HOMERIC GRAMMAR

JJ. B. MONRO

A GRAMMAR

OF THE

HOMERIC DIALECT

BY

D. B. MONRO, M.A.

PROVOST 01!' ORIEL COLLlEGB, OXI!'OBD

SECOND EDITION, REVISED .J.ND ENLARGED

L'objet de cette 1eience eat de recbereber dana l'eaprit de l'homme 1a cause de la tnmaformatton dee idiomea

: ! M. BdAL

: ! =··= . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

()�for� AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1891

[.AU riglt1 ruened]

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HOUCB HART, PRJNT&R TO THB UHIVBRSn·y

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

IT may be said, without fear of giving offence, that a. new Grammar of the Homeric dialect is sorely wanted. The admirable Griechische Fo?"TM'YYlehre of the late H. L. Ahren!! is now just thirty years old, and is confined, as its title indi­cates, to the inflexions. Not only has the course of discovery been going on since Ahrens wrote (and with hardly less 1·apidity than in the first years of the new science), but the hil:!torica.l method has been carried into the field of syntax. And apart from 'comparative philology,' the researches of Bekker, Cobet, La. Roche, and many other students have brought together a. wealth of material that only needs careful analysis and arrangement to make it accessible to the general body of learners.

The plan of this book has sufficient novelty to call for some explanation. I have not attempted to write a. Comparative Grammar, or even a. Grammar that would deserve the epithet 'historical:' but I have kept in view two principles of arrange­ment which belong to the historical or genetic method. These are, that grammar should proceed from the simple to the com­plex types of the Sentence, and that the form and the mean­ing should as far as possible be· treated together. Now the simplest possible Sentence-apart from mere exclamations­consists of a Verb, or word containing in itself the two ele­ments of all rational utterance, a. Subject and a. Predicate. We begin, therefore, by analysing the Verb, and. classifying (1) the Endings, which express the Person and Number of the Subject (§§ 1-7), and serve also to distinguish the 'Middle' or Reflexive use (§ 8), and (2) the modifications of the Stem which yield the several Tenses and Moods. These modifica­tions, we at once perceive, are more numerous than the mean­ings which they serve to express, and we have therefore to

145·] LOCATIVAL DATIVE. 139

also with a Verb of 'cognate� meaning, as 6&.vov oliC'TliTT'f' 6av&r'l' (Od. II. 412), piov �an (Od. 5· 70).

145.] The Locativa.l Dative. The Dative without a Preposi­tion denoting the place of an a.ction is much commoner in Homer than in later Greek, though already restricted to a comparatively narrow range. It is used-

( I ) Of towns and countries : 'IAl(fl t:lCTl are in llio8, <'Ppvytn valt:CTK£ dtrelt in Phrygia: so 0v)..vp.7r'f', AaKt:aatp.ovL, 6�Aifl. l:x�:plp, Kv6�poLCTL, e�pJI, Kp�rn, "Apy�:"l, 'E>.)..a�,, &c. So too "A;;a,.

( 2) Of the great divisions of the world, the chief spheres of action, &c., as al6lpL, ovpat•'fl, o(Jpi!CTL, &yp� afield, Mp.<j) in the hou8e, vop.� nt paature, 7rOVT(f! out at 8ea, alyLaA41 on the 8hore, xlpCT(f! mt

dry land (11. 4· 424-5), o(Jan on the grouud, '1TEal<t', x6ovl; xop4l at the da�ce, p.&.Xll· �ovAfi, ayopfi, rpa7rl(.., at table (Od. 2 I. 35), CTEAilL 11vpo!; m the fire lzght.

But the Dat. in lp,r,, Evvl71KE p.&.x�:CT6aL (II. 1. 8), VCTp.'ivL p.&.x�:­CT6a., (II. 2. 863), &c. is one of manner (Instr.), rather than of place.

(3) Of the parta of a thing, especially of the body; lflp.<j) and l:lp.oLCTL, ICtf/>a.Afi, XPOt; «apl'>ln, f/>pECTl, 6vp.<ji; aKpor&.rn Kopvf/>fi, £nxar[ll '1TOAfp.OLo, P.VX�f! "Apyi!O!; (6a.Aap.oLo, &c.), p.JCT(f! ;pKE'i, 7rp�TJICTL mA'[Ir7L1 )'OVV4l aAW�S, {3lv6ECTL )..{p.VT/!;, r&.pf/>ECTLV �A7IS1 &c.

The Dat. of the part with which a person does something may be Instrumental ; as XEPCTL ILilX�CTop.aL, KEf/>a.Afi KaravEVCTop.aL, �K�>V MKovrl yE 6vp.<ji. But the Locative mode of expression is the prevailing one ; cp. Ev XElpECTCTL )..a{3' ijvLa, Ev d¢6a.Ap.o'iCTLV lalCT6a.,, lyvw {ICTw Ev� f/>pECT[, Ev 6vp.<ji p.t:p.a�rn, &c. Hence the common use of XELpl, XEPCT{, &c. with lxw, a.lplw, >.ap.f3&.vw, and the use of 6vp.w, f/>pECTl, &c. with Verbs of knowing, thinking, feeli1J.{!, are doubtless Locatival.

(4) With some Verbs that imply locality, valw, rlfJTJp.L, KE'ip.aL, �p.aL (Od. 20. 22 '1TTVXL 0v)..vp.1TOLo ifp.�:vos); esp. KAlvw, as II. 11. 371 onlAJI KEKALp.lvo!;, and (in the derived sense) II. 5· 709 >.lp.ll'[l ICEICALp.l vos.

(5) Of time: �p.aTL r4' lSrE KTA. on Me day when �c., 6lpE'i in Hummer, c'l>p'[l XELp.Eplvp i1t the 8ea8on of winter, &c.

(6) After a Verb of motion (where we expect El!; or 1TpO!; with the Ace.) : as II. 5. 8 2 7rElll<jJ 1rlCTE fell on the plain ; II. 7. 187 Kvvln f3&.AE threw ittto the helmet; IJ. 3· 10 Evr' opEos Kopvf/>fiCTL Noros KarlxEvEv op.lXATJV ha8 apread a miat over the top8 of the mountaina; 7rpoKaAtCTCTaro xapp.n called out (to meet) in combat. This idiom helps to show that the use of the Accusative for the termitt-u8 ad quem of motion does not represent the original force of that Case.