Chapter II: Appendix (1)

I.—Elementary Hints on Etymology 55
II.—Vocabularies 57

THE ALPHABET

ACCENT AND QUANTITY

THE GREEK LETTERS

The Greek letters, borrowed as they were from the East and adopted by the Romans, are substantially the same as the Roman letters of our common English usage, and in fact differ from them both in figure and power scarcely more than our present English type differs from the old English black letter or the common German type. A few remarks will suffice to show where or how far the pronunciation varies from our English use of the same letters.

Greek English
Figures. Names. Figures.

Α, α ἄλφα alpha a
Β, β, ϐ βῆτα bêta b
Γ, γ, ⲅ γάμμα gamma g
Δ, δ δέλτα delta d
Ε, ε ψῑλόν epsilon e
Ζ, ζ, ζῆτα zêta z
Η, η ἦτα êta ee
Θ, θ, ϑ θῆτα thêta th
Ι, ι ἰῶτα iôta i
Κ, κ κάππα kappa k
Λ, λ λάμβδα lambda l
Μ, μ μῦ mu m
Ν, ν νῦ nu n
Ξ, ξ ξῖ xi x
Ο, ο μῑκρόν omikron ŏ
Π, π πῖ pi p
Ρ, ρ ῥῶ rho r
Σ, σ, ς σῖγμα sigma s
Τ, τ, ך ταῦ tau t
Υ, υ υῑλόν ’upsilon u
Φ, φ φῖ phi f _or_ ph
Χ, χ χῖ chi ch
Ψ, ψ ψῖ psi ps
Ω, ω ὦ μέγα omega ō

NOTES

Α is always the broad _a_ (=ah) of all European
languages, and never softened down to the English
_ā_, as heard in _pātent_, _nátion_.

Β in the spoken Greek of the present day is softened
down to the cognate _v_, exactly as in Gaelic _b_
with the _h_ appended becomes _v_, as _ban_, fair,
with _h_, _bhan_ = _van_.

Γ, when followed by the broad vowels _a_ and _o_,
is pronounced hard as in English and Gaelic; but
when followed by soft vowels the _Greeks_ now
give it the sound of the English _y_ in _yes_,
_yellow_—γέλως, γέρων,—just as in German the _g_ in
the third syllable of _Göttingen_ is so softened
down as almost to disappear.[3] This euphonic
action of a weak vowel upon a strong consonant
preceding is natural and found in most languages;
exactly as the Italians in their soft dialect of
Latin have changed Κικέρων into _Chichero_, _ch_
being pronounced as in the English _church_.

Before κ, γ, χ and ξ, the letter γ has the sound
of _n_, as in ἄγγελος, in Latin _angelus_, English
_angel_.

Δ, or D, is in like manner softened into _th_ as in the
English _mother_; thus δέν _not_, from οὐδέν,
pronounced οὐθέν.

Ε is our short _e_, as in _get_; never long _ē_.

Η, or ἦτα, was in ancient times always a long _ē_,
English _ā_ as in _gate_; now it is always _ee_
as in _seem_ or _theme_.

Θ is the English _th_, as in _mouth_, _south_.

Ι is always the slender English _ee_, either short as
in _peep_ or long as in _scēne_.

Ξ is _ks_, _gs_, contracted into _x_.

Υ, from which our _y_ came, was in ancient times
identical with the delicate _ü_, _ue_, of the
Germans, halfway between οὐ = _oo_ and _ee_, into
which in the living language it is always softened,
exactly as in some parts of Germany _Brüder_ is
pronounced _Brēēder_.

Χ is an aspirated _k_, but pronounced like _milch_ in
German or _loch_ in Scotch, which the English,
who do not possess this beautiful soft guttural,
generally sharpen into a _k_, as in _lake_.

Ω, omega, as the name indicates, is simply a long _o_,
as in πῶλος, _a foal_.

For the English _h_ the Greeks used a simple mark
of aspiration turned to the right thus, ἱερός
_sacred_, pronounced _hee-er-ŏs_, while the
same mark turned to the left, as in ἔρως, simply
signifies the absence of the _h_. Whether this
_spiritus lenis_, as it is called, was put on
the initial vowel to indicate the presence of an
original _h_ which had vanished, I cannot say; but
one can readily fancy that if the Cockney fashion
of calling Highgate _Igate_ were to become general,
every such curtailed word might receive a mark
thus, _’igate_, as the survival of a lost breathing.

Besides the vowels in the alphabet we find in
Greek, as in other languages, compound vowel sounds
called diphthongs. They are seven—αι, ει, οι, αυ,
υι, ευ and ου. Their ancient pronunciation is very
difficult to expiscate, and in them we note the
partiality of the Greeks for the slender sound of
_ee_, called by a Latin writer _gracilitas_, and
by modern scholars _itacism_. This tendency has
wiped off the diphthongal character altogether
from οι, υι, and ει, which are all pronounced
like a single ι, English _ee_. To balance this,
αι becomes the English _ai_, as in _vain_; ου
retains its full soft roundness as in _gloom_;
while in αυ and ευ in the living Greek the υ has
assumed a consonantal value and become _v_, from
which usage the εὐαγγέλιον of the Gospels has
become the _evangelium_ of the Latin Church, and
the _evangel_ of English; so αὐλός, _a flute_, is
pronounced _avlóss_, and this _v_ is aspirated into
the kindred _ƒ_, when the following consonant is
κ, π, τ, θ, χ, ξ, σ, or ψ, as in αὐτός, _aftos_,
εὔξεινος, _efxeinos_. That the ancients, at least
in poetry, did not do this is evident from the full
diphthongal value of a long sound given to the
εὐ in εὐαγής and such-like words by the dramatic
writers.

[3] See Zampolides’s _Modern Greek_. London, Williams and Norgate, 1887.

ACCENTUATION AND QUANTITY

In respect of accentuation the Greek language has the advantage above most others that, while in Latin, English, or German the proper intonation of a word in doubtful cases can only be known by an appeal to a dictionary or to an authoritative speaker, in Greek every word in a book, as it stands before the eye, exhibits and perpetuates the tonic relation of the syllables to one another. The student has but to observe the rise or fall of the syllables on his page as he would do the notes in a piece of music, and he cannot go wrong. Only a few characteristic points require to be laid down to make the principle on which the practice depends intelligible.

The word _accent_, taken from the Latin grammarians, evidently signifies a certain music of speech, a singing to or with (_ad_ and _cano_) an articulate word; while the expression used by the Greek grammarians, τόνος from τείνω, indicates a stretch, stress, or intension of the voice on the syllable so affected. Taking these two elements together we see that a Greek word, say καλός, _beautiful_, with the mark of the acute accent on the last syllable—hence called oxytone, from ὀξύς, _sharp_—is pronounced with an elevation of the voice, which brings along with it a dominance of the syllable on which it stands above the other syllables with which it is connected. It stands to reason that after such a dominance given to one syllable the voice, if there be a subsequent syllable, will fall; and so, as in πραγμάτων, the final syllable will be pronounced in a lower tone which is called grave. In the general use this lower-toned syllable requires no special mark, being sufficiently indicated by its necessary subservience to the accented syllable; with the Greeks, however, it seems to have been the practice to pronounce an oxytone word, when it occurs in the middle of a sentence, in a lower tone than at the end, and so the word καλός in the middle of a sentence, as in καλὴ παρθένος, is marked with a grave accent from left to right instead of from right to left; but this, though it lowers the tone, does not affect the dominance of the syllable. It is just as if in music the same note, with the same rhythmical dominance, were sung an octave lower. Practically, the learner need not concern himself curiously about the matter.

It is a rule, both in Greek and Latin, that no word can be accented farther back than the third syllable from the end, the antepenultimate, the favourite accent of the English language. But, while this rule, in a musical point of view, preserves the language from such a rattle of insignificant sounds as in _lámentable_, _mílitary_, and not a few other quadrisyllables in our unmusical English tongue, it manifestly requires a correction from the side of penultimate and oxytone accentuation to achieve the just balance of the music of speech. In this respect Greek is decidedly superior to both Latin and English; for, while Latin rejects the sonorous cadence of the accent on the last syllable altogether, English uses it only in some verbs, remnants of the past participle of Latin verbs, as in _rejéct_, _suppóse_, _accépt_, and such-like; and in the case of the penult the fine swelling cadence of the Greek words, in which the acute accent of the penult is followed by a final long syllable, altogether fails, as in πραγμάτων, which an Englishman, following his English ear, will pronounce not only πράγματων but πράγματον, as if ω were ο. The student, therefore, will carefully train his ear to give all oxytone words their full value, and never to say ἄγαθος ὁ θέος instead of ἀγαθὸς ὁ θεός, or κάλος ὁ ἄνηρ for καλὸς ὁ ἀνήρ.

