{"id":26,"date":"2016-08-30T14:32:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T14:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/ancientgreek\/chapter\/3-polytonic-greek\/"},"modified":"2018-01-19T11:35:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T11:35:06","slug":"3-polytonic-greek","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/ancientgreek\/chapter\/3-polytonic-greek\/","title":{"rendered":"Polytonic Greek, Elision, Movable Nu"},"content":{"raw":"\n[caption id=\"attachment_294\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"2012.03.6182\"<\/a> Altar of Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria. Late 4th c. B.C. Athenian Agora Excavations.[\/caption]\n
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Accents and Breathing Marks<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ancient Greeks, of course, knew how to pronounce their own words. When large numbers of foreigners (\u03be\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9<\/span>) started learning Greek in antiquity, Greek scholars developed additional symbols to help non-Greeks speak the language. These additional marks have since remained part of the spelling conventions, or orthography, of each word. As a result, ancient Greek is considered a POLYTONIC \u2013 \"many accents\" \u2013 writing system. There are three classes of additional marks:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Breathing marks<\/li>\n
  2. Accent marks<\/li>\n
  3. Punctuation marks<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I. Breathing Marks<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Classical Greek does not use a separate letter for the h<\/em>, or aspirated breathing sound. You will recall, for example, that the aspirated versions of \u03c0<\/span>, \u03c4<\/span>, and \u03ba<\/span> are represented by different letter forms: \u03c6<\/span>, \u03b8<\/span>, and \u03c7<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    In some cases, the \u201ch\u201d breathing sound was also applied to the BEGINNING of a number of Greek words, all of which begin with a vowel, diphthong, or the letter \u03c1<\/span>. For words that begin with a vowel or diphthong, there are two symbols that indicate the presence or lack of aspiration: a SMOOTH BREATHING mark indicates no aspiration, and a ROUGH BREATHING mark indicates aspiration (S 9-14).<\/p>\n

    In the case of the consonant \u03c1<\/span>, it always receives ROUGH BREATHING when found at the BEGINNING of a word. This phenomenon is reflected in the spelling of English words of Greek origin, such as rhetoric<\/em> and rhythm<\/em>. If \u03c1<\/span> is found within or at the end of a word, no breathing mark is applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \u2019<\/span><\/td>\ne.g.,<\/span> \u1f40<\/span> = \u201co\u201d<\/td>\nsmooth breathing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \u2018<\/span><\/td>\ne.g.,<\/span> \u1f41<\/span> = \u201cho\u201d<\/td>\nrough breathing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    For single vowels and the consonant \u03c1<\/span>, the marks are placed directly above the lower case letters (e.g. \u1f41<\/span> and \u1fe5<\/span>), and immediately to the left of capital letters (e.g. \u1f49<\/span> and \u1fec<\/span>). If placed over a DIPHTHONG, the mark is always above the SECOND vowel (e.g. \u03bf\u1f31<\/span>, \u03b5\u1f30<\/span>, and \u0395\u1f50\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03b7<\/span>).<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    II. Accent Marks<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    There are three kinds of accent marks: ACUTE, GRAVE, and CIRCUMFLEX. Accents can fall on any of the last three syllables of a word. This applies even if a particular word is longer than three syllables. To facilitate discussion of syllables and accents, these last three syllables are commonly identified by the following terms:<\/p>\n

    ULTIMA: last syllable<\/p>\n

    PENULT: next-to-last syllable<\/p>\n

    ANTEPENULT: before the next-to-last syllable<\/p>\n

    The terms ultima, penult, and antepenult derive from Latin: ultima<\/span> (last<\/em>), paene ultima<\/span> (almost\/next to last<\/em>), and ante paene ultima<\/span> (before the almost\/next to last<\/em>) syllaba<\/span> (syllable<\/em>).<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

    1. Acute accents and short vowels<\/strong><\/p>\n

    According to ancient grammarians, accent marks were originally used to indicate the musical tone or PITCH of a vowel sound, not the stress<\/i> of a syllable (S 151, 161). If there was a rising pitch on a single vowel sound, they marked the vowel with a line rising from left-to-right: \/<\/span>. This is called the ACUTE ACCENT.<\/p>\n

    The vowels \u1fb0<\/span>, \u03b5<\/span>, \u1fd0<\/span>, \u03bf<\/span>, and \u1fe0<\/span> are short. When accented, they receive the acute accent: \u03ac<\/span>, \u03ad<\/span>, \u03af<\/span>, \u03cc<\/span>, and \u03cd<\/span>.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    2. Acute accents and long vowels<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The vowels \u1fb1<\/span>, \u03b7<\/span>, \u1fd1<\/span>, \u03c9<\/span>, and \u1fe1<\/span> are long. In the Greek language, long vowels were TWO-BEAT vowel sounds. In other words, these vowels would take twice as long to pronounce as short vowels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \u1fb1<\/span> = \u03b1\u03b1<\/span><\/td>\n \u1fd1<\/span> = \u03b9\u03b9<\/span><\/td>\n\u1fe1<\/span> = \u03c5\u03c5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \u03b7<\/span> = \u03b5\u03b5<\/span><\/td>\n\u03c9<\/span> = \u03bf\u03bf<\/span><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Though English speakers tend not to hold these Greek long vowels for two beats, understanding the original Greek concept of the two-beat vowel sound is critical if we are to understand the Greek accent system. This is because, when pronouncing long vowels, only one of the two beats would be accented. If it is the second beat, then only the rising tone, or acute accent (\/<\/span>), is written. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \u03b1\u03ac<\/span> = \u03ac<\/span><\/td>\n\u03b9\u03af<\/span> = \u03af<\/span><\/td>\n\u03c5\u03cd<\/span> = \u03cd<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \u03b5\u03ad<\/span> = \u03ae<\/span><\/td>\n\u03bf\u03cc = \u03ce<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    3. Circumflex accent<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If the first beat of a long vowel bears the accent, then the long vowel begins with a rising tone (\/<\/span>), followed by a falling tone that marks the absence of a pitch sound (\\<\/span>). These vowels are marked with a CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT <\/span>(^<\/span><\/span>). For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \u03ac\u1f70<\/span> = \u1fb6<\/span><\/td>\n\u03af\u1f76<\/span> = \u1fd6<\/span><\/td>\n\u03cd\u1f7a<\/span> = \u1fe6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \u03ad\u1f72<\/span> = \u1fc6<\/span><\/td>\n\u03cc\u1f78 = \u1ff6<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    As a result, circumflex accents can never fall on a short vowel (S 156).<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    4. Grave accents<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In cases where the rise in pitch \u2013 marked by an acute accent \u2013 falls on the ultima, the pitch rise was regularly left unpronounced if another word followed in the sentence. In such cases, the acute accent symbol is inverted, and the final syllable is marked by a GRAVE ACCENT: \\<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    As a result, grave accents can only be found on the ultima of a word.<\/p>\n

    For example:<\/p>\n