A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

3/6 METRE. [397.
anovpas ( 13), aKovrj. It is very possible that many more such
forms were to be found in the original text: cp. 384,
I.
397.] Loss of initial and The o- traces of these sounds
i (;/).
in the metre of Homer are chiefly of interest for the purpose
of comparison with the facts relating to F.
be seen in a few cases of the
The effects of initial os (Lat. salio), a
(Lat. safy, aju(|H-e7roi' (Lat. sequor), Kara-i(T)(ercu (t^X 60
and the lengthening in napiyj] (Od. 19. 113) and vvvt^s (Od. 9.
74). Hiatus is also found twice before v^rj (II. 14. 285, Od. 5.
257), once before VTTVOS (Od. 10. 68), and 18 times before eos
(mostly in the principal caesura). These instances however are
too few to prove anything.
Initial t or y is chiefly traced in the Adverb ws, which when
used after the Noun to which it refers is allowed to lengthen the
final syllable
: as 6tbs be noticed that in
many places a short final vowel in arsis is lengthened before
the F : see especially the instances given under I'o ( 390), and
Idxw ( 389).* On the other hand there are 617 places where
the F is neglected. Short vowels suffer Elision before it in 324
places: it fails to* lengthen by Position after another consonant
in 215 places and long vowels or diphthongs are shortened
:
before it in 78 places. Also the power to lengthen by Position
is confined, except in the case of the enclitic eo, ot, to lengthening
of syllables which have the ictus.
399.] Theories of the F. The main question which arises on
these facts evidently is : How can the great number of passages
* A short vowel is also lengthened with ictus before eiros (Od. 10. 246^,
epav (Od. 14. 411), and in the Compounds a-no-fnrwv (II. 19. 35)
and UTTOeporj,
ano-epaae (II. 21. 283, 329).