By the quantity of a word we mean the comparative duration of the sound, exactly as in music a [symbol: minim] is related to a [symbol: quaver]; and in Greek the accentuation stands in a very marked relation to the quantity of the syllables, which in practice asserts itself prominently as follows:—

(1) It is an invariable condition of the
antepenultimate accent that the last syllable be
short, as in ἄνθρωπος, a man; and in consequence,

(2) If in the course of flexion a word with an
antepenultimate accent takes a long final vowel, as
in the genitive and dative singular of the second
declension, the accent of the first syllable is
advanced to the penult, as in ἀνθρώπου.

(3) The converse takes place in verbs, where the
accent is naturally on the root, as in λέγω, of
which the imperfect is ἔλεγον; but in the aor. mid.
indic., while the third person is ἐλέξατο, the
first person is not ἐλέξαμην, but ἐλεξάμην.

A long syllable of course, as in προφήτης, may have an acute accent on a long vowel with the same right as a short syllable; but there are many long syllables in Greek which are marked neither with an acute nor a grave but with a circumflex, which is a prolonged accent compounded of a rise and a fall marked thus ^, or for greater ease, ~. These words are generally compounds of which the elements are quite plain, as in φιλοῦσι for φιλέουσι, τιμῶσι for τιμάουσι; in other words, as in σῶμα, a body, or the genitive plural of the first declension, as πολιτῶν, and some others, the single elements from which the complex tone arose were either historically known to the grammarians or legitimately assumed. At all events, every syllable in Greek with a circumflex accent is practically treated as if it had two accents; σῶμα as if it were σάὸμα, χρῶμα as χρόὰμα, πρᾶγμα as if it were πράὰγμα, and so on. It follows from this, and the principle that no word can be accented farther back than the antepenultimate, that, if in the course of flexion a word with a circumflex on the penult receives an additional syllable so as to become, in accentual value, a quadrisyllable, the accent must be advanced; thus from τιμῶμαι,[4] I am honoured, we can say τιμᾶσθε in the second person plural, but we cannot say τιμῶμεθα, so must say τιμώμεθα. The change of accentual marking in this instance is of no practical value to the student, but in the case of enclitics, of which we shall now speak, it affects the ear most decidedly.

[4] Final αι and οι for accentual purposes are pronounced short in the terminal flexions of nouns and verbs—τέτυμμαι, ἄνθρωποι, τράπεζαι.

Enclitics are small words, which, so to speak, have not force enough to stand on their own legs, but lean (ἐγκλίνω) on the weightier word that precedes them for support, and become absorbed in it; just as in English we say _don’t_ for _do not_, and in Italian _dimmi_ for the Latin _dic mihi_. These enclitics are πού, ποτέ, γε, and a few others, the oblique cases of the personal pronouns, the indefinite pronoun τις, and the verbs εἰμί, _I am_, φημί, _I say_, except in the second person singular. The effect of their being thus taken up by the previous word and forming a new whole must, in not a few cases, materially affect the position of the accent; for, while in καλός τις, _a certain good-looking fellow_, there is no change in the intonation of καλός to the ear, the moment I say κάλλιστος τις, I either violate the rule which forbids the accent on the fourth syllable from the end, or I keep to the rule and say κάλλιστός τις. In the same way when I say ὁ διάβολος, _the devil_, simply, I preserve the antepenultimate accent with full effect in its natural place; but if I apply the reproachful term to a special person, and say, as in John vi. 70, ἐξ ὑμῶν εἷς διάβολός ἐστιν, _one of you is a devil_, I immediately, to give the ἐστιν something to lean on, must make the διάβολος oxytone. Similarly, I cannot write πνεῦμα ἔστιν, which in accentual value would be a compound word of five syllables, but I must say πνεῦμά ἐστι (John vi. 63), when the last syllable of the supporting word with the two syllables of the enclitic become accentually a new word of three syllables with a legitimate antepenultimate accent.

If the position of the accent, a point often not a little troublesome even to natives in the orthoepy of their own language, has been relieved of all practical difficulty by the curious prevision of the Alexandrian elders, the quantity is even more simple. With the double aid of the two separate signs for long vowels, η and ω, and the quantity of the final vowel as determined by its relation to the previous accented syllables, the only difficulty that remains is obviated by the mark ¯ over the long vowels, and the ◡ over the short ones found in all good dictionaries. In the present little work it will be sufficient to mark the long vowel where it occurs in doubtful cases, and leave the short ones to be understood as short from the absence of the long mark. But the real difficulty that prevents both accent and quantity from being easily acquired by English scholars is the negligent practice of transferring Latin or English habits of accentuation to Greek words, as when θεός is pronounced like _Déus_, and Σωκράτης as _Sócrates_, and again the supposition that the accent cannot be put on a syllable without making it long, or removed without making it short. Let only the honest attempt be made to pronounce ἄνθρωπος, not as _anthroāpos_, but as in _lándhōlder_, _córndēaler_, and other such words, and the α in Σωκράτης, not like _a_ in _claw_ or _maw_, but like the _a_ in _lattice_ and _scatter_, and the difficulty will vanish like the gleam of a mirage before the firm foot and the cool eye of the traveller.

LESSON I.—NOUNS

NOMINATIVE AND OBJECTIVE CASE

FIRST AND SECOND DECLENSION

VERBS

THREE PERSONS SINGULAR, PRESENT INDICATIVE

A noun is the name of a thing or person, a verb signifies an action, an adjective a quality as good or bad belonging to a noun. The nominative case is the person who is or may be doing what the verb means; the objective case is the thing or person to which or towards which the action of the verb tends. The verb _to be_, denoting simple existence, not action, of course is followed by the nominative, not the objective case.

Nouns are masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Masculines generally end in ος.
Feminines in η or α, a few in ος—ὁδός, _a way_,
βίβλος, _a book_, παρθένος, _a maiden_.
Neuters in ον.

The objective case ends in ν, the ν being added to the termination of feminines, and substituted for the ς in masculines. In neuters the nominative and objective are the same. Adjectives follow the same rule.

Verbs: first person ends in ω, second in ς, and third in ει or ᾳ, as—

ὁρῶ, ὁρᾷς, ὁρᾷ, _I see, thou seest, he sees_.
ἀκούω, ἀκούεις, ἀκούει, _I hear_, etc.

So—

θαυμάζω, _I wonder_.
μῑσῶ, _I hate_.
φιλῶ, _I love_.
ἔχω, _I have_.

USEFUL IMPERATIVES

φέρε, _bring_.
δός, _give_.
ἰδοῦ, _behold! here!_

The article _the_ is declined masculine, feminine, and neuter like the nouns, thus—

ὁ ἡ τὸ
τὸν τὴν τὸ

It never has α in the feminine.

The verb _to be_, εἰμί, has second person εἶ, third ἐστί, or before a vowel ἐστίν, and in plural ἐσμέν, ἐστέ, εἰσί.

