0 les terminologies

Question 1

accent

Answer 1

a mark (acute, grave or circumflex)
placed
above a vowel
or the second letter of a diphthong
to indicate
the musical pitch at which
the accented syllable was pronounced.

Question 2

accidence

Answer 2

the area of grammar dealing with endings.

Question 3

accusative

Answer 3

the usual case of a direct object;
many prepositions take the accusative.

Question 4

active

Answer 4

the form of a verb
most commonly used
when the subject of the sentence
performs the action
(e.g. we do = ποιοῦμεν)
or has his/her/its/ther state described
(e.g. we are kind = εὔφρονές ἐσμεν).

Question 5

adjective

Answer 5

a word
describing, identifying or saying something about a noun,
with which
it agrees in gender, number and case:

the big book = τὸ μέγα βιβλίον;

the book is big = τὸ βιβλίον (ἐστ̀ι) μέγα.

Question 6

adverb

Answer 6

a word which
describes or changes the meaning
of
a verb, and adjective or another adverb:

he walks slowly = βραδέως βαδίζει.

Question 7

agent

Answer 7

the person who causes an action:

it was done by this man
= ὑπὸ τούτου ἐπρ̄́αχθη.

Question 8

agree with

Answer 8

have the same gender, case and number as.

Question 9

antecedent

Answer 9

the noun, pronoun or clause
to which
a relative pronoun
refers back.

Question 10

aorist tense

Answer 10

the tense of a verb
which refers to something
that happened in the past:

I did this = το̂υτου ἐποίησα.

Distinguish
between
this past tense
and
the imperfect
(‘I was doing’),
the perfect
(‘I have done’)
and
the pluperfect
(‘I had done’).

Question 11

apodosis

Answer 11

the main clause
of a conditional sentence,
i.e.
not the ‘if…’ or ‘unless…’ clause
but the clause giving the result.

Question 12

apposition

Answer 12

the placing
of a word, phrase or clause
in parallel
with another word, phrase or clause
to give further information
about the latter:

George Washington, the President, spoke eloquently.

Question 13

aspect

Answer 13

the term
referring to the distinction
between
two ways
in which a verb can convey time
(the time and the type of time)

• see p.61

Question 14

augment

Answer 14

something
added at the beginning of verbs
to denote a past tense.
If the verb begins with a consonant,
this is the letter ἐ-:

for example,
ἔπαυον is the imperfect of παύω.

Question 15

cardinals

Answer 15

numbers;

cardinals (1, 2, 3, etc.),

ordinals (1st, 2snd, 3rd, etc.)

adverbs (once, twice, three times, etc.).

Question 16

case

Answer 16

the form
of a noun, pronoun, adjective or article
that shows
the part it plays in a sentence;

there are six cases:
nominative, genitive, dative,
accusative, vocative, and locative.

Question 17

clause

Answer 17

a section of a sentence
in which there are
at least a subject and a verb.

Question 18

common

Answer 18

either masculine or feminine in gender,
according to meaning:

man = ὁ ἄνθρωπος;
woman = ἡ ἄνθρωπος.

Question 19

comparative

Answer 19

the form of an adjective or adverb
that makes it mean
‘more’, ‘rather’ or ‘too’:

more wise
(wiser),
rather wise,
too wise
= σοφώτερος

Question 20

complement

Answer 20

a word or phrase
which
describes the subject of the verb
and
completes the description;

it is used
with verbs *such as *
‘I am” and ‘I become’
which cannot take an object:

my mother is intelligent
= ἡ μήτηρ σοφή ἐστιν;

my mother became priestess
= ἡ μήτηρ ἱέρεια ἐγένετο.

Question 21

compound verb

Answer 21

a verb formed by
adding a prefix to a simple verb:

I overshoot = ὑπέρβάλλω.

Question 22

concessive clause

Answer 22

a clause
usually beginning in English
with the word
‘although’ or ‘though’.

Question 23

conditional clause

Answer 23

a clause
usually beginning in English
with the words
‘if’, ‘if not’ or ‘unless’.

Question 24

conjugate

Answer 24

give the different forms of the verb:

παύω, παύεις,
παύει, παύομεν,
παύετε, παύουσι;

ἔπαυον,
ἔπαυες,
ἔπαυε,
etc.

Question 25

conjunction

Answer 25

a word
used to join
clauses, phrases or words
together:

men and women
= ἄνδρες καὶ γυνα̂ικες

Question 26

consonant

Answer 26

a sound,
or letter representing a sound,
that is used together with a vowel,
such as
β, γ, δ;

cf. vowel.

Question 27

construction

Answer 27

the way in which
a clause
is constructed grammatically.

