2nd aorist subjunctive with ει for η in Homer

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horus92
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2nd aorist subjunctive with ει for η in Homer

Post by horus92 »

In I.26 there is the form κιχείω instead of the κιχήω you'd expect; then in line 62 ἐρείομεν for ἐρῶμεν

How are these forms explained?

Hylander
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Re: 2nd aorist subjunctive with ει for η in Homer

Post by Hylander »

If you're just starting out with Homer, you need to be aware that there are many seemingly anomalous forms. Often there will be two alternative forms with different metrical shapes, so that the aoidos could draw on whichever happened to be metrically convenient in a particular slot.

ἐρείομεν is a "short-vowel" subjunctive. At an earlier stage of Greek, athematic (-μι verb) subjunctives are thought to have had short vowels, but the long-vowel forms were eventually extended by analogy from the thematic (-ω verb) subjunctives. However, the Homeric texts preserve many short-vowel subjunctives, but only where they don't have the same metrical shape as the long-vowel forms.

The Liddell-Scott-Jones dictionary explains the stem ἐρεί- in ἐρείομεν (instead of contract ἐρῶμεν from ερε-ωμεν) as possibly a form constructed to fit the meter ("metri gratia"). There are many of these licenses in Homer.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... De)re%2Fw1

I'm not sure what lies behind κιχείω, but in many instances the orthography of our texts reflects more or less arbitrary choices made by editors in the Alexandrian period (after around 300 BCE).

Be prepared for many more puzzling forms. There are certain regularities (such as short-vowel subjunctives), but in many cases you just have to accept them and move on.

Why don't you post your questions about Homer in the Homer forum? They will be more likely to be noticed there.
Bill Walderman

horus92
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Re: 2nd aorist subjunctive with ει for η in Homer

Post by horus92 »

Thanks for the help! Yeah it would have been better posted there, I just spazzed out a bit.

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