The pronouns of the first and second persons are—

ἐγώ μοῦ, ἐμοῦ μοῖ, ἐμοί μέ, ἐμέ
_I of me to me me_

σύ σοῦ σοί σέ
_thou of thee to thee thee_

λαμπρός ἐστι ὁ ἥλιος, _the sun is bright_.
καὶ καλὴ ἡ ἡμέρα, _and the day beautiful_.
ὁρᾷς τὸν ἥλιον; _do you see the sun?_
ὁρῶ νεφέλην, _I see a cloud_.
νεφέλην στυγνὴν ὁρῶ, _I see a dark cloud_.
ὁρᾷς τὸν καπνόν; _do you see the smoke?_
ὁρᾷς τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸν κυανοῦν; _do you see the blue sky?_
ἀκούεις τοῦ ποταμοῦ; _do you hear the river?_
ἀκούεις τῆς βροντῆς; _do you hear the thunder?_
θαυμάζεις τὸ δένδρον τόδε τὸ ὑψηλόν; _do you admire this tall tree?_
θαυμάζω καὶ μ́ᾰλα γε, _I admire it extremely_.
ὁρᾷς τὸ ῥόδον τοῦτο τὸ καλόν; _do you see this beautiful rose?_
καὶ τὸ λείριον τὸ λευκόν; _and the white lily?_
καὶ τὴν πόαν τὴν χλωράν; _and the green grass?_
καλός ἐστιν ὁ κῆπος, _the garden is beautiful_.
καὶ σοφὸς ὁ κηπουρός, _and the gardener wise_.
ὁρῶ ἄκανθαν, _I see a thistle_.
κᾰκόν, κᾰκόν, _bad, bad!_
αἰσχρόν, αἰσχρόν, _ugly, ugly!_
μῑσῶ τὴν κακὴν ἄκανθαν, _I hate the ugly thistle_.
φιλῶ τὸ ῥόδον τὸ καλόν, _I love the lovely rose_.
μῑσεῖς τὴν ἀκαλήφην; _do you hate the nettle?_
μάλιστα, _certainly_.
σφοδρός ἐστιν ὁ ἄνεμος, _the wind is strong_.
φιλῶ τὴν σκιάν, _I love the shade_.
καὶ τὴν σκέπην, _and the shelter_.
φέρε τὴν τράπεζαν, _bring the table_.
ποῦστι ὁ πέτασος ὁ ἐμός; _where is my hat?_
δός μοι τὸν πέτασον, _give me the hat_.
φιλῶ πῖλον ἐγώ, _I love a cap_.
κ́ῑνει τὸ πῦρ, _or_ τὴν ἐσχάραν, _stir the fire_.
δός μοι τὸ σκάλευθρον, _give me the poker_.
ἔχεις πυράγραν; _have you tongs?_
ἰδοῦ, _there_.
ὁρᾷς τὸ κάτοπτρον; _do you see the mirror?_
ἔχεις ἕδρᾱν; _have you a seat?_
ἔχεις ὑποπόδιον; _have you a footstool?_
ἔχεις κλ́ῑνην; _have you a sofa?_
δός μοι τὴν βακτηρίαν, _give me my stick_.
τὸ παιδίον τόδε τίς ἔστι; _who is this little boy?_
ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ἐμός, _my brother_.
ἔστι σοι ἀδελφή; _have you a sister?_
φιλῶ δεῖπνον, _I love dinner_.
ἔχεις ἄρτον καὶ βούτῡρον; _have you bread and butter_?
καλὸν τὸ ἀργυροῦν ποτήριον τοῦτο, _this silver cup is beautiful_.
φέρε τὸ καλαμάριον, _bring the inkstand_.
λάβε, _take it_.
οὐχ ὁρῶ κάλαμον, _I do not see a pen_.
ἰδοῦ, _here_.
χάριν ἔχω, _thanks_.
δός μοι χειρόμακτρον, _give me a napkin_.
ἔτι δὲ τοῦ σάπωνος, _and some soap_.
ἰδοῦ σάπωνα τὸν τοῦ Πεαρσίου, _here it is, Pears’ soap_.
θεῖον πάνυ χρῆμα τοῦ καθαρτικοῦ, _a splendid cleanser!_
νῦν δὴ λευκαί μοι αἱ χεῖρες ὥσπερ ἡ χιών. Ἔρρωσο.
_now my hands are white as snow. Farewell_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Panorama. Lamp. Heliotrope. Calisthenics. Ephemeral. Urania. Acoustics. Thaumaturgy. Rose. Lily. Chlorine. Sophist. Cacophony. Misanthrope. Democrat. Animation. Philanthropy. Fire. Optics. Ophthalmia. Cathedral. Clinical. Philadelphia. Adelphi Court. Soap. Chiromancy. Cathartic.

LESSON II

CASES, GENITIVE AND DATIVE

The genitive case signifies the source _from_ which a thing comes and to which it belongs, as the _folly of fools_, the _fool’s folly_, the folly that comes from the fool. The dative case means either the secondary or more distant object of an action, as _I gave the book to the boy_; or it _signifies rest_ or _residence in a thing_, for which in English there is no special form; also in Greek it signifies the instrument with which, or by which, a thing is done, as to _cut_ with a _knife_. In Greek masculines in ος have the genitive in ου and the dative in ῳ; feminines in ρᾱ or ρᾰ and ίᾱ have the genitive in ας and the dative in ᾳ; other feminines in α—as τράπεζᾰ, _a table_—and feminines in η have ης in the genitive and ῃ in the dative.

ὁρῶ νεφέλην ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, _I see a cloud in the sky_.
θαυμάζω τὴν σοφίαν τὴν ἐν τῷ σῷ ἀδελφῷ, _I admire the wisdom that
is in your brother_.
δὸς τῷ ἀδελφῷ τὸν κάλαμον τόνδε, _give your brother this pen_.
καὶ τὸ καλαμάριον, _and the inkstand_.
ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ σὸς θαυμάζει τὸ λευκὸν ῥόδον τὸ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ,
_your brother admires the white rose in the garden_.
ἀκούεις τῆς τοῦ ποταμοῦ βροντῆς; _do you hear the thunder
of the river?_
ἡ βία τοῦ ἀνέμου ταράττει τὸν κῆπον, _the violence of the
wind disturbs the garden_.
καὶ τόν γε πέτασον ἐπὶ τῇ ἐμῇ κεφαλῇ, _yes, and the hat
on my head_.
κ́ῑνει τὸ πῦρ τῷ σκαλεύθρῳ, _stir the fire with the poker_.
ὁρᾷς τὴν ἕδραν τὴν τοῦ ἐπισκόπου; _do you see the bishop’s seat_?
ἰσχυρός ἐστι· ἐσθίει τὸν τῶν πονούντων ἄρτον, _he is strong;
he eats the bread of labour_.
δός μοι τὸν κάλαμον τὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, _give me your brother’s pen_.
φέρε τὸ καλαμάριον τὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς, _bring your sister’s inkstand_.
κόπτε τὸν κάλαμον τῇ μαχαίρᾳ, _cut the pen with the knife_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Bishop. Kinetics. Seat. Cathedral. Hydrocephalus.

LESSON III

PLURALS, NUMERALS, DIMINUTIVES

The plural of verbs is in ομεν, ετε, and ουσι for the three persons. In pure verbs αομεν becomes ῶμεν, ᾶτε, and ῶσι; ε becomes οῦμεν, εῖτε, and οῦσι.

The plural of nouns in ος is in

οι, nominative.
ων, genitive.
οις, dative.
ους, objective.

Neuters have nominative and objective α.

The plural of feminines is in

αι, nominative.
ῶν, genitive.
αις, dative.
ᾱς, objective.

The relative pronoun, ὅς, ἥ, ὅ, _who_, _which_, is declined all through, like masculine nouns in ος, and feminines in η, and neuters in ον.

The numerals are—εἷς, μία, ἕν; δύω, τρεῖς, τέσσαρες, πέντε, ἕξ, ἑπτά, ὀκτώ, ἐννέα, δέκα, in their order; εἴκοσι, _twenty_; ἑκατόν, _a hundred_; χίλιοι, _a thousand_; μύριοι, _ten thousand_.

Diminutives are mostly neuter, ending in άριον, ίον, and ύλλιον: as ἵππος, _a horse_—ἱππάριον, _a pony_; παῖς, _a boy_—παιδίον, _a little boy_; βρέφος, _a babe_—βρεφύλλιον, _a little babe_. Masculine is ίσκος, as παιδίσκος, _a young boy_, with feminine παιδίσκη, _a little girl_.

The adjective πολύς, _many_ (German _viel_), is declined in the nominative—

πολύς πολλή πολύ

and objective—

πολύν πολλήν πολύ

otherwise regularly, as if from πολλός-ή-όν.

It is a peculiarity of Greek syntax that neuter plurals are joined with a singular verb, as καλῶς ἔχει τὰ πράγματα, _matters are going on well_.

γράφομεν καλάμῳ, ὁρῶμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, _we write with a pen, and see with our eyes_.

τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἥν σοι γράφω δὸς τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, _the letter which I write for you give to your brothers_.

πόσους ἔχεις ἀδελφούς; _how many brothers have you?_

ἕξ, ἀδελφὰς δὲ ἑπτά, _six, and seven sisters_.

δεινὰ ταῦτα, _that is too bad!_

πόσα ἔχεις ῥόδα ἐν τῷ πετάσῳ; _how many roses have you in your hat?_

δώδεκα, λείρια δὲ ἕξ, _twelve, and six lilies_.

