A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

76 ACCENT.
[88.
Apoll. Synt.). The Sanscrit Verbs of the same kind follow the rule
of accenting the Stem in the Sing., the Ending in the Dual and Plur. and
;
this must be connected with the difference of quantity between strong and
weak Sterns (6). See Benfey, Vedica und Linguistica, pp. 90 ff.
The 2 Sing, els is enclitic, though the corresponding Attic
form et is
not; but see 5- As to $779 there is a contradiction;
it is not enclitic according to Arc. 142, 8, but enclitic according
to rest on
to Schol. A. II. 17. 147 both notices being supposed
the authority of Herodian (ed. Lentz, i. 553, 4 and ii.
105, 5).
2. The 3 Plur. to-rao-t, ri#eia-t, 8i8ocri, btiKvvo-i, are properispomena
(Herodian, i. 459, ed. Lentz).
This can hardly have been the original accentuation, since they are not
contracted forms, but represent iVra-i/Tt, c.
Probably it comes from the
Attic Iffrdai (contracted from lara-aai, cp. rtOe-affi, &c.). The Doric forms are
written rtfleWt, &c. by Eustath. Od. 1557, 45 ;
but we do not know that this
represents the usage of any living dialect.
3. Subjunctives such as (fravfj, Sacojueu are circumflexed, as
being contracted forms (for (f>avrm, 6a?jojuz>).
On ei8eco, etSrjs,
flbfi, etdecocrt see 80.
Optatives in which -IT]- becomes -i- before Heavy Endings are
accented on the i
throughout, as 8iaK/ny0etre, Sajueiez/.
But Middle forms to which there is no corresponding Active
follow the general rule :
bvv[j.ai, bvvrjai. (so Herodian, but
Tyrannio wrote bw&fjiai, bvvijai, Schol. II. 6. 229), Kepuvrai (II.
4. 260), eTuoTTfrai ( 280); eTuarairo, OVCLLO, OVOLTO.
4. The Imperatives eiTre, eA0, are oxytone (and so in Attic
cvpt, i8e, Aa/3e). Similarly Tyrannio wrote mfle'o-tfe, Aa/3eV0e
(Schol. V. II. 1 8. 266) ep. the Attic /3aAo, &c.
;
The rule in Sanscrit is that the Verb loses the accent, except in subordinate
clauses, or when it begins the sentence. Hence the verbs ijxi and ^TJ^I in
fact retain the original accentuation, which was doubtless that of the Indo-
European language. The Imperatives c'ure, X0, c., are evidently words that
would often be used to begin a sentence.
The ordinary accent of a Greek verb, the so-called ' recessive ' accent, represents
the original enclitic condition. The Opt. for ({XUTJV, example, is originally
oxytone. On the Sanscrit rules it loses its accent, and we should have (e. g.)
tYw-avr)v. But owing to the Greek rhythmical law this is impossible.
Accordingly the accent goes back as far as the Greek rules will allow, and
we have eyvj-fpairjv.
5. The final -ai of the Endings -JACU, -erai, -rai, -rrai, and of
the Inf. is treated as short. These are all cases in which -at
represents the original final sound of the word. But the -at of
the Opt., which is for original -air, counts as long.
88.] Accent in Composition. Unaugmeiited forms of Compound
Verbs are accented as though the Verb were an enclitic