A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

147-]
GENITIVE. 141
the predicate given by a Verb. The Genitive is originally of the third group ;
and properly qualifies a Noun. Hence the Ablative and Genitive uses are
generally distinguished partly in meaning, partly in grammatical structure.
But they are not always distinguished by the structure, since (i) the Ablative
(like the Ace. and Dat.) may be construed with an Adjective, and (2) the true
Gen. may be predicative (like an Adj.), and thus apparently construed with
a Verb. To give a single example
: Otwv yovos kari might be =
(theoretically)
he is offspring from-gods (Abl.), and on the other hand OeoJv feyovf may be = /ie
offspring of-gods (Gen., see 148).
147.] The Genitive with Nouns. The manner in which a
Genitive serves to define or qualify the { governing- ' Noun may
be very various. E. g. Tpvcov xo^os may mean anger of (i. e. felt
by) the Trojans, or (as in II. 6. 335) anger at the Trojans, or anger
on account of the Trojans (as in II. 15. 138 \6\ov vios erjos means
anger about the death of his son).
Compare also
pKos TroXe/xoto a bulwark in (or against) war.
UpKos obovrcDv the fence (made) of teeth.
repas juepo'moy avOpuHrcav a sign to men.
XdOprj AaoptbovTos with secrecyfrom Laomedon.
atKovros with fiirj
force used to one unwilling.
Kv/xara iravroLutv avt^tov the waves raised by all winds.
o/u,(|>aA.oi Kaaxrirepoto bosses made of tin.
'\\iov TTTo\i0pov the town of Ilios.
'0't'A.ryos
Ta\vs Alas swift Ajax son of Oileus.
baifjioviz ^eivtov unaccountable stranger !
VOJJLOS v\rj$ pasture ground in the wood.
VOCTTOS yair]s 3>air\K.u>v return to the land of the Phaeacians.
virotyios aAAcoj; suspected by others.
e-nwrpo^oj av0pu>T7(j)v going about among men.
a(j)Vibs PLOTOLO rich in substance.
lOvs Aio/u?}8eos straight for Diomede.
The different uses of the Genitive often answer to the different
meanings given by the Suffixes which serve to form
Adjectives from Nouns ( 117). Compare, for instance, II. 2. 54
Neorope'rj Trapa vrjt HvXoiytveos fiao-iXrjos by the ship of Nestor
the Pylian king ; II. 6. 180 Qtiov yez'os ot>6' avOptoirav the offspring
of gods, not of men ; rofov atyo'j (II. 4. 105) a bow of goat's horn,
but dcTKos atyetos a bag of goatskin ; 'Ot'A.T/os ra-^vs Ataj and Atas
'OtXtciaryy ; TeAajuiajzno? vios the son of Telamon ; and so in the
Pronouns, ejueto TioQr] (II. 6. 362), but 077 iroOfj (II. 19. 321).
These uses have been classified as Objective and Subjective, Possessive,
Partitive, Material, &c. In many cases however the variety of relations
expressed by the Gen. eludes this kind of analysis. Such classifications,
moreover, are apt to lead us into the fallacy of thinking that relations which
are distinct to us, because expressed by different language, were distinctly
the fallacy, in
conceived by those who expressed them all in the same way ;
is