πόσους ἔχει ἵππους ὁ ἀδελφός; _how many horses has your brother?_

τρεῖς, _three_.

ὁρᾷς τοὺς κύκνους καὶ τοὺς γεράνους ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ; _do you see the swans and the cranes in the loch?_

ὁρῶ, δεινὸν τὸ πλῆθος, _yes, a very great number_.

καὶ δὴ καὶ τρεῖς μόσχους κομψοὺς ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ; _also three pretty calves in the field?_

ἔτι δὲ ἱππάριον, κόσμιον, βαλιόν; _also a neat little piebald pony?_

τί γελᾷς; _what are you laughing at?_

ἐκεῖνο τὸ παιδίον ἱππαζόμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἱππαρίου, _that boy riding on the little pony_.

καὶ δὴ καὶ τρέχει ὀπίσω ἡ παιδίσκη ἡ κομψή, _and behind runs the pretty little girl_.

τερπνὸν τὸ θέαμα, _a pleasant sight_.

ὁ θαυμαστὸς οὑτοσὶ δύο ὁρᾷ ἡλίους ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἕνα μόνον ὁρῶμεν, _this strange man sees two suns in the sky; we see only one_.

μῑσοῦμεν τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ μωροῦ, _we hate a fool’s voice_.

τοῦ δὲ σοφοῦ φωνὴν φιλοῦμεν, _but we love the voice of the wise man_.

οἱ ἀστρονόμοι πολλὰ ὁρῶσι τοῖς τηλεσκοπείοις ἃ ἡμεῖς οὐχ ὁρῶμεν, _the astronomers see many things with their telescopes which we do not see_.

πολλὰ μὲν ἔχει δένδρα ἡ ὕλη, λόγους δὲ πολλοὺς ἡ τῶν μωρῶν γλῶσσα, _there are many trees in the forest, and many words in a fool’s tongue_.

πολλὰς κόπτομεν ἀκάνθας ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς, _we are cutting down many thistles in the fields_.

καὶ οὐκ ὀλίγας, ὡς ἐλπίζω, ἀκαλήφας, _and not a few nettles also, I hope_.

ἃς σὺ μῑσεῖς, ἀκαλήφας, _the nettles which you hate_.

δικαίως ἔγωγε, πάντες γὰρ μῑσοῦσιν τὰς ἀκαλήφας τὰς κακάς, _with good reason too. All hate the evil nettles_.

τί πράττετε; _what are you about?_

γράφομεν ἐπιστολάς, _we are writing letters_.

ἐπιστολὰς λέγεις; _do you say letters?_

καὶ μάλα γε, πρὸς τὴν βασίλισσαν, _yes, to the queen_.

θαυμαστὰ λέγεις, _wonderful!_

ἀγαθὴ ἡ βασίλισσα, καὶ πρὸς τὰς εὐχὰς οὐ κωφὴ τὰς τῶν πιστῶν πολιτῶν, _good is the queen, and not deaf to the prayers of loyal citizens_.

δίκαια λέγεις, _you say what is just_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Epistle. Graphic. Hippodrome. Euphony. Astronomy. Telescope. Polyglot. Agriculture. Basilica. Basil. Police. Two. Triad. Pentarchy. Hexagon. Heptarchy. October. Decade. Myriad.

LESSON IV

THIRD DECLENSION, SINGULAR

The third declension of nouns in Greek is more rich and varied than the other two, and, besides, is distinguished by a peculiarity from which the others are free, viz. while in the first and second declensions all that requires to be done in forming the cases is to change the last syllable of the nominative commencing with a vowel, leaving the main body of the word unchanged, as ἡμέρα,-ας, ἄργυρ-ος,-ου, in the third we observe that the final consonant of the root seems in many cases to have been assimilated or absorbed by the termination of the nominative, and reappears in the other cases, as in ἐλπίς, genitive ἐλπίδος. Sometimes also the vowel of the last syllable of the nominative is shortened before the addition of the genitival termination, as in ποιμήν, ποιμένος. In some classes of nouns no change is made, and the analogy of the two other declensions is followed throughout. We shall take our examples from the more simple classes, leaving the more complex and exceptional to be learned in the course of reading.

The general type is—

-ος, genitive.
-ι, dative.
-α, objective.

as—

σωτήρ, _a saviour_.
σωτῆρος, _of or from a saviour_.
σωτῆρι, _to a saviour_.
σωτῆρα, _a saviour_.
κώδων, _a bell_.
κώδωνος, _of a bell_, etc.
λυμεών, -ῶνος, _a blackguard_, etc.

and a number of words signifying a dwelling-place, as—

ἵππος, _a horse_;
ἱππών, -ῶνος, _a stable_.
ἐλαιών, -ῶνος, _an oliveyard_.
παρθενών, -ῶνος, _room of the virgin_;

and nicknames of men:

γάστρων, -ωνος }
} _paunchy_.
φύσκων }

And to this class which follows the analogy of the other declensions our first colloquy is confined.

(1) ὁρᾷς τὸν ἀροτῆρα τῷ ἀρότρῳ κόπτοντα τὴν γῆν; _do you see the ploughman cutting up the ground with his plough?_

χρήσιμον τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο καὶ ἀναγκαῖον, _this is a useful and necessary work_.

ἰσχυρὸν ἔχει ἵππον ὁ ἀροτήρ, _the ploughman has a strong horse_.

τίνος ἐστὶν ἡ εἰκὼν ἐκείνη; _what likeness is that?_

τοῦ Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, _the likeness of Jesus Christ our Saviour_.

θεῖον πάνυ τὸ πρόσωπον, _an altogether divine countenance_.

τίς ἐστιν ἡ βίβλος ἐκείνη ἡ λαμπρά; _what is that grand book?_

ἡ γεωγραφία τοῦ Στράβωνος, _the geography of Strabo_.

τί πίνεις ἐκ τοῦ κρατῆρος ἐκείνου; _what are you drinking out of that bowl?_

πίνομεν τὸν οἶνον, _we are drinking wine_.

δός μοι τὸν τρίβωνα τὸν παλαιόν, _give me my old cloak_.

ἐκ μικροῦ σπινθῆρος δεινὴ πολλάκις ἀνάπτεται φλόξ, _from a small spark often a fearful flame arises_.

ὡς γράφει ὁ Ἀπόστολος Ἰάκωβος, _as James the Apostle writes_.

καίτοι τί ταῦτα λέγεις; _but why do you say this?_

φοβεῖ μὲ ὁ πολὺς ἐκεῖνος καπνὸς ὁ ἐκ τῆς καπνοδόχης, _I fear that quantity of smoke from the chimney_.

ἀκούω τοῦ κώδωνος καὶ τῆς τοῦ κλητῆρος φωνῆς ὃς ἐγείρει τοὺς πολίτας, _I hear the bell, and the voice of the crier who wakes the people_.

οὐ σμικρὸς ὁ κίνδῡνος, _there is great danger_.

ἀκούω τοῦ ἀλεκτρυόνος, _I hear the cock_.

(2) Nouns in ωρ and ην shorten the long ultimate vowel of the nominative, as ῥήτωρ, ῥήτορος; ποιμήν, ποιμένος; ὕδωρ, ὕδατος, _water_.

ὁρᾷς τὸν ποιμένα ἐκεῖνον μετὰ τῶν προβάτων ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι; _do you see that shepherd with the sheep in the meadow?_

ὁρῶ, καὶ τὸν κύνα, _I see them and the dog_.

ἆρα οὖν ἀκούετε τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ δεινοῦ ἐκείνου ῥήτορος; _do you hear the voice of that great orator?_

ἀκούομεν· μᾶλλον δὲ ἀρέσκει ὁ τῶν χελῑδόνων τρισμὸς καὶ τῆς ἀηδόνος τὸ ἆσμα, _we hear; but like better the twitter of the swallows and the song of the nightingale_.

δίκαίως· αὗται γὰρ κινοῦσι τὸ βαθὺ τῆς ψυχῆς, _with good reason; for these stir the depths of the soul_.

