THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE VOL.I by W.Ridgeway 1901

THE HOMERIC DIALECT.
G69
670 THE HOMERIC DIALECT.
development of the lon.-Att. ras, irdcra Tavs, irava-a. He Lokls that "ini Att.
Arrhiphon says that the dialect of Argolis, prior to the Dorian
wurde e hinter p, t, e, v in a zuriickverwandelt": e.g. x^pa, irpS.TTw, Kap8ia,
conquest, was the same as that of Attica. But as this old
ia(70fj.aL, yevta, criKiia=lon. X'^PVy
Xetai'ai= Ion. Ttrprivai, Xeirjvai.
TpTytrcw, KpaSir], irjffofxat., yeve-r}, (tikvt] ; Terpdvai,
But on the other hand Attic has such forms as
Aeolic of Argolis was almost the same as Arcadian except
pT]Twp, ell)!'
with 77.
"Als im Attischen f schwand, und ed (aus eaa) in rj contrahiert
that it had probably labialism, it follows that Attic had once
wurde, besass p nicht melir die Kraft, in
;
a zu wandeln, wohl aber liatten
diese Kraft noch = the d as regularly as Arcadian.
i, e, v, z. 15. \6pr] Kopfri ioa. Kovprj, aber via aus *vfr], Kar-eaya
aus *ffriya, Bed aus *der], *dr)7}, *dr)fr), *^d/a =
Once then Attica, dor. dad [Odiofxai), falls nicht
Peloponnesus, Thessaly and Boeotia had
schoii *0r]7j zu *6T]a dieses zu ^^a wurde, audreseits z. B. the same
efX(pepfi, Tpirjprj, opt),
language, a fact which confirms the doctrine of a
iyprjyopr] aus -ea, aber vyid, evded, eiicpva, XP^^ '^^ 'V -fa- '
general Pelasgic population.
But Brugmann gives no evidence and only assumes that Attic had once gone
As Attic therefore did not differ phonetically from these other
as far a.s Ionic in modifying a into 7],
nor does he give any proof that x^PV li^d
changed back into x^/sa.
He assumes that p, l, e, and v had the power of
dialects, it is probable that certain forms which occur in Attic
changing 77
into a, but why should not these sounds have had the power of
Tragedy, commonly described respectively as Doric or Ionic, are
keeping original d from being changed into 7;? It will be observed that
rather survivals from the older form of the language, which had
Brugmann's arguments all depend on hypothetical forms. On the other hand
got sanctified by their use in a particular ^/e?! re of literature. It
he himself admits that the Ionic-Attic change took place later than the
borrowing of Mada, Mede. But this borrowing probably took place after the
may be suggested that the so-called Doric of the choral odes is
Ionic settlements in Asia, when the settlers had separated from their Attic
nothing more than archaic Attic, traditionally kept in use for
brethren. So far from his being able to show any tendency in Attic for tj
to
dithyrambs ^
revert to d he himself points out that there were "mancherlei Ausnahmen
It has to be noted that the Doric in the choruses of
durcli Neubildung." Thus in the 4th century ]i.c. vyifj, ivderj. dxpvrj supplanted
i'7ia, ev5fd, evcpvd "' nacli aacprj, e/j., an epigram to Lacinian Hera usually in Attic to rj'-.
wholly composeil in
Doric, the form can hardly be used to ])rove that there was at any time a
But we have just shown that this was common also to
tendency in Attic to replace 77 by a.
Aeolic, and we have just cited Arrhiphon to prove that once on
Brugnuuin's contentitJU that Attic went the whole way with Ionic, and then
a time there was no difference between Attic and the Aeolic
turned back, is just as unreasonable as if anyone were to maintain that,
of Arcadia and
because certain j)lionelic tendencies es])ecially marked in the dialect of the
Argolis.
Americans of New England are also found in a less degret; in the dialect of
This explanation gets rid of the absurd doctrine that the
Ijincolnshire in England, whence many of the tirst settlers in New I'lngland
Athenians would have composed their ancient songs, which
came, tlK^cfore the dialect of Lincolnshii'e had onci; had all the phonetic
peculiarities of tlu,' moilern Yankees, but that it had at a later pi'runl turned
probably dated from a period anterior to the Dorian conquest,
in a Doric dialect. Such
back.
songs sd far from borrowing foreign
The olividiis explauatiiin, vi/.. that certain tendencies of the Lincolnshire
dialects are the last stronghold of archaic forms and words.
diali.'ct brought by tlic sclttcrs to America, were then' later im furtlicr
The same treatment applies ecpuilly well to the so-called
ilevelopcd under new conditiiuis, whilst tlie Lincnhishii'e did nut ar so (piickly.
-aro, -laro {-oiaro, -aiaro) are probably survivals from the old
Tliere is imleed no mole reason for holding that .Vttic liad in tliis respect
retraced her steps than there is for believing that she had once allixed arai,
^
Tlie same principle may explain the statement that the ancient hymns
-aro, -Laro {-otaro, -aiaro) to Vowel stems, as is the case in Ionic, but had afterwards
sung by the Pjleans were in Doric (I'aus. v. 15, \'l).
repented.
-
1*. Giles, fit., 4S0.
ii}i. ]).