedenza, la mancanza di discesa del tono sembra rappresentare una qualche sorta di assimilazione o sandhi tonale fra i due accenti:

Tre frasi dalla musica greca che mostra accenti circonflessi

Quando un accento circonflesso appare subito prima di una virgola ha regolarmente una sola nota nella musica, come in τερπνῶν terpnôn 'gradite' nell'Invocazione a Calliope di Mesomede mostrata sopra. Altri esempi sono κλυτᾷ klytâi 'famosa', ἰοῖς ioîs 'con frecce' nel secondo inno delfico, ζῇς zêis 'tu vivi' nell'epitaffio di Sicilo e θνατῶν thnatôn, ἀστιβῆ astibê e μετρεῖς metreîs nell'Inno a Nemesi di Mesomede.

Un altro luogo in cui l'accento circonflesso ha talvolta una nota ferma nella musica è quando si trova sulla penultima sillaba di una parola, con la discesa che arriva solo nella sillaba seguente. Esempi sono παῖδα paîda, πᾶσι pâsi (primo inno delfico), λῆξε lêxe, σῷζε sôize e Φοῖβον Phoîbon (secondo inno delfico) e χεῖρα kheîra, πῆχυν pêkhyn (Inno a Nemesi).

Quattro parole dagli inni delfici che mostrano una note ferma sull'accento circonflesso

Accento grave

Il terzo segno di accento usato in greco antico è l'accento grave, il quale si trova solo sull'ultima sillaba di una parola, ad esempio ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος agathòs ánthrōpos 'un uomo buono'. Gli studiosi sono divisi sul senso da attribuirgli; non è chiaro infatti se indichi che la parola debba essere completamente atona oppure se si tratti di un accento intermedio. In alcuni documenti particolarmente antichi che fanno uso di accenti scritti l'accento grave poteva essere segnato su qualsisi sillaba che portasse il tono basso, non soltanto l'ultima di una parola, ad esempio Θὲόδὼρὸς.

Alcuni studiosi, come il linguista russo Trubeckoj, hanno suggerito che, siccome di solito non c'è discesa dopo un accento grave, l'innalzamento di tono che si sente alla fine di una frase non era fonologicamente un vero accento, ma un semplice accento frasale generico come si può sentire in luganda. Altri studiosi, invece, come Devine e Stephens, affermano al contrario che l'accento grave alla fine di una parola fosse un vero accento, ma che in certi contesti il suo tono fosse soppresso.

In musica una parola con accento grave spesso non è accentata affatto ed è posta su una nota ferma, come in questi esempi dal secondo inno delfico, ὃν ἔτικτε Λατὼ μάκαιρα hòn étikte Latṑ mákaira 'colui che Latona beata ha generato' e τότε λιπὼν Κυνθίαν νᾶσον tóte lipṑn Kynthían nâson 'quando, dopo aver lasciato l'isola cinzia', nei quali le parole Λατὼ Latṑ 'Latona' e λιπὼν lipṑn 'che ha lasciato' non presentano sillabe innalzate:

Frasi dal secondo inno delfico che mostrano l'accento grave

However, occasionally the syllable with the grave can be slightly higher than the rest of the word. This usually occurs when the word with a grave forms part of a phrase in which the music is in any case rising to an accented word, as in καὶ σοφὲ μυστοδότα Template:Grc-transl 'and you, wise initiator into the mysteries' in the Mesomedes prayer illustrated above, or in λιγὺ δὲ λωτὸς βρέμων, αἰόλοις μέλεσιν ᾠδὰν κρέκει Template:Grc-transl 'and the pipe, sounding clearly, weaves a song with shimmering melodies' in the 1st Delphic hymn:

A line from the 1st Delphic Hymn showing the pronunciation of the grave accent.

In the Delphic hymns, a grave accent is almost never followed by a note lower than itself. However, in the later music, there are several examples where a grave is followed by a fall in pitch, as in the phrase below, 'the harsh fate of mortals turns' (Hymn to Nemesis), where the word χαροπὰ Template:Grc-transl 'harsh, grey-eyed' has a fully developed accent:

A phrase from Mesomedes' Hymn to Nemesis illustrating the grave accent

When an oxytone word such as ἀγαθός Template:Grc-transl 'good' comes before a comma or full stop, the accent is written as an acute. Several examples in the music illustrate this rise in pitch before a comma, for example Καλλιόπεια σοφά Template:Grc-transl 'wise Calliope' illustrated above, or in the first line of the Hymn to Nemesis ('Nemesis, winged tilter of the scales of life'):

Example from Mesomedes Hymn to Nemesis showing an accent at the end of a clause

There are almost no examples in the music of an oxytone word at the end of a sentence except the following, where the same phrase is repeated at the end of a stanza. Here the pitch drops and the accent appears to be retracted to the penultimate syllable:

Phrase from Mesomedes' Hymn to Nemesis illustrating an oxytone word at the end of a sentence

This, however, contradicts the description of the ancient grammarians, according to whom a grave became an acute (implying that there was a rise in pitch) at the end of a sentence just as it does before a comma.

General intonation

Devine and Stephens also note that it is also possible from the Delphic hymns to get some indication of the intonation of Ancient Greek. For example, in most languages there is a tendency for the pitch to gradually become lower as the clause proceeds. This tendency, known as downtrend or downdrift, seems to have been characteristic of Greek too. For example, in the second line of the 1st Delphic Hymn, there is a gradual descent from a high pitch to a low one, followed by a jump up by an octave for the start of the next sentence. The words (Template:Grc-transl) mean: 'Come, so that you may hymn with songs your brother Phoebus, the Golden-Haired':

A line of music from the 1st Delphic Hymn, showing how the accents gradually descend in pitch in the course of the sentence. The words read: 'Come, so that you may hymn with songs your brother Phoebus, the Golden-Haired.'

However, not all sentences follow this rule, but some have an upwards trend, as in the clause below from the first Delphic hymn, which when restored reads τρίποδα μαντεῖον ὡς εἷλ[ες ὃν μέγας ἐ]φρούρει δράκων Template:Grc-transl 'how you seized the prophetic tripod which the great snake was guarding'. Here the whole sentence rises up to the emphatic word δράκων Template:Grc-transl 'serpent':

A sentence from the 1st Delphic hymn illustrating a rising intonation

In English before a comma, the voice tends to remain raised, to indicate that the sentence is not finished, and this appears to be true of Greek also. Immediately before a comma, a circumflex accent does not fall but is regularly set to a level note, as in the first line of the Seikilos epitaph, which reads 'As long as you live, shine! Do not grieve at all':

A transcription of the 1st half of the Seikilos epitaph

A higher pitch is also used for proper names and for emphatic words, especially in situations where a non-basic word-order indicates emphasis or focus. An example occurs in the second half of the Seikilos epitaph, where the last two lines read 'It is for a short time only that life exists; as for the end, Time demands it'. In the second sentence, where the order is object – subject – verb, the word χρόνος Template:Grc-transl 'time' has the highest pitch, as if emphasised:

A transcription of the second half of the Seikilos epitaph

Another circumstance in which no downtrend is evident is when a non-lexical word is involved, such as ἵνα Template:Grc-transl 'so that' or τόνδε Template:Grc-transl 'this'. In the music the accent in the word following non-lexical words is usually on the same pitch as the non-lexical accent, not lower than it. Thus there is no downtrend in phrases such as τόνδε πάγον Template:Grc-transl 'this crag' or ἵνα Φοῖβον Template:Grc-transl 'so that Phoebus', where in each case the second word is more important than the first:

Phrases from Greek music showing lack of downtrend

Phrases containing a genitive, such as Λατοῦς γόνε Template:Grc-transl 'Leto's son' quoted above, or μῆρα ταύρων Template:Grc-transl 'thighs of bulls' in the illustration below from the first Delphic hymn, also have no downdrift, but in both of these the second word is slightly higher than the first:

A sentence from the 1st Delphic hymn illustrating the way music imitates the accents of words

Strophe and antistrophe

One problem which has been discussed concerning the relationship between music and word accent is what may have happened in choral music which was written in pairs of corresponding stanzas known as strophe and antistrophe. Rhythmically these always correspond exactly but the word accents in the antistrophe generally do not match those in the strophe. Since none of the surviving music includes both a strophe and antistrophe, it is not clear whether the same music was written for both stanzas, ignoring the word accents in one or the other, or whether the music was similar but varied slightly to account for the accents. The following lines from Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun, which are very similar but with slight variations in the first five notes, show how this might have been possible:

Three examples from Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun showing how melodies match the word accents

Change to modern Greek

In modern Greek the accent is for the most part in the same syllable of the words as it was in ancient Greek, but is one of stress rather than pitch, so that an accented syllable, such as the first syllable in the word ἄνθρωπος, can be pronounced sometimes on a high pitch, and sometimes on a low pitch. It is believed that this change took place around 2nd–4th century AD, at around the same time that the distinction between long and short vowels was also lost. One of the first writers to compose poetry based on a stress accent was the 4th-century Gregory of Nazianzus, who wrote two hymns in which syllable quantities play no part in the metre, but almost every line is accented on the penultimate syllable.

In modern Greek there is no difference in pronunciation between the former acute, grave, and circumflex accents, and in the modern "monotonic" spelling introduced in Greek schools in 1982 only one accent is used, the acute, while monosyllables are left unaccented.

Rules for the placement of the accent

Law of Limitation

The accent may not come more than three syllables from the end of a word.

If an accent comes on the antepenultimate syllable, it is always an acute, for example:

• θάλασσα Template:Grc-transl 'sea'
• ἐποίησαν Template:Grc-transl 'they did'
• ἄνθρωπος Template:Grc-transl 'person'
• ἄνθρωποι Template:Grc-transl 'people'
• βούλομαι Template:Grc-transl 'I want'

Exception: ὧντινων Template:Grc-transl 'of what sort of', in which the second part is an enclitic word.

