The irregularity in the declension and accentuation (51, c. 6) of γυνή is explained by an hyperthesis of . (104, 110, (6)), as the following comparison will show:

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C. Dental Nouns.

I. Masculine and Feminine Nouns.

In these nouns the dental characteristic is always omitted before the nominative -s (above, 92), and when κ precedes the characteristic it is combined with the s, as in the guttural declension: ἡ λαμπάς, “ the lamp,” for λαμπάδες; ὁ, ἡ παῖς, “the child,” for παῖδος; ἡ ἐλπίς, “ the hope,” for ἐλπίδες; ἡ χάρις, “the grace," for χάριτος; ἡ δαίς, “ the feast,” for δαίτες; ἡ κλείς, “the key,” for κλείδες; ἡ χλαμύς, “ the cloak, for χλαμύδας; ὁ, ἡ ὄρνις, “the bird,” for ὄρνιθος; ἡ κόρυς, “ the helmet,” for κόρυθος; ὁ ἄναξ, “the king," for ἄνακτος; ἡ νύξ, " the night,” for νύκτας; ἡ ἕλμινς, “ the worm, for ἕλμινθος; ἡ δάμαρ, “the wife,” for δάμαρτος; ὁ λέων, “ the lion,” for λέοντος; ὁ γίγας, “ the giant,” for γίγαντας; ὁ πούς, “the foot,” for πόδες ; ὁ ὁδούς, “ the tooth,” for ὀδόντες; ὁ πλακόεις, “ the fat cake,” for πλακόεντος, contracted into πλακοῦς for πλακοῦντας (210); ὁ μύκης, “ the mushroom,” for μύκητας; ἡ λευκότης, σε the whiteness,” for λευκότητες; ὁ γέλως, " the laughter,” for γέλωτος; ἡ Πάρνης, “a mountain in Attica,” for Πάρνηθος; ἡ Τίρυνς, “ the city Tiryns,” for Τίρυνθ-ς.

σε

101

It will be observed, from a comparison of the examples, that dental nouns which have or v before the characteristic 8, 8, 7, that T, is, nouns in-us, gen. -idos, -idos, -TOs, and in -vs, gen. -vdos, -vlos, and which are not oxytone in the nominative singular, not only have the usual accusative in -a after the characteristic, but also drop the characteristic, and retain the proper case-ending -v in the accusative singular. Thus epis, "strife," makes in the accusative both ἔριδα and ἔριν, ὄρνις, “ a bird,” both ὄρνιθα and ὄρνιν, χάρις, grace," "favour," "charm," both xáρiтa and xáρi, kópʊs, “a χάριτα χάριν, κόρυς, helmet," both xóрvła and кóρvv. But oxytone nouns have only κόρυθα κόρυν. the form in -a, like λαμπάδα, given above, ἐλπίδα, χλαμύδα, &c. The simple Tous has only the accusative rróda, but its compounds admit both forms; thus from πολύπους we have both πολύποδα and πολύπουν. TOλÚTOVV. A special exception is furnished by κλeîs, “a key," which makes both κλεῖδα and κλεῖν.

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The syncope of the characteristic 7, which is indicated in the dat. and acc. sing. of yéλws, takes place also in ó xpas, "the skin," which has dat. χρωτί and χρῷ, and ὁ ίδρώς, “ the sweat,” which has dat. and acc. ἱδρῶτι, ἱδρῷ, ἱδρῶτα, ἱδρῶ.

μέλι,

II. Neuter Nouns.

181 Neuter nouns with a dental characteristic either (a) drop it altogether, as in τὸ σῶμα, “ the body,” for σώματ, gen. σώματος, in Tò μé, "the honey," for μéλr, and in the solitary neuter noun in -η, τὸ κάρη, “the head,” for κάρητ or κρατ-, gen. κάρητος: or (B) change it into -s, as in Tò répas, "the wonder," for réρaτ, gen. TÉρAT-OS. (a) If the characteristic is -T-, both letters are dropt, as in Tò yaλa, "the milk," for yáλакт, gen. уáλакт-os. (a) If the characteristic is -VT-, the v is retained, and the T alone is dropt, as in Tò Tâν, “the whole," for Távт, gen. Tavтós. (a) If the first

т

syllable of the form has the diphthong -ou, the -v is transferred to the last syllable, where it takes the place of the -ar-, as in tò yóvʊ, “the knee,” for γοῦνατ, gen. γούνατος οι γόνατος. And (a) if the last syllable of the form contains the combination of p with another consonant, this liquid is transferred to the end, where it takes the place of the 7, with or without a lengthening of the final vowel in the nominative; it is omitted in the other cases, which retain merely a short a, as in yóvatos, &c. The following are examples of this form: τὸ ἦπαρ, “the liver,” for ἧπρατ, gen. ἥπα-τος: τὸ σκώρ, "the dung," gen. σκa-тós: Tò üdwp, "the water," for "dpar (cf. ίδρως), gen. ὕδατος. But ἡ δάμαρ, "the wife,” for δάμαρτος, has dapaρr-os in the gen.,

&c.

T

and

When is substituted for 7 in the nominative, it may be dropt in the other cases, which are formed rather with reference to this secondary, than to the primary form. In some nouns (8) we have both sets of infexions, as in τὸ κέρας, “ the horn,” for κέρατ = κέρεντ, gen. κέρατ-os and κέρατος, contracted into κέρως, as for κέρα-σ-ος (see 107); or without contraction, as in rò dópu, "the spear-shaft," gen. δόρατ-οs and δορός, dat. δόρατι and δορί or δόρει, nom., acc., voc. pl. dópn: in others (8) we have only the secondary set of inflexions, as in rò σénas, "the light," gen. σéλa-os. (y) Unless the syllable which is terminated by the characteristic T is λa or pa (119), the connecting vowel is o in the nominative, and e in the other cases; the characteristic is s in the nominative, and is invariably dropt in the other cases, which suffer contraction also in Attic Greek; thus we have Tò Teixos, "the wall," gen. Teixeos, τείχους.

182 The following are examples of all the varieties of Neuter nouns with an original dental suffix.

Singular. a

β

α

α

D.

σώμα-τ-ι τέρα-τοι γάλα-κτι

Plural.

σωμάτων τερά-τ-ων γαλά-κτ-ων πάν-τ-ων γονά-τ-ων ήπά-τ-ων κερά-τ-ων

τείχη

G.D.

σωμάτοιν τερά-τ-οιν καλά-κτ-οιν πάν-τ-οιν γονά-τ-οιν ἡπά-τ-οιν κερά-τ-οιν