A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

88 DECLENSION. [106.
9. 334, Od. 4. 66). Kp4a occurs in the phrase Kpea ISfiei/cu, and in one or two
other places before a vowel ;
but more frequently it is followed by a consonant,
and is to be scanned icpcS or icpca (necessarily so in Od. 9. 347, where it ends
the line). Possibly the a is shortened by the analogy of the ordinary Neut.
Plur. forms in -a (Meyer, G. G. p. 348). Or, as is now maintained by Joh.
Schmidt (Pluralb. p. 321 ff.), Kpta, ffpa, &c. are stems in -a, originally distinct
from the corresponding stems in -So-, and are therefore properly Singular, but
capable of being used in a collective sense. On this view fcpta meant flesh,
icpeaa pieces of flesh: cp. prjpa and fjirjpoi ( 99*). Schmidt does not admit
hyphaeresis in most of these words, holding that it
only occurred when three
vowels came together in the oldest Greek: so that (e.g.}
we may have 5tct
for 8fefa (5fetff-a), but not Aea for KXefea.
5. There are also several contracted forms from Stems in -ceowhich
offer some difficulty
:
d/cA^eis (II. 12. 316), d/cAetws (Od. I.
2,41., 14. 371), eikAeiois (II. 22. no), eikAeias (II. 10. 281, Od.
21. 331; al. eikArjas), aycLKXjjos (dyaKAetos Hesych.), Harpo/cAr/os,
<
UarpoKAfja, 'HpctKArjos, 'HpaKArJa, HpaK\rj'C ) BatfvKA^a, A60/cA??os,
AiOKA?ja ; faxpritls, a\peiG>v (also a\pr]&v Hesych.) ;
Setovs (II.
IO. 376** 15* 4) ) "^Lovs t ?,
Dat. TJO'I,
Ace. f]6a (see 368); at8a>y, Dat. albo'C, Ace. alboa: tfyws, Ace.
ibpoa (II. 10. 574)-
-Bu"t the Genitive in -ovs (rjovs, ArfTovs, &c.)
is required by the metre in several places. Naturally the
contraction of oo was earlier than that of two unlike sounds, as
01, oa. See L. Meyer, Decl. 23.
106.] Variation of the Stem. The phonetic influence of
the Ending on the form of the Stem, which plays so large a part
in the inflexion of Non-Thematic Tenses, was originally no less
important in the Nouns. In Sanscrit a Nominal Stem of the
consonantal Declension appears in general in at least two forms,