With a few exceptions, the accent can come on the antepenult only if the last syllable of the word is 'light'. The last syllable counts as light if it ends in a short vowel, or if it ends in a short vowel followed by no more than one consonant, or if the word ends in -οι Template:Grc-transl or -αι Template:Grc-transl, as in the above examples. But for words like the following, which have a heavy final syllable, the accent moves forward to the penultimate:

• ἀνθρώπου Template:Grc-transl 'of a man'
• ἀνθρώποις Template:Grc-transl 'for men'
• ἐβουλόμην Template:Grc-transl 'I wanted'

The ending -ει Template:Grc-transl always counts as long, and in the optative mood, the endings -οι Template:Grc-transl or -αι Template:Grc-transl also count as long and cause the accent to move forward in the same way:

• ποιήσει Template:Grc-transl 'he will do'
• ποιήσοι Template:Grc-transl 'he would do' (future optative)

The accent also cannot come on the antepenultimate syllable when the word ends in -ξ Template:Grc-transl or -ψ Template:Grc-transl, hence the difference in pairs of words such as the following:

• φιλόλογος Template:Grc-transl 'fond of words', but φιλοκόλαξ Template:Grc-transl 'fond of flatterers'

Exceptions, when the accent may remain on the antepenult even when the last vowel is long, are certain words ending in -ων Template:Grc-transl or -ως Template:Grc-transl, for example:

• πόλεως Template:Grc-transl 'of a city', πόλεων Template:Grc-transl 'of cities' (genitive)
• χρυσόκερως Template:Grc-transl 'golden-horned', ῥινόκερως Template:Grc-transl 'rhinoceros'
• ἵλεως Template:Grc-transl 'propitious', Μενέλεως Template:Grc-transl 'Menelaus'

σωτῆρα (Template:Grc-transl) Law

If the accent comes on the penultimate syllable, it must be a circumflex if the last two vowels of the word are long–short. This applies even to words ending in -ξ Template:Grc-transl or -ψ Template:Grc-transl:

• σῶμα Template:Grc-transl 'body'
• δοῦλος Template:Grc-transl 'slave'
• κῆρυξ Template:Grc-transl 'herald'
• λαῖλαψ Template:Grc-transl 'storm'

This rule is known as the σωτῆρα (Template:Grc-transl) Law, since in the accusative case the word σωτήρ Template:Grc-transl 'saviour' becomes σωτῆρα Template:Grc-transl.

In most cases, a final -οι Template:Grc-transl or -αι Template:Grc-transl counts as a short vowel:

• ναῦται Template:Grc-transl 'sailors'
• ποιῆσαι Template:Grc-transl 'to do'
• δοῦλοι Template:Grc-transl 'slaves'

Otherwise the accent is an acute:

• ναύτης Template:Grc-transl 'sailor'
• κελεύει Template:Grc-transl 'he orders'
• δούλοις Template:Grc-transl 'for slaves (dative)'

Exception 1: Certain compounds made from an ordinary word and an enclitic suffix have an acute even though they have long vowel–short vowel:

• οἵδε Template:Grc-transl 'these', ἥδε Template:Grc-transl 'this (fem.)' (but τῶνδε Template:Grc-transl 'of these')
• ὥστε Template:Grc-transl 'that (as a result)', οὔτε Template:Grc-transl 'nor'
• εἴθε Template:Grc-transl 'if only'
• οὔτις Template:Grc-transl 'no one' (but as a name in the Odyssey, Οὖτις Template:Grc-transl)

Exception 2: In locative expressions and verbs in the optative mood a final -οι Template:Grc-transl or -αι Template:Grc-transl counts as a long vowel:

• οἴκοι Template:Grc-transl 'at home' (cf. οἶκοι Template:Grc-transl 'houses')
• ποιήσαι Template:Grc-transl 'he might do' (aorist optative, = ποιήσειε Template:Grc-transl) (cf. ποιῆσαι Template:Grc-transl 'to do')

Law of Persistence

The third principle of Greek accentuation is that, after taking into account the Law of Limitation and the σωτῆρα (Template:Grc-transl) Law, the accent in nouns, adjectives, and pronouns remains as far as possible on the same syllable (counting from the beginning of the word) in all the cases, numbers, and genders. For example:

• ζυγόν Template:Grc-transl 'yoke', pl. ζυγά Template:Grc-transl 'yokes'
• στρατιώτης Template:Grc-transl 'soldier', στρατιῶται Template:Grc-transl 'soldiers'
• πατήρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. πατέρες Template:Grc-transl 'fathers'
• σῶμα Template:Grc-transl, pl. σώματα Template:Grc-transl 'bodies'

But an extra syllable or a long ending causes accent shift:

• ὄνομα Template:Grc-transl, pl. ὀνόματα Template:Grc-transl 'names'
• δίκαιος Template:Grc-transl, fem. δικαίᾱ Template:Grc-transl 'just'
• σῶμα Template:Grc-transl, gen.pl. σωμάτων Template:Grc-transl 'of bodies'

Exceptions to the Law of Persistence

There are a number of exceptions to the Law of Persistence.

Exception 1: The following words have the accent on a different syllable in the plural:

• ἀνήρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. ἄνδρες Template:Grc-transl 'men'
• θυγάτηρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. θυγατέρες Template:Grc-transl (poetic θύγατρες Template:Grc-transl) 'daughters'
• μήτηρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. μητέρες Template:Grc-transl 'mothers'

The accusative singular and plural has the same accent as the nominative plural given above.

The name Δημήτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'Demeter' changes its accent to accusative Δήμητρα Template:Grc-transl, genitive Δήμητρος Template:Grc-transl, dative Δήμητρι Template:Grc-transl.

Exception 2: Certain vocatives (mainly of the 3rd declension) have recessive accent:

• Σωκράτης Template:Grc-transl, ὦ Σώκρατες Template:Grc-transl 'o Socrates'
• πατήρ Template:Grc-transl, ὦ πάτερ Template:Grc-transl 'o father'

Exception 3: All 1st declension nouns, and all 3rd declension neuter nouns ending in -ος Template:Grc-transl, have a genitive plural ending in -ῶν Template:Grc-transl. This also applies to 1st declension adjectives, but only if the feminine genitive plural is different from the masculine:

• στρατιώτης Template:Grc-transl 'soldier', gen.pl. στρατιωτῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of soldiers'
• τὸ τεῖχος Template:Grc-transl 'the wall', gen.pl. τῶν τειχῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of the walls'

Exception 4: Some 3rd declension nouns, including all monosyllables, place the accent on the ending in the genitive and dative singular, dual, and plural. (This also applies to the adjective πᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'all' but only in the singular.) Further details are given below.

• πούς Template:Grc-transl 'foot', acc.sg. πόδα Template:Grc-transl, gen.sg. ποδός Template:Grc-transl, dat.sg. ποδί Template:Grc-transl

Exception 5: Some adjectives, but not all, move the accent to the antepenultimate when neuter:

• βελτίων Template:Grc-transl 'better', neuter βέλτιον Template:Grc-transl
• But: χαρίεις Template:Grc-transl 'graceful', neuter χαρίεν Template:Grc-transl

Exception 6: The following adjective has an accent on the second syllable in the forms containing -αλ- Template:Grc-transl:

• μέγας Template:Grc-transl, pl. μεγάλοι Template:Grc-transl 'big'

Oxytone words

Oxytone words, that is, words with an acute on the final syllable, have their own rules.

Change to a grave

Normally in a sentence, whenever an oxytone word is followed by a non-enclitic word, the acute is changed to a grave; but before a pause (such as a comma, colon, full stop, or verse end), it remains an acute:

• ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός Template:Grc-transl 'a good man'

(Not all editors follow the rule about verse end.)

The acute also remains before an enclitic word such as ἐστί Template:Grc-transl 'is':

• ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός ἐστι Template:Grc-transl 'he's a good man'

In the words τίς; Template:Grc-transl 'who?' and τί; Template:Grc-transl 'what? why?', however, the accent always remains acute, even if another word follows:

• τίς οὗτος; Template:Grc-transl 'who is that?'
• τί ποιεῖς; Template:Grc-transl 'what are you doing?'

Change to a circumflex

When a noun or adjective is used in different cases, a final acute often changes to a circumflex. In the 1st and 2nd declension, oxytone words change the accent to a circumflex in the genitive and dative. This also applies to the dual and plural, and to the definite article:

• ὁ θεός Template:Grc-transl 'the god', acc.sg. τὸν θεόν Template:Grc-transl – gen. sg. τοῦ θεοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'of the god', dat.sg. τῷ θεῷ Template:Grc-transl 'to the god'

However, oxytone words in the 'Attic' declension keep their acute in the genitive and dative:

• ἐν τῷ νεῴ Template:Grc-transl 'in the temple'

3rd declension nouns like βασιλεύς Template:Grc-transl 'king' change the acute to a circumflex in the vocative and dative singular and nominative plural:

• βασιλεύς Template:Grc-transl, voc.sg. βασιλεῦ Template:Grc-transl, dat.sg. βασιλεῖ Template:Grc-transl, nom.pl. βασιλεῖς Template:Grc-transl or βασιλῆς Template:Grc-transl

Adjectives of the type ἀληθής Template:Grc-transl 'true' change the acute to a circumflex in all the cases which have a long vowel ending:

• ἀληθής Template:Grc-transl, acc.sg. ἀληθῆ Template:Grc-transl, gen.sg. ἀληθοῦς Template:Grc-transl, dat.sg. ἀληθεῖ Template:Grc-transl, nom./acc.pl. ἀληθεῖς Template:Grc-transl, gen.pl. ἀληθῶν Template:Grc-transl

Adjectives of the type ἡδύς Template:Grc-transl 'pleasant' change the acute to a circumflex in the dative singular and nominative and accusative plural:

• ἡδύς Template:Grc-transl, dat.sg. ἡδεῖ Template:Grc-transl, nom./acc.pl. ἡδεῖς Template:Grc-transl

Accentless words

The following words have no accent, only a breathing:

• the forms of the article beginning with a vowel (ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ Template:Grc-transl)
• the prepositions ἐν Template:Grc-transl 'in', εἰς (ἐς) Template:Grc-transl 'to, into', ἐξ (ἐκ) Template:Grc-transl 'from'
• the conjunction εἰ Template:Grc-transl 'if'
• the conjunction ὡς Template:Grc-transl 'as, that' (also a preposition 'to')
• the negative adverb οὐ (οὐκ, οὐχ) Template:Grc-transl 'not'.

However, some of these words can have an accent when they are used in emphatic position. ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ Template:Grc-transl are written ὃ, ἣ, οἳ, αἳ when the meaning is 'who, which'; and οὐ Template:Grc-transl is written οὔ if it ends a sentence.

The definite article

The definite article in the nominative singular and plural masculine and feminine just has a rough breathing, and no accent:

• ὁ θεός Template:Grc-transl 'the god'
• οἱ θεοί Template:Grc-transl 'the gods'

Otherwise the nominative and accusative have an acute accent, which in the context of a sentence, is written as a grave:

• τὸν θεόν Template:Grc-transl 'the god' (accusative)
• τὰ ὅπλα Template:Grc-transl 'the weapons'

The genitive and dative (singular, plural and dual), however, are accented with a circumflex:

• τῆς οἰκίας Template:Grc-transl 'of the house' (genitive)
• τῷ θεῷ Template:Grc-transl 'for the god' (dative)
• τοῖς θεοῖς Template:Grc-transl 'for the gods' (dative plural)
• τοῖν θεοῖν Template:Grc-transl 'of/to the two goddesses' (genitive or dative dual)

1st and 2nd declension oxytones, such as θεός Template:Grc-transl, are accented the same way as the article, with a circumflex in the genitive and dative.