Question 28

contraction

Answer 28

the process by which
two vowels or a vowel and a diphthong
standing next to each other
in adjacent syllables
are united
into a single vowel or diphthong,

e.g.
χρῡ́σε-ος** **
(golden)
contracts to
χρῡσο̂υς
and
τῑμά-εις
(you honour)
contracts to
τῑμ̂ᾳς.

Question 29

dative

Answer 29

the case of an indirect object;
among the many meanings
of the dative are
‘to’, ‘for’, ‘with’ and ‘by’;
many prepositions thake the dative.

Question 30

declension

Answer 30

there are
a number of patterns
according to which
Greek nouns change their endings;
we call these
declensions.

Question 31

decline

Answer 31

go through
(or, more literally, down)
the different cases of
a noun, adjective or pronoun,
in order.

Question 32

definite article

Answer 32

in English, ‘the’;

in Greek, ὁ, ἡ, τό.

Question 33

deictic

Answer 33

deictic (noun: deixis)
is used of words or expressions
which ‘point’ (=δείκνūμι)
to some feature of a situation.

Pronouns
(οὗτος, οὑτοσῑ́, ἐκεῖνος
(this, this … here, that),
etc.) and
words of place
(ἐνθάδε, ἐκεῖ
(here, there),
etc.) and
time
(νῦν, τότε
(now, then),
etc.)
tell us such things about a situation
as who is involved in it,
and where it takes place.

Question 34

deliberative

Answer 34

showing that a thought process
about a possible action
is going on:

What am I to do?

Question 35

deponent

Answer 35

that passive form of a verb
when
that form is active in meaning.

Question 36

diaeresis

Answer 36

two dots (̈ ) placed over
the second of two adjacent vowels
which are to be pronounced separately:

βοϊ (to an ox).

Question 37

dialect

Answer 37

this term refers to
the different forms of Greek
used in different areas of the Greek world.

The chief dialects that occur in literature
are Aeolic, Doric, Ionic and Attic.

Question 38

dimiutive

Answer 38

a word formed from another
to express diminished size,

e. g. ‘hillock’ from ‘hill’
- τὸ παιδίον (little child) from παῖς (child).

Question 39

diphthong

Answer 39

the union of two vowels
pronounced as one syllable
(or, more properly,
one vowel followed by a glide into
a second vowel).

Question 40

direct object

Answer 40

see object (direct)

Question 41

direct speech

Answer 41

the words actually used by a speaker.

Question 42

dual

Answer 42

in Greek,
nouns or adjectives
representing two people or things,
and verbs with two people or things
as their subject,
can adopt a special form
which is known as the dual

(see pp. 232-3)

Question 43

enclitic

Answer 43

a short word
which cannot stand alone
but has to follow another word,
onto which it throws back its accent

(see p. 224).

‘Enclitic’ means ‘leaning on’.

Question 44

ending

Answer 44

a letter or letters added to
the stem (or modification of the stem)
or verbs, nouns and adjectives,
in order to mark tense, case, etc.
Compare the way in which
an English noun changes in the plural:

dish, dishes.

Question 45

feminine

Answer 45

one of the three Greek genders:
γραῦς (old woman)
and ναῦς (ship)
are both feminine nouns;

they take
the feminine form
of the article,
ἡ

Question 46

finite verb

Answer 46

a verb with a personal ending,
as opposed to
infinitives and participles.

Question 47

future perfect tense

Answer 47

the tense of a verb
that refers to something in the future
at a stage after it has happened:

I shall have ceased
= πεπαύσομαι.

In Greek this is a rare form
- many verbs do not possess it -
and it appears
in the middle or passive
(indistinguishable
from each other
in apearance).

Question 48

gender

Answer 48

the class in which
a noun or pronoun is placed
in a grammatical grouping;

in Greek, these classes
are
masculine, feminine, neuter
and
common
(i.e. masculine or feminine
according to meaning).

Question 49

genitive

Answer 49

the case that shows possession;

among its many meanings,
the dominant one is ‘of’;

in Greek
it is also the case of separation;

many prepositions take the genitive.

Question 50

gerund

Answer 50

a verbal noun.

Greek uses
the neuter singular
of the definite article
followed by
the infinitive
to supply this:

the art of fighting
= ἡ τοῦ μάχεσθαι τέχνη.

Question 51

gerundive

Answer 51

a verbal adjective
which expresses
the idea of obligation:

this is (requiring-)to-be-done
 (i.e., this must be done)
 = τοῦτο ***ποιητέον*** ἐστίν.