(3) Feminines in ́ῐς and ́ᾰς, with the radical δ before the case terminations, as λαμπ́ᾰς,-άδος; ἐλπ́ῐς,-ίδος. Neuters in α have the genitive in τος. Words ending in ψ = πς or βς, as λαῖλαψ, λαίλαπος, _a storm_; φλέψ, φλεβός, _a vein_; Κύκλωψ,-ωπος, _a Cyclops, Giant Round Eye_, lose the σ of the nominative and present π or β before the case termination. In the same way nouns in ξ = κς or γς, by losing the final σ of the compound consonant, cause the single κ or γ to reappear in the oblique cases, as ἱέραξ, _a hawk_, ἱέρᾱκος; ἀλώπηξ, _a fox_, gen. ἀλώπεκος; κόραξ, κόρακος, _a crow_,

ἔρχεται ὁ ὑετός, _the rain is coming_.

οὐδαμῶς, _not at all_.

τὴν ψιλὴν ψεκάδα οὐκ ἔγωγε ὑετὸν λέγω, _a thin drizzle I do not call rain_.

ἐκείνη ἡ νεφέλη σημαίνει λαίλαπα, _that cloud foretells a storm_.

λαμπρὰν ἔχω ἐλπίδα καλῆς ἡμέρας, _I have bright hope of a beautiful day_.

ὁρᾷς ἐκεῖνο τὸ γυναικάριον ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ; _do you see that little woman in the field?_

λέγουσι μαινάδα εἶναι, _they say that she is mad_.

καὶ πιστεύω ἔγωγε, _I for one believe it_.

δός μοι τὴν κρηπῖδα, καὶ τὸν πέτασον καὶ τὴν χλαῖναν, _give me my boot, my hat, and my plaid_.

ποῦστι τὸ ὑπόδημά μου τὸ ἕτερον; _where is my other shoe?_

τί ἔχεις ἐν τῷ στόματι; _what have you in your mouth?_

ἄρτον· χάριν ἔχω τῷ Θεῷ, _bread, thank God!_

τί γράφεις; _what are you writing?_

ποίημα, _a poem_.

πότερον νοῦς ἔστιν ἐν τῷ ποιήματι; _is there any sense in the poem?_

πῶς οὔ; οὐ φυσῶ φυσήματα ἐκ σαπῶνος, _of course; I don’t blow soap-bubbles_.

ὁρᾷς ἐκεῖνον τὸν κόρακα; _do you see that crow?_

ὁρῶ, περιπατεῖ ὡς κληρικὸς σεμνῷ τῷ βήματι, _I do; he walks like a clergyman, with a grave step_.

τί ἐστι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἐνδόξου ἐκείνου ῥήτορος; _what is the name of that famous orator_?

Γλάδστων, _Gladstone_.

ὄνομα Σκωτικόν, _a Scotch name_.

καὶ μάλα γε· ἔχει γὰρ ἑρμηνείαν τὸ ὄνομα, λίθος ὁ τοῦ ἱέρᾱκος, _certainly, for the interpretation of the name is_ the stone of the hawk.

ἔστι Γλάδστων ὄνομα δήμου τινὸς ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τοῦ Μεσολωθιᾶνος, _Gladstone is the name of a parish in Midlothian_.

τί πράττει ὁ παῖς ἐκεῖνος; _what is that boy doing?_

μαστιγοῖ τὴν βέμβῑκα, _he is whipping his top_.

αὐτὸς μᾶλλον ἄξιος τῆς μάστῑγος, κακοῦργον γὰρ τὸ θρέμμα, _himself is more worthy of the whip, for he is a wicked creature_.

ἔτι δὲ ἀργός· οὐκ ἄξιος τοῦ ἄρτου, _also idle; not worthy of his bread_.

νομίζω ἔγωγε τὸ νῶτον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μάστῑγα ἐγγὺς προσήκειν γένει, _I think the whip and his back are nearly related_.

κακός ἐστιν· ἀλώπεκος καὶ ἄρκτου μῖγμα παράδοξον, _he is bad; a strange mixture of a fox and a bear_.

(4) Nouns in ῑς and ῡς have ν in the objective, as σῦς, _a pig_; ἰχθ́ῡς, _a fish_, κ́ῑς, _a woodworm_. Also those in ῐς and ῠς, as πόλις, _a city_, πόλιν; ὄφις, _a snake_, ὄφιν; πῆχυς, _a forearm_, πῆχυν. These have the genitive in εως, and the dative in ει, as πόλεως, πόλει.

πατήρ, _a father_, and μήτηρ, _a mother_, have πατρός and μητρός in genitive, and πατρί and μητρί in dative; but the objective is in the regular form with the short penult πατέρα. θυγάτηρ, _a daughter_, follows the same rule, ἀνήρ has ἀνδρός, ἀνδρί, ἄνδρα.

βασιλεύς, _a king_, and ἱερεύς, _a priest_, have the genitive in έως, and the dative in εῖ, like πόλις, but the objective is έα. βοῦς, _an ox_, has βοός, βοί, and βοῦν.

γυνή, _a woman_, has genitive and dative -αικός, -αικί, and objective -αῖκα.

ὁρᾷς τὸν καλὸν ἰχθ́ῡν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι; _do you see that beautiful fish in the water_?

ὁρῶ, στίλβει τὸ θρέμμα, ὥσπερ μαργαρίτης, _yes, the creature glances like a pearl_.

ἕτερον πάνυ ὁ σῦς ὁ ῥυπαρὸς ἐν τῷ συφεῷ, _very different is the filthy pig in the sty_.

μῑσῶ τὸν σῦν, _I hate the pig_.

ὅμως χοῖρος σιτευτὸς λαμπρὸν ἄγαλμα τοῦ δείπνου, _nevertheless a fatted pig—bacon—is the great glory of a dinner_.

ὁρᾷς τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ πόᾳ; _do you see the snake in the grass?_

μῑσῶ τὸ θρέμμα, _I hate the creature_.

διὰ τί; _why?_

ἔχει κίνδῡνον, _it is dangerous_.

φρίττω τὸ ζῷον, πρόσωπόν γε τοῦ διαβόλου, _I shudder at the creature, a mask of the devil_.

ἔχει πατέρα ὁ ὄφις τὸν Σατανᾶν, _the snake has Satan for his father_.

πολλὰ ἔχει πρόσωπα ὁ διάβολος, _the devil has many masks_.

αἱρετώτερον δὲ καλῆς γυναικὸς τὸ πρόσωπον, _specially that of a fair woman_.

καὶ δὴ καὶ ἱερέως ὑπερηφάνου, _and that of a proud priest_.

ἔτι δὲ βασιλέως ἀνόμου καὶ τυράννου ὠμοῦ, _also of a lawless king, and a cruel tyrant_.

καὶ ἀνδρὸς ἑκάστου τῶν ἐν πόλει ὅσοι πονηροί, _and of any bad man in the town_.

(5) Adjectives of this declension occur most commonly in one of these three forms—

(α) ων, -ονος, masculine and feminine; ον, neuter—as
σώφρων, _sound-minded_; πρόφρων, _forward_,
_ready_—like nouns in ων _supra_. (β) ής, as
ἀληθής, masculine and feminine; ἀληθές, neuter;
genitive in οῦς and dative in εῖ—ὑγιής, _healthy_;
σαφής, -ές, _distinct_, _clear_.

(γ) ύς, masculine; εῖα, feminine; ύ, neuter; as γλυκύς,
_sweet_; βαρύς, _heavy_.

μέλας, _black_, has μέλαινα, μέλαν, and τάλας,
_wretched_, the same.

ἀληθὲς τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο τὸ περὶ τοῦ διαβόλου, _this doctrine about the devil is true_.

καὶ μάλα γε καὶ βαρύ, _yes, and weighty_.

γλυκὺ τὸ μέλι μετὰ τὸ πικρόν, _sweet is honey after sour_.

δημιουργοὶ αἱ μέλισσαι τοῦ μέλιτος τοῦ γλυκέος, _the bees are the makers of sweet honey_.

βασιλέως γλύκυσμα τὸ μέλι, _it is a king’s dainty, honey_.

στέργομεν σύμπαντες τὰ νώγαλα καὶ τὰ τρωγάλια ἀκόλουθα τοῦ δείπνου, _we all like dainties and a dessert to follow the dinner_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Gastric juice. Work. Bible. Geography. Crater. Wine. Palæography. Phlox (the name of a flame-coloured flower). Apostle. Police. Rhetorician. Pound. Abyss. Phrenzy. Wet. Phlebotomy. Cyclops. Hydropathy. Mænad. Heterodoxy. Poem. Crow. Genesis. Generation. Mixture. Paradox. Ichthyology. Paternal. Andrew. Alexander. Bovine. Gynæcology. Sow. Devil. Hierarchy. Tyrant. Glycerine. Barometer. Mellifluous.