Nouns

1st declension

Types

Those ending in short -α Template:Grc-transl are all recessive:

• θάλασσα Template:Grc-transl 'sea', Μοῦσα Template:Grc-transl 'Muse (goddess of music)', βασίλεια Template:Grc-transl 'queen', γέφυρα Template:Grc-transl 'bridge', ἀλήθεια Template:Grc-transl 'truth', μάχαιρα Template:Grc-transl 'dagger', γλῶσσα Template:Grc-transl 'tongue, language'

Of those which end in long -α Template:Grc-transl or -η Template:Grc-transl, some have penultimate accent:

• οἰκία Template:Grc-transl 'house', χώρα Template:Grc-transl 'country', νίκη Template:Grc-transl 'victory', μάχη Template:Grc-transl 'battle', ἡμέρα Template:Grc-transl 'day', τύχη Template:Grc-transl 'chance', ἀνάγκη Template:Grc-transl 'necessity', τέχνη Template:Grc-transl 'craft', εἰρήνη Template:Grc-transl 'peace'

Others are oxytone:

• ἀγορά Template:Grc-transl 'market', στρατιά Template:Grc-transl 'army', τιμή Template:Grc-transl 'honour', ἀρχή Template:Grc-transl 'empire; beginning', ἐπιστολή Template:Grc-transl 'letter', κεφαλή Template:Grc-transl 'head', ψυχή Template:Grc-transl 'soul', βουλή Template:Grc-transl 'council'

A very few have a contracted ending with a circumflex on the last syllable:

• γῆ Template:Grc-transl 'earth, land', Ἀθηνᾶ Template:Grc-transl 'Athena', μνᾶ Template:Grc-transl 'mina (coin)'

Masculine 1st declension nouns usually have penultimate accent:

• στρατιώτης Template:Grc-transl 'soldier', πολίτης Template:Grc-transl 'citizen', νεανίας Template:Grc-transl 'young man', ναύτης Template:Grc-transl 'sailor', Πέρσης Template:Grc-transl 'Persian', δεσπότης Template:Grc-transl 'master', Ἀλκιβιάδης Template:Grc-transl 'Alcibiades', Μιλτιάδης Template:Grc-transl 'Miltiades'

A few, especially agent nouns, are oxytone:

• ποιητής Template:Grc-transl 'poet', κριτής Template:Grc-transl 'judge', μαθητής Template:Grc-transl 'learner, disciple', ἀθλητής Template:Grc-transl 'athlete', αὐλητής Template:Grc-transl 'piper'

There are also some with a contracted final syllable:

• Ἑρμῆς Template:Grc-transl 'Hermes', Βορρᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'the North Wind'

Accent movement

In proparoxytone words like θάλασσα Template:Grc-transl, with a short final vowel, the accent moves to the penultimate in the accusative plural, and in the genitive and dative singular, dual, and plural, when the final vowel becomes long:

• θάλασσα Template:Grc-transl 'sea', gen. τῆς θαλάσσης Template:Grc-transl 'of the sea'

In words with penultimate accent, the accent is persistent, that is, as far as possible it stays on the same syllable when the noun changes case. But if the last two vowels are long–short, it changes to a circumflex:

• στρατιώτης Template:Grc-transl 'soldier', nom.pl. οἱ στρατιῶται Template:Grc-transl 'the soldiers'

In oxytone words, the accent changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative (also in the plural and dual), just as in the definite article:

• τῆς στρατιᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'of the army', τῇ στρατιᾷ Template:Grc-transl 'for the army'

All 1st declension nouns have a circumflex on the final syllable in the genitive plural:

• στρατιωτῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of soldiers', ἡμερῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of days'

The vocative of 1st declension nouns usually has the accent on the same syllable as the nominative. But the word δεσπότης Template:Grc-transl 'master' has a vocative accented on the first syllable:

• ὦ νεανία Template:Grc-transl 'young man!', ὦ ποιητά Template:Grc-transl 'o poet'
• ὦ δέσποτα Template:Grc-transl 'master!'

2nd declension

Types

The majority of 2nd declension nouns have recessive accent, but there are a few oxytones, and a very few with an accent in between (neither recessive nor oxytone) or contracted:

• ἄνθρωπος Template:Grc-transl 'man', ἵππος Template:Grc-transl 'horse', πόλεμος Template:Grc-transl 'war', νῆσος Template:Grc-transl 'island', δοῦλος Template:Grc-transl 'slave', λόγος Template:Grc-transl 'wοrd', θάνατος Template:Grc-transl 'death', βίος Template:Grc-transl 'life', ἥλιος Template:Grc-transl 'sun', χρόνος Template:Grc-transl 'time', τρόπος Template:Grc-transl 'manner', νόμος Template:Grc-transl 'law, custom', θόρυβος Template:Grc-transl 'noise', κύκλος Template:Grc-transl 'circle'
• θεός Template:Grc-transl 'god', ποταμός Template:Grc-transl 'river', ὁδός Template:Grc-transl 'road', ἀδελφός Template:Grc-transl 'brother', ἀριθμός Template:Grc-transl 'number', στρατηγός Template:Grc-transl 'general', ὀφθαλμός Template:Grc-transl 'eye', οὐρανός Template:Grc-transl 'heaven', υἱός Template:Grc-transl 'son', τροχός Template:Grc-transl 'wheel'
• παρθένος Template:Grc-transl 'maiden', νεανίσκος Template:Grc-transl 'youth', ἐχῖνος Template:Grc-transl 'hedgehog; sea-urchin'
• νοῦς Template:Grc-transl 'mind' (contracted from νόος), πλοῦς Template:Grc-transl 'voyage'

Words of the 'Attic' declension ending in -ως Template:Grc-transl can also be either recessive or oxytone:

• Μενέλεως Template:Grc-transl 'Menelaus', Μίνως Template:Grc-transl 'Minos'
• νεώς Template:Grc-transl 'temple', λεώς Template:Grc-transl 'people'

Neuter words are mostly recessive, but not all:

• δῶρον Template:Grc-transl 'gift', δένδρον Template:Grc-transl 'tree', ὅπλα Template:Grc-transl 'weapons', στρατόπεδον Template:Grc-transl 'camp', πλοῖον Template:Grc-transl 'boat', ἔργον Template:Grc-transl 'work', τέκνον Template:Grc-transl 'child', ζῷον Template:Grc-transl 'animal'
• σημεῖον Template:Grc-transl 'sign', μαντεῖον Template:Grc-transl 'oracle', διδασκαλεῖον Template:Grc-transl 'school'
• ζυγόν Template:Grc-transl 'yoke', ᾠόν Template:Grc-transl 'egg', ναυτικόν Template:Grc-transl 'fleet', ἱερόν Template:Grc-transl 'temple' (the last two are derived from adjectives)

Words ending in -ιον Template:Grc-transl often have penultimate accent, especially diminutive words:

• βιβλίον Template:Grc-transl 'book', χωρίον Template:Grc-transl 'place', παιδίον Template:Grc-transl 'baby', πεδίον Template:Grc-transl 'plain'

But some -ιον Template:Grc-transl words are recessive, especially those with a short antepenultimate:

• ἱμάτιον Template:Grc-transl 'cloak', στάδιον Template:Grc-transl 'stade' (600 feet), 'race-course', μειράκιον Template:Grc-transl 'lad'

Accent movement

As with the first declension, the accent on 2nd declension oxytone nouns such as θεός Template:Grc-transl 'god' changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative (singular, dual, and plural):

• τοῦ θεοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'of the god', τοῖς θεοῖς Template:Grc-transl 'to the gods'

But those in the Attic declension retain their acute:

• τοῦ λεώ Template:Grc-transl 'of the people'

Unlike in the first declension, barytone words do not have a circumflex in the genitive plural:

• τῶν ἵππων Template:Grc-transl 'of the horses'

3rd declension

Types

3rd declension masculine and feminine nouns can be recessive or oxytone:

• μήτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'mother', θυγάτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'daughter', φύλαξ Template:Grc-transl 'guard', πόλις Template:Grc-transl 'city', γέρων Template:Grc-transl 'old man', λέων Template:Grc-transl 'lion', δαίμων Template:Grc-transl 'god', τριήρης Template:Grc-transl 'trireme (warship)', μάρτυς Template:Grc-transl 'witness', μάντις Template:Grc-transl 'seer', τάξις Template:Grc-transl 'arrangement', Ἕλληνες Template:Grc-transl 'Greeks', Πλάτων Template:Grc-transl 'Plato', Σόλων Template:Grc-transl 'Solon', Δημοσθένης Template:Grc-transl
• πατήρ Template:Grc-transl 'father', ἀνήρ Template:Grc-transl 'man', γυνή Template:Grc-transl 'woman', βασιλεύς Template:Grc-transl 'king', ἱππεύς Template:Grc-transl 'cavalryman', χειμών Template:Grc-transl 'storm, winter', ἐλπίς Template:Grc-transl 'hope', Ἑλλάς Template:Grc-transl 'Greece', ἰχθύς Template:Grc-transl 'fish', πατρίς Template:Grc-transl 'fatherland', ἀγών Template:Grc-transl 'contest', λιμήν Template:Grc-transl 'harbour', χιών Template:Grc-transl 'snow', χιτών Template:Grc-transl 'tunic', ὀδούς Template:Grc-transl 'tooth', ἀσπίς Template:Grc-transl 'shield', δελφίς Template:Grc-transl 'dolphin', Ἀμαζών Template:Grc-transl 'Amazon', Ὀδυσσεύς Template:Grc-transl 'Odysseus', Σαλαμίς Template:Grc-transl 'Salamis', Μαραθών Template:Grc-transl 'Marathon'

Certain names resulting from a contraction are perispomenon:

• Ξενοφῶν Template:Grc-transl, Περικλῆς Template:Grc-transl, Ποσειδῶν Template:Grc-transl, Ἡρακλῆς Template:Grc-transl, Σοφοκλῆς Template:Grc-transl

Masculine and feminine monosyllables similarly can be recessive (with a circumflex) or oxytone (with an acute):

• παῖς Template:Grc-transl 'boy', ναῦς Template:Grc-transl 'ship', βοῦς Template:Grc-transl 'ox', γραῦς Template:Grc-transl 'old woman', ὗς Template:Grc-transl 'pig', οἶς Template:Grc-transl 'sheep'
• χείρ Template:Grc-transl 'hand', πούς Template:Grc-transl 'foot', νύξ Template:Grc-transl 'night', Ζεύς Template:Grc-transl 'Zeus', χθών Template:Grc-transl 'earth', μήν Template:Grc-transl 'month', Πάν Template:Grc-transl 'Pan', χήν Template:Grc-transl 'goose', αἴξ Template:Grc-transl 'goat'

3rd declension neuter nouns are all recessive, and monosyllables have a circumflex (this includes letters of the alphabet):

• ὄνομα Template:Grc-transl 'name', σῶμα Template:Grc-transl 'body', στόμα Template:Grc-transl 'mouth', τεῖχος Template:Grc-transl 'wall', ὄρος Template:Grc-transl 'mountain', ἔτος Template:Grc-transl 'year', αἷμα Template:Grc-transl 'blood', ὔδωρ Template:Grc-transl 'water', γένος Template:Grc-transl 'race, kind', χρήματα Template:Grc-transl 'money', πρᾶγμα Template:Grc-transl 'business, affair', πνεῦμα Template:Grc-transl 'spirit, breath', τέλος Template:Grc-transl 'end'
• πῦρ Template:Grc-transl 'fire', φῶς Template:Grc-transl 'light', κῆρ Template:Grc-transl 'heart' (poetic)
• μῦ Template:Grc-transl, φῖ Template:Grc-transl, ὦ Template:Grc-transl 'omega'