Question 52

imperative

Answer 52

the parts of the verb
that express a command:

do this! = τοῦτο ποίει.

Question 53

imperfect tense

Answer 53

the tense
which expresses
continuous or repeated or incomplete action in the past:

I was considering = ἐνόμιζον.

Question 54

impersonal verb

Answer 54

a verb
introduced
in English
by the word
‘it’
(e.g., ‘it is raining’),
and
_in Greek _
used impersonnally
in the 3rd person singular:

it is necessary for me
= χρή με.

Question 55

indefinite article

Answer 55

in English, ‘a’ or ‘an’;

there is no indefinite article in Greek,
though enclitic τις
can serve as an equivalent:

a (certain) woman = γυνή τις.

Question 56

indefinite construction

Answer 56

the english word ‘ever’
added to the end of another word
brings out the force of this construction.

Compare
‘Pericles, who says that, is mad’ (specific) with
‘Whoever says that is mad’ (indefinite).

Question 57

indicative

Answer 57

usually refers to a verb
when it
makes a statement
or
*asks a question *:

τοῦτο εἶπεν = he said this.

With reference to Greek,
the word usually indicates that
the verb is not
in the imperative, subjunctive,
optative, infinitive
or participle.

Question 58

indirect command

Answer 58

the reporting of an actual (direct) command,

e.g. Do this!
(direct speech, direct command):

She instructed him to do this
(indirect command).

Question 59

indirect object

Answer 59

the noun or pronoun
indirectly affected by the verb,
at which the direct object is aimed:

I gave him the book
= τὸ βιβλίον αὐτῷ ἔδωκα.

Question 60

indirect question

Answer 60

the reporting of an actual (direct) question,

e.g. What are you doing?
(direct speech, direct question):

I asked her what she was doing
(indirect question).

Question 61

indirect statement

Answer 61

the reporting of someone’s words,

e.g. I have done this
(direct statement):

He said that he had done this
(indirect statement).

Question 62

infinitive

Answer 62

the form of a verb that means
‘to do something’:

to teach = διδάσκειν.

In Greek, infinitives vary
according to tense and voice.

Question 63

inflection

Answer 63

see ending.

Question 64

interjection

Answer 64

a sound, word or phrase
standing outside
the grammatical structure
of the sentence
and
expressing an emotion
such as
distress, joy or disgust:

alas! = οἴμοι.

Question 65

intransitive verb

Answer 65

a verb which does not take a direct object, e.g. ‘go’, ‘come’.

Question 66

irregular verb

Answer 66

a verb
that does not follow
the set pattern of παύω
(the regular verb in this Grammar)
and
either
belongs to a small class of verbs
or
has its own individual forms.

Question 67

jussive

Answer 67

giving an order.

Question 68

locative

Answer 68

the case
which tells us
where something is happening:

οἴκοι = at home;

Ἀθήνησι = in Athens.

Question 69

macron

Answer 69

a line above a vowel
indicating that it is long,

e. g.
* *ᾱ ῑ ῡ**.

Question 70

main clause

Answer 70

the caluse
which is
the basic grammatical unit
of a sentence.

‘Although I love her,
she still avoids me.’

‘She still avoids me’
makes sense on its own,
while ‘although I love her’ does not.

Thus
‘she still avoids me’
is the main clause,
and
‘although I love her’
is a subordinate clause.

Question 71

masculine

Answer 71

one of the three Greek genders :

ἀνήρ (man)
and
λόγος (word)

are both masculine nouns;

they take
the masculine form
of the definite article,

ὁ.

Question 72

middle

Answer 72

a term applying to
certain Greek verb forms.

The middle
often has a reflexive quality:
παύομαι= I stop myself, i.e. I cease;
φέρομαι = I carry off for myself, I win.
However,
a number of verbs
have a middle form
but an entirely active meaning,
e.g.
ἥδομαι = I rejoice.

Question 73

mood

Answer 73

the grammatical form of a verb
which shows whether
it is in the
indicative,
subjenctive,
optative
or
imperative.

Question 74

negative

Answer 74

expressing
denial, refusal or prohibition.
In English,
the words ‘no’ or ‘not’
are generally used.

Question 75

neuter

Answer 75

one of the three Greek genders:

γάλα
(milk)
and
δῶρον
(gift)
are both neuter nouns;

they take
the neuter form
of the definite article,
τό.

Question 76

nominative

Answer 76

the case
of the subject of a sentence
or (usually)
of the complement of a verb:

• the king* is angry =
• ὁ βασιλεὺς* ὀργίζεται

Question 77

noun

Answer 77

a word that
names or denotes
a person or thing:

• *ὄνομα** = name or noun,
• *βιβλίον** = book,
• *ὀργή** = anger.

