Grammaire Homérique: Phonétique et morphologie

Bolling, George Melville; Chantraine, Pierre

doi:10.2307/410349

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Much has been written on the dative plural endings in Homer (Witte 1913; Ruijgh 1958; Horrocks 1987; Wathelet 1991; Wyatt 1992; Blanc 2007, 2009; Cassio 2017a, 2017b), and on the somewhat related ‘Aeolic theory’ (Meister 1921; Strunk 1957; Chantraine 1958; Wathelet 1970; Risch 1974; Miller 1982; West 1988; Horrocks 1997; Wachter 2000, 2007; Nagy 2011 on the Aeolic dialects, cf. Blümel 1982; Parker 2008; Scarborough 2023), so in this section we shall limit ourselves to making some observations based on a recount of the entire evidence, revisiting some specific arguments, and suggesting that ‐essi in the epic language could well be an innovation which is not necessarily contact‐induced.…”

Section: The Datives In ‐Essi In the Ancient Greek Varieties: Problem...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All in all, there seem to be increasing variation and multiple routes to the formation of the ‐essi datives, not all of which can – or should – be traced back to an Aeolic background (for instance, néessin [7x], shows a characteristically Ionic vowel shortening; cf. Chantraine 1958: §87).…”

Section: The Datives In ‐Essi In the Ancient Greek Varieties: Problem...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Ancient Greek Datives in ‐essi: Contact or Independent Innovations?¹

Capano,

Bianconi

2023

Trans of the Philol Soc

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The Ancient Greek datives in ‐essi have posed a longstanding challenge in Greek linguistics, with their traditional categorisation as ‘Aeolic’ but their widespread presence across Aeolic and non‐Aeolic regions. This article investigates the origin and diffusion of this trait, examining both the early Greek evidence (in particular the Lesbian poets, Homer, and Mycenaean Greek) and that from specific areas, namely Sicily and Pamphylia, which are often overlooked despite their history of language contact. We argue that it is not necessary to have a single explanation for the origin and spread of ‐essi and that independent innovations in Greek dialects better account for the material. Despite the lack of a unitary account, we suggest that something comparable to the concept of “drift” could underlie such a development. By analysing the epigraphic evidence from Sicily and Pamphylia, we conclude that the presence of ‐essi cannot be solely attributed to contact in all the areas in which it is attested. This perspective challenges the notion of ‐essi as a strong dialectal isogloss useful for diachronic dialectal taxonomy. More generally, this case study confirms the importance of considering diachronic typology and language contact to gain a more comprehensive understanding of language change.

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