Accent movement

The accent in the nominative plural and in the accusative singular and plural is usually on the same syllable as the nominative singular, unless this would break the three-syllable rule. Thus:

• χειμών Template:Grc-transl, pl. χειμῶνες Template:Grc-transl 'storms'
• γυνή Template:Grc-transl, pl. γυναῖκες Template:Grc-transl 'women'
• πατήρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. πατέρες Template:Grc-transl 'fathers'
• ναῦς Template:Grc-transl, pl. νῆες Template:Grc-transl 'ships'
• σῶμα Template:Grc-transl, pl. σώματα Template:Grc-transl 'bodies'

But, in accordance with the 3-syllable rule:

• ὄνομα Template:Grc-transl, nominative pl. ὀνόματα Template:Grc-transl 'names', gen. pl. ὀνομάτων Template:Grc-transl

The following are exceptions and have the accent on a different syllable in the nominative and accusative plural or the accusative singular:

• ἀνήρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. ἄνδρες Template:Grc-transl 'men'
• θυγάτηρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. θυγατέρες Template:Grc-transl (poetic θύγατρες Template:Grc-transl) 'daughters'
• μήτηρ Template:Grc-transl, pl. μητέρες Template:Grc-transl 'mothers'

But the following is recessive:

• Δημήτηρ Template:Grc-transl, acc. Δήμητρα Template:Grc-transl 'Demeter'

Words ending in -ευς Template:Grc-transl are all oxytone, but only in the nominative singular. In all other cases the accent is on the ε Template:Grc-transl or η Template:Grc-transl:

• βασιλεύς, βασιλέα, βασιλέως, βασιλεῖ Template:Grc-transl 'king', nom.pl. βασιλῆς Template:Grc-transl or βασιλεῖς Template:Grc-transl

Accent shift in genitive and dative

In 3rd declension monosyllables the accent usually shifts to the final syllable in the genitive and dative. The genitive dual and plural have a circumflex:

• singular: πούς, πόδα, ποδός, ποδί Template:Grc-transl 'foot'
  dual: nom./acc. πόδε Template:Grc-transl, gen./dat. ποδοῖν Template:Grc-transl '(pair of) feet'
  plural: πόδες, πόδας, ποδῶν, ποσί(ν) Template:Grc-transl 'feet'
• singular: νύξ, νύκτα, νυκτός, νυκτί Template:Grc-transl 'night'
  plural: νύκτες, νύκτας, νυκτῶν, νυξί(ν)

The following are irregular in formation, but the accent moves in the same way:

• ναῦς, ναῦν, νεώς, νηΐ Template:Grc-transl} 'ship'
  plural: νῆες, νῆας, νεῶν, νηυσί(ν) Template:Grc-transl
• Ζεύς, Δία, Διός, Διΐ Template:Grc-transl 'Zeus'

The numbers for 'one', 'two', and 'three' also follow this pattern (see below).

γυνή Template:Grc-transl 'woman' and κύων Template:Grc-transl 'dog' despite not being monosyllables, follow the same pattern:

• γυνή, γυναῖκα, γυναικός, γυναικί Template:Grc-transl 'woman'
  pl. γυναῖκες, γυναῖκας, γυναικῶν, γυναιξί(ν) Template:Grc-transl
• κύων, κύνα, κυνός, κυνί Template:Grc-transl 'dog'
  pl. κύνες, κύνας, κυνῶν, κυσί(ν) Template:Grc-transl

There are some irregularities. The nouns παῖς Template:Grc-transl 'boy' and Τρῶες Template:Grc-transl 'Trojans' follow this pattern except in the genitive dual and plural:

• singular παῖς, παῖδα, παιδός, παιδί Template:Grc-transl 'boy'
  παῖδες, παῖδας, παίδων, παισί(ν) Template:Grc-transl

The adjective πᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'all' has a mobile accent only in the singular:

• singular πᾶς, πάντα, παντός, παντί Template:Grc-transl

plural πάντες, πάντας, πάντων, πᾶσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl.

Monosyllabic participles, such as ὤν Template:Grc-transl 'being', and the interrogative pronoun τίς; τί; Template:Grc-transl 'who? what?' have a fixed accent.

• singular ὤν, ὄντα, ὄντος, ὄντι Template:Grc-transl

plural ὄντες, ὄντας, ὄντων, οὖσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl.

The words πατήρ Template:Grc-transl 'father', μήτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'mother', θυγάτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'daughter', have the following accentuation:

• πατήρ, πατέρα, πατρός, πατρί Template:Grc-transl 'father'
  pl. πατέρες, πατέρας, πατέρων, πατράσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl

γαστήρ Template:Grc-transl 'stomach' is similar:

• γαστήρ, γαστέρα, γαστρός, γαστρί Template:Grc-transl 'stomach'
  pl. γαστέρες, γαστέρας, γάστρων, γαστράσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl}

The word ἀνήρ Template:Grc-transl 'man' has the following pattern, with accent shift in the genitive singular and plural:

• ἀνήρ, ἄνδρα, ἀνδρός, ἀνδρί Template:Grc-transl 'man'
  pl. ἄνδρες, ἄνδρας, ἀνδρῶν, ἀνδράσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl

3rd declension neuter words ending in -ος Template:Grc-transl have a circumflex in the genitive plural, but are otherwise recessive:

• τεῖχος Template:Grc-transl 'wall', gen.pl. τειχῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of walls'

Concerning the genitive plural of the word τριήρης Template:Grc-transl 'trireme', there was uncertainty. 'Some people pronounce it barytone, others perispomenon,' wrote one grammarian.

Nouns such as πόλις Template:Grc-transl 'city' and ἄστυ Template:Grc-transl 'town' with genitive singular -εως Template:Grc-transl 'city' keep their accent on the first syllable in the genitive singular and plural, despite the long vowel ending:

• πόλις, πόλιν, πόλεως, πόλει Template:Grc-transl 'city'
  pl. πόλεις, πόλεις, πόλεως, πόλεσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl

3rd declension neuter nouns ending in -ος Template:Grc-transl have a circumflex in the genitive plural, but are otherwise recessive:

• τεῖχος, τεῖχος, τείχους, τείχει Template:Grc-transl 'wall'
  pl. τείχη, τείχη, τειχῶν, τείχεσι(ν) Template:Grc-transl

Vocative

Usually in 3rd declension nouns the accent becomes recessive in the vocative:

• πάτερ Template:Grc-transl 'father!', γύναι Template:Grc-transl 'madam!', ὦ Σώκρατες Template:Grc-transl 'o Socrates', Πόσειδον Template:Grc-transl, Ἄπολλον Template:Grc-transl, Περίκλεις Template:Grc-transl

However, the following have a circumflex on the final syllable:

• ὦ Ζεῦ Template:Grc-transl 'o Zeus', ὦ βασιλεῦ Template:Grc-transl 'o king'

Adjectives

Types

Adjectives frequently have oxytone accentuation, but there are also barytone ones, and some with a contracted final syllable. Oxytone examples are:

• ἀγαθός Template:Grc-transl 'good', κακός Template:Grc-transl 'bad', καλός Template:Grc-transl 'beautiful', δεινός Template:Grc-transl 'fearsome', Ἑλληνικός Template:Grc-transl 'Greek', σοφός Template:Grc-transl 'wise', ἰσχυρός Template:Grc-transl 'strong', μακρός Template:Grc-transl 'long', αἰσχρός Template:Grc-transl 'shameful', ὑψηλός Template:Grc-transl, μικρός Template:Grc-transl 'small', πιστός Template:Grc-transl 'faithful', χαλεπός Template:Grc-transl 'difficult'
• ἀριστερός Template:Grc-transl 'left-hand', δεξιτερός Template:Grc-transl 'right-hand'
• ἡδύς Template:Grc-transl 'pleasant', ὀξύς Template:Grc-transl 'sharp, high-pitched', βαρύς Template:Grc-transl 'heavy, low-pitched', ταχύς Template:Grc-transl 'fast', βραδύς Template:Grc-transl 'slow', βαθύς Template:Grc-transl 'deep', γλυκύς Template:Grc-transl 'sweet'. (The feminine of all of these has -εῖα Template:Grc-transl.)
• πολύς Template:Grc-transl 'much', plural πολλοί Template:Grc-transl 'many'
• ἀληθής Template:Grc-transl 'true', εὐτυχής Template:Grc-transl 'lucky', δυστυχής Template:Grc-transl 'unfortunate', ἀσθενής Template:Grc-transl 'weak, sick', ἀσφαλής Template:Grc-transl 'safe'

Recessive:

• φίλιος Template:Grc-transl 'friendly', πολέμιος Template:Grc-transl 'enemy', δίκαιος Template:Grc-transl 'just', πλούσιος Template:Grc-transl 'rich', ἄξιος Template:Grc-transl 'worthy', Λακεδαιμόνιος Template:Grc-transl 'Spartan', ῥᾴδιος Template:Grc-transl 'easy'
• μῶρος Template:Grc-transl 'foolish', ἄδικος Template:Grc-transl 'unjust', νέος Template:Grc-transl 'new, young', μόνος Template:Grc-transl 'alone', χρήσιμος Template:Grc-transl 'useful', λίθινος Template:Grc-transl 'made of stone', ξύλινος Template:Grc-transl 'wooden'
• ἄλλος Template:Grc-transl 'other', ἕκαστος Template:Grc-transl 'each'
• ὑμέτερος Template:Grc-transl 'your', ἡμέτερος Template:Grc-transl 'our'
• ἵλεως Template:Grc-transl 'propitious'
• εὐμένης Template:Grc-transl 'kindly', δυσώδης Template:Grc-transl 'bad-smelling', εὐδαίμων Template:Grc-transl 'happy'. (For other compound adjectives, see below.)
• πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν Template:Grc-transl 'all', plural πάντες Template:Grc-transl

Paroxytone:

• ὀλίγος Template:Grc-transl 'little', ἐναντίος Template:Grc-transl 'opposite', πλησίος Template:Grc-transl 'near'
• μέγας Template:Grc-transl 'great, big', fem. μεγάλη Template:Grc-transl, plural μεγάλοι Template:Grc-transl

Properispomenon:

• Ἀθηναῖος Template:Grc-transl 'Athenian', ἀνδρεῖος Template:Grc-transl 'brave'
• ἑτοῖμος/ἕτοιμος Template:Grc-transl 'ready', ἐρῆμος/ἔρημος Template:Grc-transl 'deserted'
• τοιοῦτος Template:Grc-transl 'such', τοσοῦτος Template:Grc-transl 'so great'

Perispomenon:

• χρυσοῦς Template:Grc-transl 'golden', χαλκοῦς Template:Grc-transl 'bronze'

Comparative and superlative adjectives all have recessive accent:

• σοφώτερος Template:Grc-transl 'wiser', σοφώτατος Template:Grc-transl 'very wise'
• μείζων Template:Grc-transl 'greater', μέγιστος Template:Grc-transl 'very great'

Adjectives ending in -ής Template:Grc-transl have a circumflex in most of the endings, since these are contracted:

• ἀληθής Template:Grc-transl 'true', masculine plural ἀληθεῖς Template:Grc-transl

μῶρος Template:Grc-transl 'foolish' is oxytone in the New Testament:

• πέντε δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἦσαν μωραί Template:Grc-transl 'and five of them were foolish' (Matthew 25.2)

Personal names derived from adjectives are usually recessive, even if the adjective is not:

• Ἀθήναιος Template:Grc-transl 'Athenaeus', from Ἀθηναῖος Template:Grc-transl 'Athenian'
• Γλαῦκος Template:Grc-transl, from γλαυκός Template:Grc-transl 'grey-eyed'

Accent movement

Unlike in modern Greek, which has fixed accent in adjectives, an antepenultimate accent moves forward when the last vowel is long:

• φίλιος Template:Grc-transl 'friendly (masc.)', φιλίᾱ Template:Grc-transl 'friendly (fem.)', fem.pl. φίλιαι Template:Grc-transl

The genitive plural of feminine adjectives is accented -ῶν Template:Grc-transl, but only in those adjectives where the masculine and feminine forms of the genitive plural are different:

• πᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'all', gen.pl. πάντων Template:Grc-transl 'of all (masc.)', πασῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of all (fem.)'