Question 78

number

Answer 78

the state of being

• either*
• *singular** or plural or dual.

Question 79

numerals

Answer 79

numbers;

these are

• either*
• *cardinals** (1, 2, 3, etc.),
• *ordinals** (1st, 2snd, 3rd, etc.)
• or*
• *adverbs** (once, twice, three times, etc.).

Question 80

object (direct)

Answer 80

a noun or its equivalent
acted upon by a transitive verb:

the dog bites the boy
= ὁ κύων τὸν παῖδα δάκνει

Question 81

optative

Answer 81

a Greek mood of the verb
which does not express statements
but such concepts as
‘would’, ‘might’, ‘if only!’

It is also used
in the indefinite construction
and
in certain subordinate clauses.

It is more remote than the subjunctive
in either likelihood or time.

(The pronunciations
‘óptative’ and ‘optátive’
are both current,
with the UK
having a preference for the latter.)

Question 82

ordinals

Answer 82

see numerals.

Question 83

parse

Answer 83

to give
a full grammatical desciption
of a word:

for verbs
this means to give
the person, number,
tense, mood, voice and meaning,

e.g.,
φιλεῖς
is
the second person singular
present indicative active
of
φιλέω,
‘I love’.

Question 84

particle

Answer 84

Greek particles,
short words which never change,
can connect clauses
and qualify - and colour -
words, phrases or clauses.

Question 85

participle

Answer 85

an adjective formed from a verb
(it can still take an object).

In Greek,
participles are
either
present
(a loving woman = γυνὴ φιλοῦσα),
future
(about to love her husband
= φιλήσουσα τὸν ἄνδρα),
aorist
(after loving her husband
= φιλήσασα τὸν ἄνδρα)
or
perfect
(after having died, i.e. being dead
= τε*_θνηκυῖα_*).

Question 86

part of speech

Answer 86

a grammatical term
identifying the function of a word:

noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

Question 87

passive

Answer 87

when the verb is in the passive form,
the subject of the verb
does not perform the action
but experiences it:

the king was loved
= ὁ βασιλεὺσ ἐφιλήθη.

In Greek,
a significant number of middle verbs
use the passive form
in the aorist

(see p.66)

Question 88

perfect tense

Answer 88

the tense of a verb
that refers to a completed action,
the effects of which
still continue in the present;

in English
the word
‘have’ or ‘has’
is generally used:

he has written a letter
(and it is now written)
= γέγραφεν ἐπιστολήν.

The Greek perfect
may often be translated
by the present:

• *τέθνηκε** = he has died,
  i. e. he is dead.

Question 89

person

Answer 89

a term identifying
the subject of a verb:

1st person -
I
(singular),
we
(plural);

2nd person -
you
(both singular and plural);

3rd person -
he, she, it
(singular),
they
(plural);

dual -
both of you
(2nd person),
both of them
(3rd person).

(Adjective: personal.)

Question 90

personal pronoun

Answer 90

a pronoun that refers to a person,

e.g.

I, you = ἐγώ, σύ.

Question 91

phrase

Answer 91

a self-contained group of words
which does not
contain a finite verb:

I walked through the city.

Question 92

pluperfect tense

Answer 92

the tense
that menas ‘had’,
referring to a past state
resulting from a completed action:

the flower had bloomed
(and was then in flower)
= τὸ ἄνθοσ ἠνθήκει.

Question 93

plural

Answer 93

of nouns and other parts of speech,
referring to more than one:

the ships = αἱ νῆες.

Question 94

positive

Answer 94

not negative;

(of adjectives)
not comparative or superlative.

Question 95

possessive pronoun

Answer 95

a pronoun,
in an adjectival form,
that shows possession,
belonging to someone or something:

my, mine = ἐμόσ, ἐμή, ἐμόν.

Question 96

prefix

Answer 96

a syllable or word
added to
the beginning of another word:

I overshoot = ὑπερβάλλω.

Question 97

preposition

Answer 97

a word that stands
(almost always)
in front of a noun or pronoun
to produce an adverbial phrase.
It expresses
a spatial, temporal or logical
meaning.

In Greek
it is followed by
the accusative, genitive or dative:

according to the laws
= κατὰ τοὺσ νόμους.

Question 98

present tense

Answer 98

the tense of a verb
that refers to something happening now:

I am playing, I play
= παίζω.

Question 99

principal parts

Answer 99

the forms of a verb
that must be learnt to give access
to all its parts.

