Greek
Compensatory lengthening is very common in Greek. It is particularly notable in forms where n or nt comes together with s, y (= ι̯), or i. The development of nt + y was perhaps thus:
- *mont-yă → montsa (palatalization ty → ts) → mõtsa (nasalization and vowel lengthening) → mõssa → mõsa (shortening ss → s) → mōsa (denasalization, retention of long vowel) = μοῦσα "muse"
Forms with this type of compensatory lengthening include the nominative singular and dative plural of many participles, adjectives, and nouns, the 3rd person plural ending for present and future active of all verbs, and the 3rd person singular present of athematic verbs:
- *πάντ-ς → πᾶς "every, whole" (masculine nominative singular)
- *πάντ-ι̯ᾰ → *πάντσα → πᾶσα (feminine)
- *πάντ-σι → πᾶσι (masculine/neuter dative plural)
- compare παντ-ός (m./n. genitive singular)
- *όντ-ι̯ᾰ → *όντσα → οὖσα participle "being" (feminine nominative singular)
- *οντ-ίᾱ → *ονσία → οὐσία "property, essence"
- compare ὀντ-ός (m./n. genitive singular, from participle ὤν "being",)
- Doric ἄγ-ο-ντι → ἄγοντσι → Attic/Ionic ἄγουσι "they drive"
- Doric τί-θε-ντι → *τίθεντσι → Attic/Ionic τίθεισι "he/she places"
Read more about this topic: Compensatory Lengthening
Famous quotes containing the word greek:
“It is an elegant refinement that God learned Greek when he wanted to become a writerand that he did not learn it better.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“What is the foundation of that interest all men feel in Greek history, letters, art and poetry, in all its periods from the Heroic and Homeric age down to the domestic life of the Athenians and Spartans, four or five centuries later? What but this, that every man passes personally through a Grecian period.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“With astonishment Aschenbach noticed that the boy was entirely beautiful. His countenance, pale and gracefully reserved, was surrounded by ringlets of honey-colored hair, and with its straight nose, its enchanting mouth, its expression of sweet and divine gravity, it recalled Greek sculpture of the noblest period.”
—Thomas Mann (18751955)