But:

• δίκαιος Template:Grc-transl 'just', gen.pl. δικαίων Template:Grc-transl (both genders)

In a barytone adjective, in the neuter, when the last vowel becomes short, the accent usually recedes:

• βελτίων Template:Grc-transl 'better', neuter βέλτιον Template:Grc-transl

However, when the final -ν Template:Grc-transl was formerly *-ντ Template:Grc-transl, the accent does not recede (this includes neuter participles):

• χαρίεις Template:Grc-transl 'graceful', neuter χαρίεν Template:Grc-transl
• ποιήσας Template:Grc-transl 'having done', neuter ποιῆσαν Template:Grc-transl

The adjective μέγας Template:Grc-transl 'great' shifts its accent to the penultimate in forms of the word that contain lambda (λ Template:Grc-transl):

• μέγας Template:Grc-transl 'great', plural μεγάλοι Template:Grc-transl

The masculine πᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'all' and neuter πᾶν Template:Grc-transl have their accent on the ending in genitive and dative, but only in the singular:

• πᾶς Template:Grc-transl 'all', gen.sg. παντός Template:Grc-transl, dat.sg. παντί Template:Grc-transl (but gen.pl. πάντων Template:Grc-transl, dat.pl. πᾶσι Template:Grc-transl)

The participle ὤν Template:Grc-transl 'being', genitive ὄντος Template:Grc-transl, has fixed accent.

Elided vowels

When the last vowel of an oxytone adjective is elided, an acute (not a circumflex) appears on the penultimate syllable instead:

• δείν' ἐποίει Template:Grc-transl 'he was doing dreadful things' (for δεινά)
• πόλλ' ἀγαθά Template:Grc-transl 'many good things' (for πολλά)

This rule also applies to verbs and nouns:

• λάβ' ὦ ξένε Template:Grc-transl 'take (the cup), o stranger' (for λαβέ)

But it does not apply to minor words such as prepositions or ἀλλά Template:Grc-transl 'but':

• πόλλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ, ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα Template:Grc-transl
  'the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog one big thing' (Archilochus)

The retracted accent was always an acute. The story was told of an actor who, in a performance of Euripides' play Orestes, instead of pronouncing γαλήν᾽ ὁρῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I see a calm sea', accidentally said γαλῆν ὁρῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I see a weasel', provoking laughter in the audience and mockery the following year in Aristophanes' Frogs.

Compound nouns and adjectives

Ordinary compounds, that is, those which are not of the type 'object+verb', usually have recessive accent:

• ἱπποπόταμος Template:Grc-transl 'hippopotamus' ('horse of the river')
• Τιμόθεος Template:Grc-transl 'Timothy' ('honouring God')
• σύμμαχος Template:Grc-transl 'ally' ('fighting alongside')
• φιλόσοφος Template:Grc-transl 'philosopher' ('loving wisdom')
• ἡμίονος Template:Grc-transl 'mule' ('half-donkey')

But there are some which are oxytone:

• ἀρχιερεύς Template:Grc-transl 'high priest'
• ὑποκριτής Template:Grc-transl 'actor, hypocrite'

Compounds of the type 'object–verb', if the penultimate syllable is long or heavy, are usually oxytone:

• στρατηγός Template:Grc-transl 'general' ('army-leader')
• γεωργός Template:Grc-transl 'farmer' ('land-worker')
• σιτοποιός Template:Grc-transl 'bread-maker'

But 1st declension nouns tend to be recessive even when the penultimate is long:

• βιβλιοπώλης Template:Grc-transl 'book-seller'
• συκοφάντης Template:Grc-transl 'informer' (lit. 'fig-revealer')

Compounds of the type 'object+verb' when the penultimate syllable is short are usually paroxytone:

• βουκόλος Template:Grc-transl 'cowherd'
• δορυφόρος Template:Grc-transl 'spear-bearer'
• δισκοβόλος Template:Grc-transl 'discus-thrower'
• ἡμεροσκόπος Template:Grc-transl 'look-out man' (lit. 'day-watcher')

But the following, formed from ἔχω Template:Grc-transl 'I hold', are recessive:

• αἰγίοχος Template:Grc-transl 'who holds the aegis'
• κληροῦχος Template:Grc-transl 'holder of an allotment (of land)'

Adverbs

Adverbs formed from barytone adjectives are accented on the penultimate, as are those formed from adjectives ending in -ύς Template:Grc-transl; but those formed from other oxytone adjectives are perispomenon:

• ἀνδρεῖος Template:Grc-transl 'brave', ἀνδρείως Template:Grc-transl 'bravely'
• δίκαιος Template:Grc-transl 'just', δικαίως Template:Grc-transl 'justly'
• ἡδύς Template:Grc-transl, 'pleasant', ἡδέως Template:Grc-transl 'with pleasure'
• καλός Template:Grc-transl, 'beautiful', καλῶς Template:Grc-transl 'beautifully'
• ἀληθής Template:Grc-transl, 'true', ἀληθῶς Template:Grc-transl 'truly'

Adverbs ending in -κις Template:Grc-transl have penultimate accent:

• πολλάκις Template:Grc-transl 'often'

Numbers

The first three numbers have mobile accent in the genitive and dative:

• εἷς Template:Grc-transl 'one (m.)', acc. ἕνα Template:Grc-transl, gen. ἑνός Template:Grc-transl 'of one', dat. ἑνί Template:Grc-transl 'to or for one'
• μία Template:Grc-transl 'one (f.)', acc. μίαν Template:Grc-transl, gen. μιᾶς Template:Grc-transl, dat. μιᾷ Template:Grc-transl
• δύο Template:Grc-transl 'two', gen/dat. δυοῖν Template:Grc-transl
• τρεῖς Template:Grc-transl 'three', gen. τριῶν Template:Grc-transl, dat. τρισί Template:Grc-transl

Despite the circumflex in εἷς Template:Grc-transl, the negative οὐδείς Template:Grc-transl 'no one (m.)' has an acute. It also has mobile accent in the genitive and dative:

• οὐδείς Template:Grc-transl 'no one (m.)', acc. οὐδένα Template:Grc-transl, gen. οὐδενός Template:Grc-transl 'of no one', dat. οὐδενί Template:Grc-transl 'to no one'

The remaining numbers to twelve are:

• τέσσαρες Template:Grc-transl 'four', πέντε Template:Grc-transl 'five', ἕξ Template:Grc-transl 'six', ἐπτά Template:Grc-transl 'seven', ὀκτώ Template:Grc-transl 'eight', ἐννέα Template:Grc-transl 'nine', δέκα Template:Grc-transl 'ten', ἕνδεκα Template:Grc-transl 'eleven' δώδεκα Template:Grc-transl 'twelve'

Also commonly found are:

• εἴκοσι Template:Grc-transl 'twenty', τριάκοντα Template:Grc-transl 'thirty', ἑκατόν Template:Grc-transl 'a hundred', χίλιοι Template:Grc-transl 'a thousand'.

Ordinals all have recessive accent, except those ending in -στός Template:Grc-transl:

• πρῶτος Template:Grc-transl 'first', δεύτερος Template:Grc-transl 'second', τρίτος Template:Grc-transl 'third' etc., but εἰκοστός Template:Grc-transl 'twentieth'

Pronouns

The personal pronouns are the following:

• ἐγώ Template:Grc-transl 'I', σύ Template:Grc-transl 'you (sg.)', ἕ Template:Grc-transl 'him(self)'
• νῴ Template:Grc-transl 'we two', σφώ Template:Grc-transl 'you two'
• ἡμεῖς Template:Grc-transl 'we', ὑμεῖς Template:Grc-transl 'you (pl.)', σφεῖς Template:Grc-transl 'they'

The genitive and dative of all these personal pronouns has a circumflex, except for the datives ἐμοί Template:Grc-transl, σοί Template:Grc-transl, and σφίσι Template:Grc-transl:

• ἐμοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'of me', ὑμῖν Template:Grc-transl 'for you (pl.)', οἷ Template:Grc-transl 'to him(self)'
• ἐμοί Template:Grc-transl 'for me', σοί Template:Grc-transl 'for you', and σφίσι Template:Grc-transl 'for them(selves)'

The oblique cases of ἐγώ Template:Grc-transl, σύ Template:Grc-transl 'you (sg.)', ἕ Template:Grc-transl, and σφεῖς Template:Grc-transl can also be used enclitically when they are unemphatic (see below under Enclitics), in which case they are written without accents. When enclitic, ἐμέ Template:Grc-transl, ἐμοῦ Template:Grc-transl, and ἐμοί Template:Grc-transl are shortened to με Template:Grc-transl, μου Template:Grc-transl, and μοι Template:Grc-transl:

• ἔξεστί σοι Template:Grc-transl 'it is possible for you'
• εἰπέ μοι Template:Grc-transl 'tell me'
• νόμος γὰρ ἦν οὗτός σφισι Template:Grc-transl 'for this apparently was their custom' (Xenophon)

The accented form is usually used after a preposition:

• ἔπεμψέ με Κῦρος πρὸς σέ Template:Grc-transl 'Cyrus sent me to you'
• πρὸς ἐμέ Template:Grc-transl (sometimes πρός με Template:Grc-transl) 'to me'

The pronouns αὐτός Template:Grc-transl 'he himself', ἑαυτόν Template:Grc-transl 'himself (reflexive)', and ὅς Template:Grc-transl 'who, which' change the accent to a circumflex in the genitive and dative:

• αὐτόν Template:Grc-transl 'him', αὐτοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'of him, his', αὐτῷ Template:Grc-transl 'to him', αὐτοῖς Template:Grc-transl 'to them', etc.

