A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

2 THE VERB. [4-
4.] The further modifications which the Endings undergo
depend chiefly upon the final letter of the Stem.
In certain forms the Ending is preceded by O or E : that is
to say, O before the nasals fx, K, and E before other letters e. ; g.
nr7rrO-fAj>, TUTrrE-re, TVTtrO-vTi (older and Dor. form of TVTTTOVO-L).
We shall call this the Thematic Vowel,* and the Stems which
contain it Thematic Stems. The term will naturally include the
corresponding Subjunctives, in which the final letter of the Stem
varies in the same way between and as YJ
u>, Tuirrw-jxeK, Tu'imi-Te, &c.
and the I Sing, in -. These long vowels doubtless represent a
primitive contraction of the Thematic vowel with some other
element : but the exact process can hardly be determined.
The forms which do not contain this variable e of o are called
Non-Thematic. Among these, again, we have to distinguish a
group of Tenses with Stems ending in -d, viz. the Perfect, the
First Aorist, and some forms peculiar to the Ionic Dialect, as
the Plpf
.
(e. g. 7]6ea / knew],
the .
Impf rja I was, rfia I went. In
these Stems the -a changes in the 3 Sing, to -e^.f
The distinction between Thematic and Non-Thematic applies in strictness
only to forms, but may generally be extended to Tenses and Moods. Thus the
are Non-
Pres. and Impf. of TVTTTCU are Thematic, the same Tenses of tyr^i
Thematic. In every Verb the Future is Thematic, the Optative is Non-Thematic,
&c. But the distinction does not apply to ' Verbs ' (in the collective sense of
the term), because almost every Verb is made up of forms of both kinds.
5.] In the following Table of the Person-Endings found in
Homer the Endings distinguished by larger type are those of the
Non-Thematic Tenses. The Endings in smaller type are, first,
those of the forms with -a, and, under them again, those of the
Thematic forms. In the Dual and Plural (except the 3 Plur.)
the Endings are the same throughout.
* This vowel has also been termed the ' Connecting ' or 'Auxiliary' Vowel
names given on the supposition that it is originally euphonic, inserted in
order to allow the Stem and the Ending to be distinctly heard in pronunciation.
The name ' Thematic ' implies a different theory, viz. that it serves to form a
'
Theme ' from a simpler element or ' Boot/ as \y- from the Boot \( 7- see
;
Curt. Chron. p. 40. On this theory the Stem \ey-e, \ty-o is originally the same
as the Theme or Stem of the Noun \6yo-s. See the remarks of Brugmann,
Grundriss, ii. 8, n. I.
In the former edition the -co of the I Sing, was explained as -o-ju (Sanscr.
d-mi). It is now generally thought that -