A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

378 METRE. [402.
may also be ascribed to the conventional phrases of the early
epic style.
The word aoru, for example, is found very frequently
in the combinations irporl aaru, d^d aoru, Kara aoru, &c. ;
but these
do not prove the pronunciation fdoru for Homeric times any
more than (e. g.} eirieiiois proves an Attic ImfeiKYJs. Such phrases,
it
may be said, were handed on ready-made, with a fixed metrical
value, and served as models for fresh combinations, in which the
hiatus was retained as part of the familiar rhythm.
This explanation is inadequate, for the following reasons :
(1)
The instances of F are not confined to the commonest
words, or to frequently recurring phrases. Thus it is found in
lov a violet, ITUS the felloe of a wheel, treYj
a willow, apyes lambs.
And it is used (generally speaking)
in all the different forms of
each Verb or Noun, whether of common occurrence or not (ibeiv
as well as ISeW, freo-i as well as i? and ufu, &c.).
The other cases in which tradition can be shown to have
(2)
had the effect of retaining older phrases and combinations are
not really parallel. In the Homeric Hymns the F can be clearly
traced : but the proportion of instances which do not admit F is
markedly different. Taking the words already used as examples,
viz. wag, aoru, IpyoK, oticog, ISeii',
we find them in the Hymns 152
times, while the F is neglected in 36 places, or nearly one-fourth
of the whole. Again if we look at the words which begin with
o, as ouXafjios, &c.
ov|/, ( 393), we find similar conditions. The
traces of F are undoubted, but do not predominate as with orag or
aoru. Other examples may be seen in the traces of the double
consonants, o-p, o-X, cn>, Fp discussed in 371. Compare the free
use of alternate forms, as epcga and eppega, irpo-pew and emppe'w,
with the almost invariable recognition of 8f in 8eos, Seuras, &c.
We seem to be able to draw a broad distinction between the
predominating influence of the F in Homer and the arbitrary
or occasional influence of the older forms in other cases. And
these other cases, we may conclude, give us a measure of the
force of tradition in such matters, while in the case of the
Homeric F the effect is due to its retention as a living sound.
(3)
A further argument in favour of F as a real sound in
Homer has been derived from the places in which Vc,
cf01 suffer
elision ( 391) ; see Leafs note on II. 24. 154. The argument
has much force, and would be conclusive if we could assume that
an elided vowel was not sounded at all.
402.] Hiatus &c. as a survival. Another supposition, akin
to the last discussed, is that in the words which originally had
initial F the ordinary effects of an initial consonant remained
after the sound itself was no longer heard. Such a phenomenon
would be by no means without parallel in language. In French,