Pronouns compounded with -δε Template:Grc-transl 'this' and -τις Template:Grc-transl are accented as if the second part was an enclitic word. Thus the accent of οἵδε Template:Grc-transl does not change to a circumflex even though the vowels are long–short:

• οἵδε Template:Grc-transl 'these', ὧντινων Template:Grc-transl 'of which things'

The demonstratives οὗτος Template:Grc-transl 'this' and ἐκεῖνος Template:Grc-transl 'that' are both accented on the penultimate syllable. But οὑτοσί Template:Grc-transl 'this man here' is oxytone.

When τίς Template:Grc-transl means 'who?' is it always accented, even when not before a pause. When it means 'someone' or 'a certain', it is enclitic (see below under Enclitics):

• πρός τινα Template:Grc-transl 'to someone'
• πρὸς τίνα; Template:Grc-transl 'to whom?'

The accent on τίς Template:Grc-transl is fixed and does not move to the ending in the genitive or dative.

Prepositions

ἐν Template:Grc-transl 'in', εἰς (ἐς) Template:Grc-transl 'to, into', and ἐκ (ἐξ) Template:Grc-transl 'from, out of' have no accent, only a breathing.

• ἐν αὐτῷ Template:Grc-transl 'in him'

Most other prepositions have an acute on the final when quoted in isolation (e.g. ἀπό Template:Grc-transl 'from', but in the context of a sentence this becomes a grave. When elided this accent does not retract and it is presumed that they were usually pronounced accentlessly:

• πρὸς αὐτόν Template:Grc-transl 'to him'
• ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'from him'

When a preposition follows its noun, it is accented on the first syllable (except for ἀμφί Template:Grc-transl 'around' and ἀντί Template:Grc-transl 'instead of'):

• τίνος πέρι; Template:Grc-transl 'about what?'

The following prepositions were always accented on the first syllable in every context:

• ἄνευ Template:Grc-transl 'without', μέχρι Template:Grc-transl 'until, as far as'

Interrogative words

Interrogative words are almost all accented recessively. In accordance with the principle that in a monosyllable the equivalent of a recessive accent is a circumflex, a circumflex is used on a long-vowel monosyllable:

• πότε; Template:Grc-transl 'when?', πόθεν; Template:Grc-transl 'where from?', πότερον... ἢ...; Template:Grc-transl 'A... or B?', ποῖος; Template:Grc-transl 'what kind of?', πόσος; Template:Grc-transl 'how much?', πόσοι; Template:Grc-transl 'how many?'
• ἆρα...; Template:Grc-transl, ἦ...; Template:Grc-transl 'is it the case that...?'
• ποῦ; Template:Grc-transl 'where?', ποῖ; Template:Grc-transl 'where to?', πῇ; Template:Grc-transl 'which way?'

Two exceptions, with paroxytone accent, are the following:

• πηλίκος; Template:Grc-transl 'how big?', 'how old?', ποσάκις; Template:Grc-transl 'how often?'

The words τίς; Template:Grc-transl and τί; Template:Grc-transl always keep their acute accent even when followed by another word. Unlike other monosyllables, they do not move the accent to the ending in the genitive or dative:

• τίς; Template:Grc-transl 'who? which?', τί; Template:Grc-transl 'what?', 'why?', τίνες; Template:Grc-transl 'which people?', τίνος; Template:Grc-transl 'of what? whose?', τίνι; Template:Grc-transl 'to whom?', τίνος πέρι; Template:Grc-transl 'about what?'

Some of these words, when accentless or accented on the final, have an indefinite meaning:

• τις Template:Grc-transl 'someone', τινὲς Template:Grc-transl 'some people', ποτε Template:Grc-transl 'once upon a time', etc.

When used in indirect questions, interrogative words are usually prefixed by ὁ- Template:Grc-transl or ὅς- Template:Grc-transl. The accentuation differs. The following are accented on the second syllable:

• ὁπότε Template:Grc-transl 'when', ὁπόθεν Template:Grc-transl 'from where', ὁπόσος Template:Grc-transl 'how great', ὁπότερος Template:Grc-transl 'which of the two'

But the following are accented on the first:

• ὅπου Template:Grc-transl 'where', ὅποι Template:Grc-transl 'to where', ὅστις Template:Grc-transl 'who'

Enclitics

Types of enclitic

Enclitics are words which have no accent themselves, but place an accent on the word they follow. Examples in Greek are the following:

(a) The connective τε Template:Grc-transl 'also', 'and':

• Ἕλληνές τε καὶ βάρβαροι Template:Grc-transl 'both Greeks and foreigners'

(b) The emphatic particles:

• γε Template:Grc-transl 'at any rate', περ Template:Grc-transl 'just, although', τοι Template:Grc-transl 'in fact',
• (Mostly in Homer:) κε/κεν Template:Grc-transl 'it may be', νυ/νυν Template:Grc-transl 'now', ῥα Template:Grc-transl 'then', θην Template:Grc-transl 'in truth':

The pronouns ἐγώ Template:Grc-transl 'I' and ἐμοί Template:Grc-transl 'to me' can combine with γε Template:Grc-transl to make a single word accented on the first syllable:

• ἔγωγε Template:Grc-transl 'I at any rate', ἔμοιγε Template:Grc-transl 'for me at any rate'

(c) Indefinite adverbs:

• ποτε Template:Grc-transl 'once', πως Template:Grc-transl 'somehow', που Template:Grc-transl 'I suppose, somewhere', ποθι Template:Grc-transl (Homeric for που), ποθεν Template:Grc-transl 'from somewhere', πῃ Template:Grc-transl 'in some way', πω Template:Grc-transl 'yet'

(d) Indefinite pronouns:

• τις Template:Grc-transl 'someone', 'a certain', τι Template:Grc-transl 'something', τινες Template:Grc-transl 'certain people'

But τινές Template:Grc-transl can also sometimes begin a sentence, in which case it is non-enclitic and has an accent on the final.

(e) The present tense (except for the 2nd person singular) of εἰμί Template:Grc-transl 'I am' and φημί Template:Grc-transl 'I say':

• ἐγώ εἰμι Template:Grc-transl 'I am'
• ὡς αὐτός φησι Template:Grc-transl 'as he himself says'

These verbs can also have non-enclitic forms which are used, for example, to begin a sentence or after an elision. The verb ἐστὶ Template:Grc-transl 'is' has an emphatic form ἔστι Template:Grc-transl. Judging from parallel forms in Sanskrit it is possible that originally when non-enclitic the other persons also were accented on the first syllable: *εἶμι Template:Grc-transl, *φῆμι Template:Grc-transl etc.; but the usual convention, among most modern editors as well as the ancient Greek grammarians, is to write εἰμὶ Template:Grc-transl and φημὶ Template:Grc-transl even at the beginning of a sentence.

When negative, ἔστι Template:Grc-transl is customarily written with its strong form, but φησί Template:Grc-transl is enclitic:

• οὐκ ἔστι Template:Grc-transl 'he is not'
• οὔ φησι Template:Grc-transl 'he says ... not'

The strong form ἔστι Template:Grc-transl is also written after εἰ Template:Grc-transl 'if', ὡς Template:Grc-transl 'since', ἀλλ᾽ Template:Grc-transl 'but', τοῦτ᾽ Template:Grc-transl 'this', according to Herodian.

(f) Certain personal pronouns in oblique cases when non-emphatic:

• με Template:Grc-transl 'me', μου Template:Grc-transl, μοι Template:Grc-transl,
• σε Template:Grc-transl 'you (sg)', σου Template:Grc-transl, σοι Template:Grc-transl
• ἑ Template:Grc-transl 'him(self)', οὑ Template:Grc-transl, οἱ Template:Grc-transl,
• νιν/μιν Template:Grc-transl 'him' (poetic)
• σφας Template:Grc-transl 'them(selves)', σφων Template:Grc-transl, σφισι Template:Grc-transl

In classical writers, ἑ Template:Grc-transl 'him' and σφας Template:Grc-transl 'them' tend to be used in indirect speech referring to the speaker:

• ἐκέλευσε δραμόντα τὸν παῖδα περιμεῖναί ἑ κελεῦσαι Template:Grc-transl
  'he ordered the slave-boy to run and ask the man to wait for him' (Plato)

Some of these pronouns also have non-enclitic forms which are accented. The non-enclitic form of με, μου, μοι Template:Grc-transl 'me', 'of me', 'to me' is ἐμέ, ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί Template:Grc-transl. The accented forms are used at the beginning of a sentence and (usually) after prepositions:

• σὲ καλῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I'm calling you'
• ἐν σοί Template:Grc-transl 'in you'

Enclitic rules

When an enclitic follows a proparoxytone or a properispomenon word, the main word has two accents:

• Ἕλληνές τινες Template:Grc-transl 'certain Greeks'
• δοῦλός ἐστι Template:Grc-transl 'he's a slave'

When it follows an oxytone word or an accentless word, there is an acute on the final syllable:

• εἰπέ μοι Template:Grc-transl 'tell me'
• εἴ τις Template:Grc-transl 'if anyone'

When it follows perispomenon or paroxytone word, there is no additional accent, and a monosyllabic enclitic remains accentless:

• ὁρῶ σε Template:Grc-transl 'I see you'
• λέγε μοι Template:Grc-transl 'tell me'

A two-syllable enclitic has no accent after a perispomenon:

• ἀγαθοῦ τινος Template:Grc-transl 'of some good thing'
• τοξοτῶν τινων Template:Grc-transl 'of some archers'

But a two-syllabled enclitic has one after a paroxytone word (otherwise the accent would come more than three syllables from the end of the combined word). After a paroxytone τινῶν Template:Grc-transl has a circumflex:

• ἄλλοι τινές Template:Grc-transl 'certain others'
• ὅπλων τινῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of some weapons'

A word ending in ξ Template:Grc-transl or ψ Template:Grc-transl behaves as if it was paroxytone and does not take an additional accent:

• κῆρυξ ἐστίν Template:Grc-transl 'he is a herald'

A two-syllable enclitic is also accented after an elision:

• πολλοὶ δ' εἰσίν Template:Grc-transl 'there are many'

When two or three enclitics come in a row, according to Apollonius and Herodian, each passes its accent to the preceding word (although some modern editors have queried this):

• ἤ νύ σέ που δέος ἴσχει Template:Grc-transl 'or perhaps fear is holding you back'

It appears that with certain long-vowelled enclitics, such as που, πως, πῃ, πω Template:Grc-transl, Herodian recommended that they should be left unaccented when another enclitic followed. However, most modern editors ignore this second rule, and print εἴ πού τις Template:Grc-transl 'if anyone anywhere' rather than εἴ που τις Template:Grc-transl.

Verbs

In verbs, the accent is grammatical rather than lexical; that is to say, it distinguishes different parts of the verb rather than one verb from another. In the indicative mood it is usually recessive, but in other parts of the verb it is often non-recessive.