LESSON V

THIRD DECLENSION, PLURAL

The plural terminations of the third declension are—

ες, nominative, α, neuter.
ων, genitive.
σι, dative.
ᾰς, objective, α, neuter;

as ποιμήν, ποιμένες, λαῖλαψ, λαίλαπες, following always the type of the genitive singular, as πατέρες, not πατρές; but ἀνήρ has ἄνδρες, not ἀνέρες. Only in the dative plural the final consonant ν, δ, or τ is dropped before the σι of the dative, as ποιμέσι, _to shepherds_; στόμασι, _to mouths_; λαμπάσι, _to torches_.

The adjective πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν follows this rule, having παντός in the genitive, but πᾶσι in dative plural; so γίγας, _a giant_; γίγαντος, _of a giant_; but γιγᾶσι, _to giants_.

οὗτος ὁ πατὴρ πάντα τὰ χρήματα δίδωσι ταῖς θυγατράσι, τῷ δὲ υἱῷ οὐδέν, _this father gives all the money to his daughters, to his son nothing_.

οἱ μὲν τῆς ἐκκλησίας πατέρες πολλοί, ἕκαστος δὲ παῖς ἕνα μόνον ἔχει πατέρα, _the fathers of the church are many, but each boy has only one father_.

δὸς τοῖς μὲν παισὶ βακτηρίαν, ταῖς δὲ παρθένοις σκιάδειον, _give a stick to the boys, a parasol to the young ladies_.

γίγᾱς πάνυ ὁ παῖς οὑτοσί, καὶ τέρας γε πρός· δακτύλους γὰρ δὴ ἑπτὰ ἔχει ἐπὶ τοῖς ποσίν, _this boy is a giant, and a monster to boot; he has seven toes on his feet_.

τούτων τῶν παιδῶν πάντων ἄτοπόν τι ἔχει ἡ ἐσθής, παρέχουσά γε τὴν μὲν χλαμύδα μέλαιναν, τὸ δὲ πῑλίδιον ξανθόν, _the dress of all these boys is ridiculous, a black plaid with a yellow cap_.

ἀληθῆ λέγεις, _true_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Father. Panorama. Daughter. Ecclesiastical. Polytheism. Monologue. Giant. Dactyl. Seven. Foot. Melancholy. Lecture. Parthenon.

LESSON VI

THE DEGREES OF COMPARISON IN ADJECTIVES

The general form is τερος for the comparative and τατος for the superlative, the genders following the type of the substantives of the first and second declensions, as δίκαιος, _just_, δικαιότερος, δικαιότατος; also, to avoid the concurrence of four short syllables unfavourable to the dactylic rhythm of the early poetry, the ότερος in certain cases becomes ώτερος, and the ότατος, ώτατος, as—

σοφός, _wise_, σοφώτερος, σοφώτατος.

So—
φοβερός, _terrible_.
χαλεπός, _difficult_.
φανερός, _plain_.

Adjectives in ας, αινα, αν, and in ης, ες, add the τερος and τατος to the neuter, as—

μέλας, _black_, μελάντερος, -τατος.
ἀληθής, _true_, ἀληθέστερος, -τατος.
ἀκριβής, _accurate_, ἀκριβέστερος, -τατος;

a termination which is assumed also by adjectives in ων, as εὐδαίμων, _happy_, εὐδαιμονέστερος,-τατος.

Some adjectives are compared by ιων,-ον, and ιστος,-η,-ον, as—

καλός, _beautiful_;
καλλίων, _more beautiful_;
κάλλιστος, _very beautiful_.
ἡδύς, _sweet_, ἡδίων, ἥδιστος.
ταχύς, _swift_;
θάσσων for ταχίων, _swifter_; and
τάχιστος, _very swift_.

This form belongs also to some common irregular comparisons as—

ἀγαθός, βελτίων, βέλτιστος, _good, better, best_.
μέγας, _great_, μείζων, μέγιστος.
κακός, _bad_, χείρων, κάκιστος.
πολύς, _many_, πλείων, πλεῖστος;

which follow in declension the law of the substantives of the same type, as μείζων, μείζονος; πλείων,-ονος, plural πλείονες, contracted πλείους.

Comparatives are either accompanied with a genitive or followed by ἤ—as ὁ υἱὸς μείζων ἐστὶ τοῦ πατρός, _the son is taller than the father_—or ἢ ὁ πατήρ.

οὗτος ὁ νεανίσκος πολὺ μικρότερός ἐστι τῆς ἀδελφῆς· νᾶνός ἐστι, _this young man is much less than his sister; he is a dwarf_.

λέγει ἡ ἁγία γραφὴ ὅτι ὁ Σαοὺλ πολὺ μέγιστος ἦν πάντων τῶν συμπολιτῶν, _the holy scripture says that Saul was by far the tallest of all his fellow citizens_.

οὐ σοφώτατος δέ, _but not the wisest_.

ἄμεινον τοῦ μεγέθους ἡ σοφία, _wisdom is better than stature_.

πόσα ἄτακτα ῥήματά ἐστιν ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ γλώσσῃ; _how many irregular verbs are there in the Greek tongue?_

οὐκ οἶδα, _I do not know_.

περὶ τούτου γε χρὴ ἐρωτᾳν τὸν μάντιν, τὸν Οὐείτχιον, _on this point you must consult the oracle, Veitch_.

φοβερὸν τὸ πλῆθος, _a terrible multitude_.

πλείω ἢ οἱ κόρακες ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, _more than the crows in the field_.

ἀληθέστατα λέγεις, _you say what is very true_.

λέγω τὸ ἔμοιγε πονηρότατον καὶ χαλεπώτατον, _I say what for me at least is a very painful and a very difficult business_.

μὴ ἀθύμει· πολλὰ ἔχει κακὰ ὁ βίος, παγκάκιστον δὲ τὸν ἀπελπισμόν, _don’t despair; there are many bad things in life, but the worst is despair_.

τῶν δὲ ἀγαθῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τί βέλτιστον; _and of the good things in life which is best?_

ἡ πίστις, _faith_.

ὡς λέγει ὁ προφήτης Ἀμβακούμ· ὁ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται, _as the prophet Habakkuk says, the just man shall live by faith_.

οὗ οὐκ ἔχει λόγον ἀληθέστερον ἡ ἁγία γραφή, _a word than which nothing more true is found in holy scripture_.

πατὴρ τῆς ἀνδρείας ἡ πίστις, ἀνδρεία δὲ τῶν ἀνδρικῶν ἔργων πατήρ, _faith is the father of courage, and courage is the father of manly deeds_.

κάλλιστα λέγεις, _admirable_.

καλὸς ὁ λόγος, κάλλιον δὲ τὸ ἔργον, _a beautiful saying, but more beautiful is the deed_.

ἄνευ ἔργου πάντων κενώτατον πραγμάτων ὁ λόγος, _without the deed speech is the most empty of all things_.

ἐλαφρότερον τῶν ἀχύρων, _more light than chaff_.

καὶ οὐδὲν ἥττον στεῖρον, _and not less barren_.

ἔρρωσο, _farewell_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

New. Polygon. Hagiography. Tactics. Crow. Biology. Prophet. Energetic. Plethora.

LESSON VII

THE FUTURE ACTIVE

The characteristic letter of the future tense is σ, inserted before the terminations that mark the persons, thus: λύω, _I loosen_; λύσω, _I will_; λύσεις, _thou wilt_; λύσει, _he will_; λύσομεν, _we will_; λύσετε, _ye will_; λύσουσι, _they will loosen_. Of course by inserting this σ, a preceding consonant, where the root is labial, uniting with it forms a ψ, as above in nouns (Lesson IV, 3); and in the same way, when the final vowel of the root is a palatal the κ or γ appears as ξ—so, from βλέπω, _I see_, βλέψω; from λέγω, _I say_, λέξω. But there are several variations, which will be learned by practice; the following are dominant:—

(α) Verbs with two consonants before the ω of the
present eject the latter before inserting the σ,
so that the π or φ of the root united with the σ
becomes a ψ, as in τύπτω, τύψω; κόπτω, _I cut_,
κόψω; σκάπτω, _I dig_, σκάψω; γράφω, _I write_,
γράψω.