Question 100

pronoun

Answer 100

a word that stands
instead of a noun (person or thing),

e.g. ‘it’ used in place of ‘the tree’:

this, that = οὗτοσ, αὕτη, τοῦτο;
ἐκεῖνοσ, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο.

Question 101

protasis

Answer 101

the ‘if…’ or ‘unless…’ clause
of a conditional sentence.

Question 102

reduplication

Answer 102

the process by which
verbs begining with
a single consonant
(but not ῥ)
from a prefix
in the
perfect,
pluperfect
and
future perfect
by adding that letter
followed by an ε
at the beginning:

παύω,
πέπαυκα,
ἐπεπαύκη,
πεπαύσομαι.

Question 103

reflexive pronoun

Answer 103

a word
referring back to the subject
of the main verb
and
indicating that the action
of the verb
is perfomed on its subject:

he killed himself
= ἀπέκτεινεν ἑαυτόν.

The reflexive pronoun
never appears in the nominative.

Question 104

regular verb

Answer 104

a verb that follows παύω in its forms.

Question 105

relative pronoun

Answer 105

a pronoun
that introduces
a subordinate clause,
identifying the person or thing
mentioned in the main clause:

the man who loves me
= ὁ ἀνὴρ ὃσ φιλεῖ ἐμέ.

Question 106

sentence

Answer 106

a group of words
with a subject and a verb,
that can stand on its own
to
make a statement,
ask a question,
give a command
or
express a wish.

Question 107

sequence of tenses and moods

Answer 107

the principle
according to which
the use of a certain tense
in the main clause
determines
whether
the subjunctive or the optative
should be used
in a subordinate clause.

Question 108

singular

Answer 108

of nouns and other parts of speech,
referring to just one:

the tree = τὸ δένδρον.

Question 109

stem

Answer 109

the part of a noun, adjective or verb
to which endings are added:

λόγ-
is the stem of
λόγος = word;

παύ-
is the stem of
παύω = I stop;

παύσ-
is the stem of
παύσω = I shall stop.

Question 110

subject

Answer 110

in a clause or sentence,
the noun or pronoun
that causes the action of the verb
or
has his/her/its/their state described:

the queen killed the king
= ἡ βασίλεια ἀπέκτεινε τὸν βασιλέᾱ.

Question 111

subjunctive

Answer 111

a verb form
that is used,
among many other functions,
to express
doubt,
unlikelihood
or
possibility;

it is less remote than the optative
in either likelihood or time.
Words such as
‘may’, ‘might’ and ‘should’
can indicate a subjunctive
in English

(see p.61)

Question 112

subordinate clause

Answer 112

a clause
which depends on another clause
(usually the main clause)
of the sentence in which it stands.

In the sentence,
‘He is an author
who is easy to understand’,
the clause
‘who is easy to understand’
describes the author.

The clause would not make sense on its own. Thus it is subordinate.

Question 113

superlative

Answer 113

the form of an adjective or adverb
that makes it mean
‘most’ or ‘very’:

most small (smallest), very small
= μῑκρότατος.

Question 114

syllable

Answer 114

part of a word
that forms a spoken unit,
usually
a vowel sound
with consonants
before and/or after:

συμ-βάλ-λω (I throw together);
σύ-νο-δος (meeting).

Question 115

syntax

Answer 115

the area of grammar
dealing with constructions.

Question 116

tense

Answer 116

the form of a verb
that shows when
the action takes place:

present, future, perfect, etc.

(The word ‘tense’
is related to French temps.)

Question 117

terminations

Answer 117

the ending of
nouns, adjectives and verbs
that show their
case, number, gender, tense, person etc.

Question 118

tragedy

Answer 118

the tragic plays
of the three great Attic poets
of the fifth century BC,
Aeschylus,
Sophocles
and
Euripides.

Question 119

transitive verb

Answer 119

a verb
used with a direct object
either expressed or understood,

e.g.
‘pick apples’ or ‘pick till you are tired’
(but not
‘he picked at his lunch’
- here
‘picked’
is intransitive).

Question 120

verb

Answer 120

a word
that describes an action:

I arrived at Athens
= ἀφῑκόμην εἰσ τᾱ̀σ Ἀθήνᾱσ.

Question 121

vocative

Answer 121

the case
by which
one
addresses or calls
to someone:

Demosthenes, come here!
= ὦ Δημόσθενεσ, ἐλθὲ δεῦρο.

Question 122

voice

Answer 122

the set of forms of a verb
that show
the relation of the subject
to the action,

i.e.
(in Greek)
active, middle or passive.

Question 123

vowel

Answer 123

a sound,
or
letter representing a sound,
that can be spoken by itself:

α, ε, η, ι, ο, ω, υ.