Except for the nominative singular of certain participles (e.g., masculine λαβών Template:Grc-transl, neuter λαβόν Template:Grc-transl 'after taking'), a few imperatives (such as εἰπέ Template:Grc-transl 'say'), and the irregular present tenses (φημί Template:Grc-transl 'I say' and εἰμί Template:Grc-transl 'I am'), no parts of the verb are oxytone.

Indicative

In the indicative of most verbs, other than contracting verbs, the accent is recessive, meaning it moves as far back towards the beginning of the word as allowed by the length of the last vowel. Thus, verbs of three or more syllables often have an acute accent on the penult or antepenult, depending on whether the last vowel is long or short (with final -αι Template:Grc-transl counted as short):

• δίδωμι Template:Grc-transl 'I give'
• λαμβάνω Template:Grc-transl 'I take'
• κελεύει Template:Grc-transl 'he orders'
• ἐκέλευσε Template:Grc-transl 'he ordered'
• βούλομαι Template:Grc-transl 'I want'

Monosyllabic verbs, such as βῆ Template:Grc-transl 'he went' (poetic) and εἶ Template:Grc-transl 'you are', because they are recessive, have a circumflex. An exception is φῄς Template:Grc-transl or φής Template:Grc-transl 'you say'.

A few 3rd person plurals have a contracted ending (the other persons are recessive):

• ἀφιᾶσι Template:Grc-transl 'they send off'
• ἱστᾶσι Template:Grc-transl 'they stand (transitive)'
• τεθνᾶσι Template:Grc-transl 'they have died'
• ἑστᾶσι Template:Grc-transl 'they are standing (intransitive)'

When a verb is preceded by an augment, the accent goes no further back than the augment itself:

• ἐξῆν Template:Grc-transl 'it was possible'
• εἰσῆλθον Template:Grc-transl 'they entered'

Contracting verbs

Contracting verbs are underlyingly recessive, that is, the accent is in the same place it had been before the vowels contracted. When an acute and a non-accented vowel merge, the result is a circumflex. In practice therefore, several parts of contracting verbs are non-recessive:

• ποιῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I do' (earlier ποιέω)
• ἐποίουν Template:Grc-transl 'I was doing' (earlier ἐποίεον)
• ποιοῦσι Template:Grc-transl 'they do' (earlier ποιέουσι)

Contracting futures such as ἀγγελῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I will announce' and ἐρῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I will say' are accented like ποιῶ Template:Grc-transl.

Imperative

The accent is recessive in the imperative of most verbs:

• λέγε Template:Grc-transl 'say!'
• σταύρωσον Template:Grc-transl 'crucify!'
• μέμνησο Template:Grc-transl 'remember!'
• φάγε Template:Grc-transl 'eat!'
• δότε Template:Grc-transl 'give (pl.)!'
• ἄπιθι Template:Grc-transl 'go away (sg.)!'
• διάβηθι Template:Grc-transl 'go across (sg.)!'
• φάθι Template:Grc-transl 'say!'

In compounded monosyllabic verbs, however, the imperative is paroxytone:

• ἀπόδος Template:Grc-transl 'give back!'
• περίθες Template:Grc-transl 'place round!'

The strong aorist imperative active (2nd person singular only) of the following five verbs (provided they are not prefixed) is oxytone:

• εἰπέ Template:Grc-transl 'say', ἐλθέ Template:Grc-transl 'come', εὑρέ Template:Grc-transl 'find', ἰδέ Template:Grc-transl 'see', λαβέ Template:Grc-transl 'take!' (the last two in Attic only)

However, if plural or prefixed, these imperatives are recessive:

• εἴπετε Template:Grc-transl 'say (pl.)!', ἔλθετε Template:Grc-transl, etc.
• εἴσελθε Template:Grc-transl 'come in!'

The strong aorist imperative middle of all verbs (2nd person singular only) is perispomenon:

• ἑλοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'choose!'
• γενοῦ Template:Grc-transl 'become!'

But the following is usually printed with an acute:

• ἰδού Template:Grc-transl 'behold!'

As with the active imperative, the plurals always have a recessive accent:

• ἴδεσθε Template:Grc-transl 'see!'

Subjunctive

The subjunctive of regular thematic verbs in the present tense or the weak or strong aorist tense is recessive, except for the aorist passive:

• λέγῃ Template:Grc-transl 'he may say'
• λέγωσι Template:Grc-transl 'they may say'
• λύσῃ Template:Grc-transl 'he may free'
• λάβῃ Template:Grc-transl 'he may take'

It is also recessive in the verb εἶμι Template:Grc-transl 'I go' and verbs ending in -υμι Template:Grc-transl:

• ἀπίῃ Template:Grc-transl 'he may go away'
• ἀποδεικνύῃ Template:Grc-transl 'he may point out'

But in the aorist passive, in the compounded aorist active of βαίνω Template:Grc-transl 'I go', and in all tenses of other athematic verbs, it is non-recessive:

• λυθῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I may be freed'
• φανῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I may appear'
• διαβῇ Template:Grc-transl 'he may go across'
• διδῶσι Template:Grc-transl 'they may give',
• ἑστῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I may stand'
• παραδῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I may hand over'
• ἐξῇ Template:Grc-transl 'it may be possible'

Optative

The optative similarly is recessive in regular verbs in the same tenses. The optative endings -οι Template:Grc-transl and -αι Template:Grc-transl count as long vowels for the purpose of accentuation:

• λύσαι Template:Grc-transl 'he might free'
• λάβοι Template:Grc-transl 'he might take'

But in the aorist passive, in the compounded aorist active of βαίνω Template:Grc-transl 'I go', and in all tenses of athematic verbs (other than εἶμι Template:Grc-transl 'I go' and verbs ending in -υμι Template:Grc-transl), it is non-recessive:

• λυθεῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might be freed'
• φανεῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might appear'
• διαβαῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might go across'
• διδοῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might give'
• ἑσταῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might stand'
• παραδοῖεν Template:Grc-transl 'they might hand over'

But ἀπίοι Template:Grc-transl 'he might go away' is accented recessively like a regular verb.

Infinitive

The present and future infinitive of regular thematic verbs is recessive:

• λέγειν Template:Grc-transl 'to say'
• λύσειν Template:Grc-transl 'to be going to free'
• βούλεσθαι Template:Grc-transl 'to want'
• ἔσεσθαι Template:Grc-transl 'to be going to be'

But all other infinitives are non-recessive, for example the weak aorist active:

• κωλῦσαι Template:Grc-transl 'to prevent'
• κολάσαι Template:Grc-transl 'to punish'

Strong aorist active and middle:

• λαβεῖν Template:Grc-transl 'to take'
• γενέσθαι Template:Grc-transl 'to become'
• ἀφικέσθαι Template:Grc-transl 'to arrive'

Weak and strong aorist passive:

• λυθῆναι Template:Grc-transl 'to be freed'
• φανῆναι Template:Grc-transl 'to appear'

The aorist active of βαίνω Template:Grc-transl 'I go' when compounded:

• διαβῆναι Template:Grc-transl 'to go across'

The present and aorist infinitives of all athematic verbs:

• διδόναι Template:Grc-transl 'to give'
• ἰέναι Template:Grc-transl 'to go'
• ἐξεῖναι Template:Grc-transl 'to be possible'
• προδοῦναι Template:Grc-transl 'to betray'

But the Homeric ἔμμεναι Template:Grc-transl 'to be' and δόμεναι Template:Grc-transl 'to give' are recessive.

The perfect active, middle, and passive:

• λελυκέναι Template:Grc-transl 'to have freed'
• λελύσθαι Template:Grc-transl 'to have been freed'

Participles

The present, future and weak aorist participles of regular thematic verbs are recessive:

• λέγων Template:Grc-transl 'saying'
• βουλόμενος Template:Grc-transl 'wanting'
• λύσων Template:Grc-transl 'going to free'
• ἀκούσας Template:Grc-transl 'having heard'

But all other participles are non-recessive. These include the strong aorist active:

• λαβών Template:Grc-transl, masc. pl. λαβόντες Template:Grc-transl, fem. sg. λαβοῦσα Template:Grc-transl 'after taking'

The weak and strong aorist passive:

• λυθείς Template:Grc-transl, masc. pl. λυθέντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. λυθεῖσα Template:Grc-transl 'after being freed'
• φανείς Template:Grc-transl, masc. pl. φανέντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. φανεῖσα Template:Grc-transl 'after appearing'

The compounded aorist active of βαίνω Template:Grc-transl 'I go':

• διαβάς Template:Grc-transl, διαβάντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. διαβᾶσα Template:Grc-transl 'after going across'

The present and aorist participles of athematic verbs:

• διδούς Template:Grc-transl 'giving', masc.pl. διδόντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. διδοῦσα Template:Grc-transl
• ἰών Template:Grc-transl, masc.pl. ἰόντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. ἰοῦσα Template:Grc-transl 'going'
• παραδούς Template:Grc-transl, masc.pl. παραδόντες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. παραδοῦσα Template:Grc-transl 'after handing over'
• ἐξόν Template:Grc-transl (neuter) 'it being possible'

The perfect active, middle, and passive:

• λελυκώς Template:Grc-transl, masc. pl. λελυκότες Template:Grc-transl, fem.sg. λελυκυῖα Template:Grc-transl 'having freed'
• λελυμένος Template:Grc-transl 'having been freed'

'I am' and 'I say'

Two athematic verbs, εἰμί Template:Grc-transl 'I am' and φημί Template:Grc-transl 'I say', are exceptional in that in the present indicative they are usually enclitic. When this happens they put an accent on the word before them and lose their own accent:

• αἴτιός εἰμι Template:Grc-transl 'I am responsible'
• οὔ φησι Template:Grc-transl 'he says ... not'

But both verbs can also begin a sentence, or follow a comma, or an elision, in which case they are not enclitic. In this case the accent is usually on the final syllable (e.g. εἰμί Template:Grc-transl, φημί Template:Grc-transl). When it follows an elision, ἐστίν Template:Grc-transl is also accented on the final:

• τί ποτ' ἐστίν; Template:Grc-transl 'what (ever) is it?'

However, the 3rd person singular ἐστί Template:Grc-transl also has a strong form, ἔστι Template:Grc-transl, which is used 'when the word expresses existence or possibility (i.e. when it is translatable with expressions such as 'exists', 'there is', or 'it is possible').' This form is used among other places in the phrase οὐκ ἔστι Template:Grc-transl 'it is not' and at the beginning of sentences, such as:

• ἔστιν θάλασσα· τίς δέ νιν κατασβέσει; Template:Grc-transl 'The sea exists; and who shall quench it?'

The 2nd person singular εἶ Template:Grc-transl 'you are' and φῄς Template:Grc-transl 'you say' are not enclitic.