(β) The same rule holds with many verbs in σσω, Attic
ττω, the root ending in κ or γ, as πράσσω, _I do_,
root πραγ, future πράξω; τάσσω, _I arrange_, τάξω.

(γ) Verbs in άζω have either σω or ξω, or both, as
θαυμάζω, _I admire_, θαυμάσω; νυστάζω, _I nod_, άσω
or άξω; ἁρπάζω, _to carry off_, ξω, ἁρπάσομαι in
Attic; βαστάζω, _to carry_, βαστάσω.

(δ) Pure verbs generally lengthen the vowel of the
present, α being changed into η, except where a
vowel or λ precedes the άω, as—
τιμάω, _I honour_, τιμήσω.
φιλέω, _I love_, φιλήσω.
δηλόω, _I show_, δηλώσω.
But—
κλάω, _I break_, κλάσω.
κοπιάω, _I labour at_, κοπιάσω.

But some in έω prefer έσω, as τελέω, _I finish_,
τελέσω; τρέω, _to tremble_, τρέσω; ζέω, _to boil_,
ζέσω.

(ε) Liquid verbs shorten the long vowel of the root, or
throw out the last of two consonants in the root,
and lay a circumflex accent on the termination ω,
as—
μένω, _I remain_, μενῶ.
σπείρω, _I sow_, σπερῶ.
φαίνω, _I show_, φανῶ.
βάλλω, _I throw_, βαλῶ.
τέμνω, _I cut_, τεμῶ.

νῦν δὴ φοβεῖς με· δεινὸς ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁ χρόνος οὗτος ὁ τοῦ μέλλοντος, _now indeed you frighten me; this future tense is terrible_.

γέλοια λέγεις· οὐκ ἐάσω σε τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν· λέγε μᾶλλον τὸ τῆς παροιμίας, χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά, _ridiculous; I will not permit you to speak thus; say rather, as the proverb has it, all excellent things are difficult_.

λέξω, _I will say so_.

ἔχε πίστιν, _have faith_.

πιστεύσω καὶ νῑκήσω, _I will believe and conquer_.

αἰνέσει σε ὁ πατήρ, _your father will praise you_.

οὐδὲν διστάζω, _I do not doubt it_.

ἀνδρικὸν δηλώσεις θυμόν, _you will show a manly spirit_.

βλέψω ἀνδρικῶς πρὸς τὸν διάβολον καὶ οὐ τρέσω, _I will look manfully in the face of the devil and not tremble_.

τί σκάπτει ὁ φύσκων ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι; _what is that paunchy fellow digging at in the meadow?_

σκάπτει τάφρον, _he is digging a trench_.

σκάπτει τοὺς θεμελίους λαμπροῦ οἰκήματος, _he is digging the foundations of a grand house_.

οὐδαμῶς· τὸν τοιοῦτον οὐ θαυμάσομεν, _not at all; such a fellow we will not admire_.

ἰδιώτης ἐστί· πόνον μὲν ἔχει, τέχνην δὲ οὔ· κόψει ποτὲ τὸν ἴδιον δάκτυλον τῇ μαχαίρᾳ, καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸν ἴδιον αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ σκάψει τάφον· τοιοῦτο γὰρ δὴ φιλεῖ γίνεσθαι τὸ τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων τέλος, _he is a bungler. He has labour, but no skill. He will cut his finger with his knife some day, and dig his own grave. Such is wont to be the end of the unlearned_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Hydrophobia. Chronology. Chronic. Andrew. Idiot. Penury. Technical. Polytechnic. Idiosyncrasy. Paedeutics.

LESSON VIII

THE PAST TENSE

The first aorist or indefinite past tense follows the type of the future, with a σ before the personal terminations, and an augment ε prefixed to the whole word, as a sign of the past tense, thus—

πράξω, _I will do_.
ἔπραξα, -ας, -ε, _I, thou, he_ } _did_
ἐπράξαμεν, -ατε, -αν, _we, you, they_ }

In liquid verbs, where the future has no σ, the aorist lengthens the vowel of the penult, as—

μένω μενῶ ἔμεινα
στέλλω στελῶ ἔστειλα
τείνω τενῶ ἔτεινα

There is another form of the past in

-ον -ες -ε
-ομεν -ετε -ον

as ἔτυπον for ἔτυψα, which some verbs prefer, as in ἔβαλον, _I threw_, from βάλλω, βαλῶ; ἔκραγον from κράζω, and some have both, as ἤνεγκα, ἤνεγκον, _I brought_, irregular from φέρω, _I bring_, future οἴσω, _I will bring_.

οἶδα, _I know_, has

οἶδα, οἶσθα, οἶδε, _I, thou, he_ } _know_.
ἴσμεν, ἴστε, ἴσασι, _we, you, they_ }

and with the past participle, εἰδώς, -ότος.

ᾔδειν, ᾔδεις, ᾔδει, _I, thou, he_ } _knew_.
ᾔδειμεν, ᾔδειτε, ᾔδεσαν, _we, you, they_ }

ἅπερ ἐγὼ ἔπραξα χθές, σὺ πράξεις αὔριον, ἀεὶ γὰρ ὑστερεῖς, _what I did yesterday you will do to-morrow; you are always behind_.

τίς τὰ φύλλα ἔκοψε τῆς καλῆς ἐκείνης βίβλου; _who cut the leaves of that beautiful book?_

ἐγώ, _I did_.

ἔκοψας, νὴ Δία, ἀμβλείᾳ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ῥυπαροί εἰσι σοὶ οἱ δάκτυλοι, _verily you cut it with a blunt knife; besides, your fingers are filthy_.

νίψω τῶ χεῖρε,[5] _I will wash my hands_.

[5] A dual number for τὰς χεῖρας, which both in nouns and verbs the Greeks sometimes used for a pair of persons or things. See the grammar.

ἔδωκα ἐκείνῃ παρθένῳ μῆλον, ὁ δὲ παῖς ἥρπαξε· τίς ποτε ἐδίδαξεν αὐτὸν τὸ τέχνημα τόδε; _I gave that girl an apple, and the boy seized it. Who taught him that trick?_

κακοδαίμων τις, _an evil genius_.

τίς ἔβαλε τὸν λίθον; _who threw the stone?_

ὁ παῖς ὁ ἐν τῷ κήπῳ, _the boy in the garden_.

παράνομός τις ἐστί, _he is a lawless boy_.

χθὲς διέθραυσε πλάκα ὑαλίνην ἐν τῇ τοῦ φροντιστηρίου τοῦ ἐμοῦ θυρίδι, _yesterday he broke a glass pane in my study window_.

οὐχί· ὁ αἴλουρος ἦν ὁ ἁμαρτωλός· ἐμήνυσαν αἱ ῥῖνες αἱματηραὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ ζῴου, _not so; the cat was the sinner; the bloody nose of the animal declared its sin_.

τὴν βίβλον ἣν ἔδωκά σοι χθὲς ἐγχειρίσεις (Attic ἐγχειριεῖς) τῇ ἀδελφῇ· ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἡ παρθένος καὶ βιβλοῦ ἀγαθῆς ἀξία, _the book which I gave you yesterday you will hand over to your sister; she is a good girl, and worthy of a good book_.

τίς ᾠκοδόμησε τοῦτο τὸ ἱερόν; _who built this church?_

τέκτων τις, _an architect_.

τέκτων μὲν οὔ, ἐργάτης δέ τις λίθων, _not an architect, a stonemason_.

ὁ γὰρ ἀληθὴς τέκτων ποιητής ἐστι· καὶ τὸ οἰκοδόμημα ὅπερ ᾠκοδόμησε χθὲς ποίημα μένει λίθινον αὔριον καὶ ἀεί, ὡς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, _for a true architect is a poet; and the edifice which he raised yesterday remains a stone poem to-morrow and for ever, as one may see in Egypt_.

τίς εἶδε τὸν παῖδα ὃς ἀπέκοψε τὸν κλάδον τοῦ δένδρου ἐκείνου; _who saw the boy who cut the branch of that tree?_

εἶδον ἐγώ, _I saw him_.

ἄγε αὐτὸν δεῦρο· μαστιγώσω τὸν κακοῦργον, _bring him to me; I will flog the rascal_.

σήμερον πάντως οὐ δειπνήσει, _he shall have no dinner to-day_.

ἢ δειπνήσει γε μετὰ τῶν συῶν, _or dine with the pigs_.

ἐβούλευσα αὐτῷ καλὴν βουλήν, _I gave him good advice_.

μάτην, _in vain_.

οὐκ ἤκουσε, _he did not hear_.

κωφός ἐστι, _he is deaf_.

κωφὸς δὴ πρός γε τὴν τῶν σοφῶν βουλήν, _yes, deaf to the counsel of the wise_.

χθὲς ἔκλεισε τὰ ὦτα πρὸς τὸν τοῦ σοφοῦ Σολομῶνος λόγον· τοῦ ἄφρονος οἱ ὀφθαλμοί εἰσιν ἐπ’ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς, _yesterday he closed his ears to the word of the wise Solomon: the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth_.

ἤκουσε τοῦ μὲν λόγου, τὸν δὲ νοῦν οὐ κατέλαβε, _he heard the word, but he did not take in the sense_.

ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ ἄφρων ἐπλήρωσε τὸν ἐγκέφαλον διανοημάτων κενῶν, _his foolish brother filled his brain with vain imaginations_.

καὶ ἐπίστευσε τῷ ἀδελφῷ μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ ἁγίᾳ γραφῇ, _and he believed his brother rather than the holy scripture_.

ὦ τοῦ ἀτυχήματος, _sad! sad!_

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Egotism. Practice. Foliation. Chiromancy. The Parthenon. Didactic. Technical. Cacodemon. Lithotomy. Rhinoceros. Zoology. Agatha. Hierarchy. Dendritis. Divine. Acrobat. Geography. Logic. Hagiology. Hagiolatry. Graphic.

LESSON IX

INFINITIVE MOOD AND PARTICIPLES

The infinitive mood gives the action of the verb substantively as we use the participle in _seeing is a good thing_, but in Greek, as in Latin, always the infinitive, as καλὸν τὸ ὁρᾶν, and declined with the article like a noun, through all the cases, of course neuter, as the gender does not lie in the action, but in the actor. Its normal ending in the active voice is ειν, as in the present βάλλειν, _to throw_, and second aorist βαλεῖν; but in first aorist its termination is αι, as κόψαι, from κόπτω. Pure verbs follow their vowel, as τῑμᾶν, _to honour_; φιλεῖν, _to love_.

Like substantives, verbal infinitives are governed by prepositions through all the cases, as περί, _about_; παρά, _from beside_; μετά, _with_; ἐν, _in_, and εἰς _into_—as περὶ τοῦ καπνίζειν λέγω μέτρον ἄριστον, _about smoking I say moderation is best_.

Participles are verbal adjectives declined as such, and signifying the quality or accident of a certain state of being or action belonging to an agent.

The participles of the present and of the second aorist are declined in masculine and neuter according to the type of the second declension, in feminine according to the first, as—

τύπτων, τύπτουσα, τύπτον, _he, she, or it_ }
τύπτ-οντος, ούσης, οντος, _of him, her, or it_ } _striking_.
οντι, ούσῃ, οντι, _to him, her, or it_ }

The first aorist participle bears the type of the third declension, as in γίγας, γίγαντος, _a giant_—so ποιήσας, _having made_; feminine ποιήσᾱσα, neuter ποιῆσαν.

genitive, -αντος -ᾱσης -αντος.
dative, -αντι -ᾱσῃ -αντι.
objective, -αντα -ᾱσαν -αν.

Pure verbs have a long vowel or diphthong: thus, from

περιπατέω περιπατῶν περιπατοῦντος
τιμάω τιμῶν τιμῶντος

ἆράγε εἶδες ἐκεῖνον τὸν παῖδα ἐν τῷ κήπῳ περιπατοῦντα; _did you see that boy walking in the garden?_

εἶδον, _I did_.

καλὸν τὸ περιπατεῖν καὶ ὑγιές, οὐ τοιοῦτον δὲ τῷ κλέψαντι τὰ μῆλα, _walking is good and healthy, but not for him who stole the apples_.

τῑμῶσα τὴν βασίλισσαν τῑμᾷς τὴν πόλιν ἧς δὴ ἐκείνη κεφαλὴ ἐστίν, _in honouring the queen you honour the state of which she is the head_.

περὶ τοῦ ὑπνοῦσθαι οὐδὲν ἀκριβῶς ἐπιτάττω· ἓν μόνον λέγω, οὐχ ὑγιὲς τὸ ὑπερβάλλειν ὀκτὼ ὥρας ἐν τῇ κοίτῃ, _about sleeping I prescribe nothing curiously; only this one thing I say, that to lie in bed more than eight hours is not healthy_.

ἀληθῆ λέγεις, _you say well_.

τοῖς γε ὑγιὲς ἔχουσι τὸ σῶμα, _at least for those who have a healthy body_.

τὸ γὰρ ἀργεῖν διαφθείρει τό τε σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, _for lying idle damages both body and soul_.

μάλιστα· καὶ τὸ πράττειν ὁτιοῦν ἐναντίον τῷ συστήματι τοῦ ὅλου διαφθείρει τὴν ψυχήν, ὡς λέγει ὁ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων ἀπόστολος, ὁ Ἰάκωβος· εἰδότι τὸ καλὸν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντι, αὐτῷ ἁμαρτία ἐστίν, _certainly, for to do anything contrary to the system of the universe destroys the soul, as James the apostle of good works says, “to him that knoweth what is good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”_

τῷ λαλοῦντι πολλὰ πολὺς ὁ κίνδῡνος, _to the great talker there is great danger_.

ἐν δὲ τῷ ὀλίγα λέγειν μεγάλη ἡ σωτηρία, _but in speaking little there is great safety_.

μεγάλη βιβλιοθήκη χρησίμη ἐστὶν εἰς τὸ πολλὰ εἰδέναι, _a good library is useful to get great knowledge_.

πῶς γὰρ οὔ; ὅμως οὐκ ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ σοφῶς βιῶναι, _certainly, but not always for wise living_.

πολλὰς βίβλους δυνατὸν τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς ἐγκεφάλους κυκᾶν, _it is possible that many books may confound weak brains_.

τὸ λεγόμενον, πολλοὶ ὄντες οἱ μάγειροι διαφθείρουσι τὸν ζωμόν, _as they say, many cooks spoil the broth_.

καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον παμπλήθη ἔπιπλα ὑπὲρ τὸ πρέπον καὶ τὸ ἡδὺ ἐκπληροῖ τὸ οἴκημα καὶ ταράττει τοὺς εἰσβαίνοντας, _and in the same way, a great quantity of furniture, beyond what is proper and comfortable, fills up the room, and inconveniences those who enter_.

σοφῶς. ἀεὶ κακὸν τὸ ὑπερβαίνειν, _wise. All excess is bad._

τὴν σοφίαν λέγεις τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους· ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἀεὶ ἡ σωτηρία, _the wisdom of Aristotle: safety lies in the mean_.

ENGLISH AFFINITIES

Peripatetics. Hygiene. Cleptomania. Hypnotism. System. Psychology. Apostle. Polyanthus. Trope. Hyperbole. Plethora.

LESSON X

THE OTHER PAST TENSES

The imperfect, with the augment prefixed as the sign of the past, is as follows; from κόπτω—

ἔκοπτ-ον, -ες, -ε, _I, thou, he was_ } _cutting_.
ἐκόπτ-ομεν, -ετε, -ον, _we, you, they were_ }

Pure verbs contract

αον into ων
αες ” ας
αε ” α
άομεν ” ῶμεν
άετε ” ᾶτε
αον ” ων

as in—

ἐτίμων ἐτίμας ἐτίμα
ἐτιμῶμεν ἐτιμᾶτε ἐτίμων

εον into ουν
εες ” εις
εε ” ει
έομεν ” οῦμεν
έετε ” εῖτε
εον ” ουν

as in—

ἐφίλουν ἐφίλεις ἐφίλει
ἐφιλοῦμεν ἐφιλεῖτε ἐφίλουν

The present perfect, or the immediately past perfect, in addition to the augment, reduplicates the initial consonant of the root, and its terminations are—

-α, -ας, -ε, _I, thou, he has_ ...
-αμεν, -ατε, -ᾱσι, _we, you, they have_ ...

It changes also the σ of the future into a κ—

τιμήσω—τετίμηκα τετίμηκας τετίμηκε
τετιμήκαμεν τετιμήκατε τετιμήκāσι

but this κ, when the root ends in γ or κ, appears as χ; thus—