The future of the verb 'to be' has its accent on the verb itself even when prefixed:

• ἀπέσται Template:Grc-transl 'he will be away'

Verbal adjectives

The verbal adjectives ending in -τέος Template:Grc-transl and -τέον Template:Grc-transl are always paroxytone:

• κολαστέος ἐστί Template:Grc-transl 'he needs to be punished'
• κολαστέον τοὺς ἀδίκους Template:Grc-transl 'it is necessary to punish wrong-doers'

The adjective ending in -τος Template:Grc-transl is usually oxytone, especially when it refers to something which is capable of happening:

• κλυτός Template:Grc-transl 'famous (able to be heard about)'
• διαλυτός Template:Grc-transl 'capable of being taken apart'
• ποιητός Template:Grc-transl 'made, adopted'

Accent shift laws

Comparison with Sanskrit as well as the statements of grammarians shows that the accent in some Greek words has shifted from its position in Proto-Indo-European.

Wheeler's Law

Wheeler's Law, suggested in 1885, refers to a process whereby words with a dactylic ending ( ) (counting endings such as -on, -os, -oi as short), if they were oxytone in Proto-Indo-European, became paroxytone in Greek. It is also known as the "law of dactylic retraction".

This law is used to explain the paroxytone accent in words such as the following:

• Adjectives such as ποικίλος Template:Grc-transl 'multicoloured', ἐναντίος Template:Grc-transl 'opposite', πλησίος Template:Grc-transl 'near'
• Names such as Αἰσχύλος Template:Grc-transl 'Aeschylus'
• Perfect passive and middle participles such as δεδεγμένος Template:Grc-transl 'having received'
• Paroxytone compound words with active meaning such as ἀνδροκτόνος Template:Grc-transl 'man-slaying', βουκόλος Template:Grc-transl 'cowherd'
• Dative plurals such as πατράσι Template:Grc-transl 'fathers', ἀνδράσι Template:Grc-transl 'men'

Similar words and endings in Sanskrit are regularly accented on the final syllable, and active compounds which do not have a dactylic rhythm often have final accent, e.g. ψυχοπομπός Template:Grc-transl 'soul-escorting'.

There are numerous exceptions to Wheeler's Law, especially words ending in -ικός Template:Grc-transl or -ικόν Template:Grc-transl (for example, ναυτικόν Template:Grc-transl 'fleet'), which are always oxytone. There are also participles such as δεδομένος Template:Grc-transl or feminine δεδομένη Template:Grc-transl 'given', which have penultimate accent despite not being dactylic. These exceptions are usually explained as being due to analogical processes.

Bartoli's Law

Bartoli's Law (pronunciation /'bartoli/), proposed in 1930, aims to explain how some oxytone words ending in the rhythm (short–long) have become proparoxytone. Another name is the "law of iambic retraction". Examples are:

• θυγάτηρ Template:Grc-transl 'daughter', presumed to have come from an earlier *θυγατήρ Template:Grc-transl (compare Vedic duhitá:)
• δεσπότης Template:Grc-transl 'master', presumed to have come from an earlier *δεσποτής Template:Grc-transl

The existence of such a law has been called into question, however, and it is argued that most or all of the words proposed as examples have other explanations.

Vendryes's Law

Vendryes's Law (pronunciation /vɑ̃dʁi'jɛs]/), proposed in 1945, describes how words of the rhythm , which had penultimate accent in other dialects, came to be pronounced proparoxytone in Attic (that is, the dialect of Athens). This change appears to have taken place about 400 BC, and was known to the Greek grammarians who wrote on accentuation. One ancient commentator on Aristophanes wrote: τροπαῖον Template:Grc-transl ('trophy') should be read as properispomenon in Aristophanes and Thucydides, but as proparoxytone τρόπαιον Template:Grc-transl in later poets.᾽

The law affected words like the following:

• τρόπαιον Template:Grc-transl, ἕταιρος Template:Grc-transl 'companion', ἕτοιμος Template:Grc-transl 'ready', ὅμοιος Template:Grc-transl 'like', ἔρημος Template:Grc-transl 'deserted', βέβαιος Template:Grc-transl 'firm', which came from an earlier τροπαῖον, ἑταῖρος, ἑτοῖμος, ὁμοῖος, ἐρῆμος, βεβαῖος
• ἔγωγε Template:Grc-transl 'I at any rate', ἔμοιγε Template:Grc-transl 'to me at any rate', which came from an earlier ἐγώ γε, ἐμοί γε

The accent shift described by Vendryes's Law seems to have affected mainly adjectives. Verbs such as ἀπῆλθον Template:Grc-transl 'I went away' and participles such as λαβοῦσα Template:Grc-transl 'having taken' were unaffected.

Dialect variations

The ancient grammarians were aware that there were sometimes differences between their own accentuation and that of other dialects, for example that of the Homeric poems, which they could presumably learn from the traditional sung recitation.

Attic

Some peculiarities of Attic, the dialect of Athens, have been noted above under Vendryes's Law.

Aeolic

The Aeolic pronunciation, exemplified in the dialect of the 7th-century BC poets Sappho and Alcaeus from the island of Lesbos, differed in that every major word (but not prepositions or conjunctions) was pronounced recessively, thus:

• Ζεῦς Template:Grc-transl, σόφος Template:Grc-transl, κάλος Template:Grc-transl, ἔμοι Template:Grc-transl, ὄρανος Template:Grc-transl, Ἄτρευς Template:Grc-transl, Ἀχίλλευς Template:Grc-transl, Σάπφω Template:Grc-transl for Ζεύς, σοφός, καλός, ἐμοί, οὐρανός, Ἀτρεύς, Ἀχιλλεύς, Σαπφώ

But Ἀλκαῖος Template:Grc-transl 'Alcaeus' was apparently pronounced Ἀλκάος Template:Grc-transl in Lesbian.

The Boeotian dialect, although from the same dialect group as Lesbian, did not have this recessive accentuation, and appears not to have differed accentually from common (koine) Greek.

The grammarians give no details of the Thessalian dialect (another variety of Aeolic) but it has been suggested that the dropping of certain vowels in words on inscriptions indicates that it had a stress accent at the beginning of each word.

Doric

The Doric dialect also had certain peculiarities. One was that (some) properispomenon words were pronounced paroxytone. The examples given are 3rd declension nominative plural:

• παίδες Template:Grc-transl 'boys', γυναίκες Template:Grc-transl, αἴγες Template:Grc-transl 'goats' (for παῖδες Template:Grc-transl, γυναῖκες Template:Grc-transl, αἶγες Template:Grc-transl)

On the other hand, it is reported that the 1st and 2nd declension accusative plural in Doric had a short vowel (-ăs, -ŏs), leading to accentuations such as:

• τῖμας Template:Grc-transl 'honours', πᾶσας Template:Grc-transl 'all' (for τίμας Template:Grc-transl, πάσας Template:Grc-transl)

Another characteristic of Doric was that the endings -οι Template:Grc-transl and perhaps -αι Template:Grc-transl, and in verbs 3rd pl. -ον Template:Grc-transl and -αν Template:Grc-transl (derived from an earlier *-ont and *-ant) counted as long, leading to a paroxytone accent in:

• φιλοσόφοι Template:Grc-transl 'philosophers', καλουμένοι Template:Grc-transl 'called', ἐδώκαν Template:Grc-transl 'they gave', ἐλέγον Template:Grc-transl 'they said'

Doric speakers also apparently pronounced a circumflex on certain genitive plurals, which were paroxytone in other dialects:

• παιδῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of boys', Τρωῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of Trojans', παντῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of all', ἀλλῶν Template:Grc-transl 'of others'

In Doric the future was also accented non-recessively in all verbs:

• λεξῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I will say', ποιησῶ Template:Grc-transl 'I will do'

See also

• Pitch-accent language
• Syllable
• Delphic Hymns
• Mesomedes

References

Bibliography

• N.E. Collinge, The Laws of Indo-European, John Benjamins Publishing, 1985.
• W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Greek, Cambridge University Press, 1987.
• Maurice Bloomfield, The Origin of the Recessive Accent in Greek, in American Journal of Philology, vol. 9, n. 1, 1888, pp. 1–41, DOI:10.2307/287243.
• Lev Blumenfeld, Tone-to-stress and stress-to-tone: Ancient Greek accent revisited, 2003.
• Melody and word accent relationships in ancient Greek musical documents: the Pitch Height Rule, in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 126, November 2006, pp. 66–81, DOI:10.1017/S0075426900007667.
• Henry W. Chandler, A Practical Introduction to Greek Accentuation (PDF), 1881.
• Stress in Greek?, vol. 115, Johns Hopkins University Press, American Philological Association, 1985, pp. 125–152, DOI:10.2307/284193.
• A.M., Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum XI: Reconstructing the Phonetics of the Greek Accent, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, vol. 121, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991, pp. 229–286, DOI:10.2307/284454.
• A.M., The Prosody of Greek Speech, Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Éric Dieu, La loi de Bartoli: Une loi de rétraction iambique de l'accent en grec ancien?, vol. 110, n. 1, 2015, pp. 205–236.
• Stephen Faulkner, Archived copy, in Stephanie W. Jamison (a cura di), {{{ency}}}, Hempen, 2012.
• Stephen Faulkner, Bartoli's Law, in Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, Brill, 2013, DOI:10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_SIM_000033.
• Dieter Gunkel, Wheeler's Law, in Georgios K. Giannakis (a cura di), Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, 3, P–Z, Index, Brill, 2014, pp. 515–516.
• James Hadley, On the Nature and Theory of the Greek Accent, vol. 1, Johns Hopkins University Press, American Philological Association, 1869–70, pp. 1–19, DOI:10.2307/310221.
• Ronald Kim, The Continuation of Proto-Indo-European Lexical Accent in Ancient Greek: Preservation and Reanalysis, vol. 7, n. 2/5, 2002.
• Paul Kiparsky, The Inflectional Accent in Indo-European, in Language, vol. 49, n. 4, Linguistic Society of America, 1973, pp. 794–849, DOI:10.2307/412064.
• Jerzy Kurylowicz, On the Development of the Greek Intonation, vol. 8, n. 3, Linguistic Society of America, 1932, pp. 200–210, DOI:10.2307/409650.
• John G. Landels, Music in Ancient Greece and Rome (PDF), Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-203-04284-0.
• D. Gary Miller, The Transformation of a Natural Accent System: The Case of the Ancient Greek Enclitics, vol. 54, Bd., 1./2. H, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG), 1976, pp. 11–24.
• Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments, Edited and transcribed with commentary by Egert Pöhlmann and Martin L. West, Clarendon Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-815223-X.
• Philomen Probert, A New Short Guide to the Accentuation of Ancient Greek, Bristol Classical Press, 2003.
• Philomen Probert, Ancient Greek Accentuation: Synchronic Patterns, Frequency Effects, and Prehistory, Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Template:Wikicite
• Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges, American Book Company, 1920.
• Donca Steriade, Greek Accent: A Case for Preserving Structure, vol. 19, n. 2, The MIT Press, 1988, pp. 271–314.
• Joseph Vendryes, Traité d'accentuation grecque, Klinksieck, 1904.

External links

• Prayer to Calliope and Apollo. Sung to the lyre by Stefan Hagel.

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• Ancient Greek
• Greek grammar
• Tone (linguistics)