AGE Unit 3 - Introduction to the Greek Noun Flashcards
Noun genders
Masculine, Feminine, Neuter
Information communicated by a Greek noun
•A Greek noun normally communicates THREE pieces of information:
–Gender
–Number
–Case
Noun number
Singular, dual, plural
Case of a noun
Greek puts every noun into a particular case to indicate its role in an action or place in an idea.
Greek uses four cases: •Nominative •Genitive •Dative •Accusative
Nominative case
Nominative: The nominative case indicates that a noun is the subject of a verb.
It is also used for the complement after a linking verb.
Accusative case
–Accusative: The accusative case indicates that a noun is the first (primary, direct) object of a verb.
It is also used for the complement after a linking verb.
Dative case
Dative: The dative case indicates that a noun is the second (indirect) object of a verb.
The dative case also indicates the means, tool or instrument used to accomplish an action. English most often uses “with” to indicate this use. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix.
Genitive case
Genitive: The genitive case plays roughly the same role as the preposition “of” in English. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix.
Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.
Greek can indicate possession only with the Genitive case. All the highlighted words would be in the Genitive case in Greek, with no distinction among them.
Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.
Mary gives the rulers Joseph’s child.
Joseph’s cup is empty of water.
Parsing a noun
Means to identify the following three pieces of information:
–Gender
–Number
–Case
Once you know these three items and the noun’s meaning, you have identified the noun completely and understand what it means.
Suffixes for masculine nouns
Case Singular Plural
Nominative –ς -ες
Genitive –ος -ων
Dative –ι -σι
Accusative –α -ας
Sigma and dentals
When a sigma follows a dental (τ, δ, θ, σ, ν), the dental disappears and the sigma remains: δ + σ = σ.
Paradigm for the noun παιδ
Singular Plural
- Nom. (παιδς ->) παῖς παῖδες
- Gen. παιδός παίδων
- Dat. παιδί (παιδσι ->) παισί
- Acc. παῖδα παῖδας
Declining a noun
The process of writing or saying all the forms of a noun is called “declining” them (ancient scholars metaphorically described noun forms as “declining” down from their nominative singular form).
When a sigma follows a dental …
The dental disappears and the sigma remains: ν + σ = σ.
Remember the dentals are (-τ/-δ/-θ/-ν)
Compensatory lengthening
Due to the unpopularity of sigma, the process where a Greek word drops a sigma and lengthens a vowel to make up for the loss.
Usually:
- short α –> long α
- short ε –> ει
- short ι –> long ι
- short υ –> long υ
Paradigm for ἀρχοντ (ruler)
Singular Plural
Nom. (ἀρχοντς ->) ἄρχων ἄρχοντες
Gen. ἄρχοντος ἀρχόντων
Dat. ἄρχοντι (ἀρχοντσι ->) ἄρχουσι
Acc. ἄρχοντα ἄρχοντας
How nouns are listed in a greek lexicon
Since the nominative singular displays variations in response to the sigma, nouns are listed in three parts:
The nominative singular: so you always see exactly how this form appears.
The genitive singular: so you can see the stem (everything before the ending -ος)
The gender: the word ὁ indicates that these nouns are masculine.
• ἄρχων, ἄρχοντος ὁ ruler
• δαίμων, δαίμονος ὁ divinity
• παῖς, παιδός ὁ child
Specify the correct cases: 1 gives 2 of 4 to 3
A noun in the nominative case functions where 1 is.
A noun in the genitive case functions where 4 is.
A noun in the dative case functions where 3 is.
A noun in the accusative case functions where 2 is.
Paridigm for the male definite article
Singular Plural • Nom. ὁ οἱ • Gen. τοῦ τῶν • Dat. τῷ τοῖς • Acc. Τόν τούς
ἀγών -ῶνος ὁ
contest
δαίμων -ονος ὁ
divinity
ἡγεμών -όνος ὁ
guide, commander
παῖς, παιδός ὁ
child
πούς, ποδός ὁ
foot
αἰών -ῶνος ὁ
age, eternity
ἄρχων -οντος ὁ
ruler
ἄρχω means be first, whether of time (begin, make a beginning) or of place or station (govern, rule). The word ἄρχων, the present participle of ἄρχω, is used in the masculine as a noun to mean ruler, commander, archon, and is the title of the top administrative magistrates in ancient Athens and many other city-states.
Feminine noun endings are ….
The same as masculine.
Paradigm for ἐλπιδ, ἡ = “hope”
Singular Plural
- Nom. (ἐλπιδς ->) ἐλπίς ἐλπίδες
- Gen. ἐλπίδος ἐλπίδων
- Dat. ἐλπίδι (ἐλπιδσι ->) ἐλπίσι
- Acc. ἐλπίδα ἐλπίδας
Paradigm for νυκτ, ἡ = “night”
Singular Plural
- Nom. (νυκτς ->) νύξ νύκτες
- Gen. νυκτός νυκτῶν
- Dat. νυκτί (νυκτσι ->) νυξί
- Acc. νύκτα νύκτας
δαίμων
δαίμων -ονος ὁ, ἡ divinity
Paradigm for the feminine definite article
Singular Plural
- Nom. ἡ αἱ
- Gen. τῆς τῶν
- Dat. τῇ ταῖς
- Acc. τήν τάς
ἐλπίς
ἐλπίς -δος ἡ hope
μυριάς
•μυριάς -άδος ἡ ten thousand (= a countless amount)
νύξ
νύξ, νυκτός ἡ night
πατρίς
πατρίς -ίδος ἡ fatherland
The Neuter Laws
Τwo rules apply to all neuter words in Greek.
•(1) The nominative singular and the accusative singular must be identical.
•(2) The nominative plural and the accusative plural must both end in a short -α.
The nouns in this unit meet the requirements as follows:
•(1) The nominative singular and the accusative singular add no ending to the stem.
•(2) The nominative plural and the accusative plural add short –α to the stem.
Endings for neuter nouns (in this unit) - present, indicative, active
Singular Plural
- Nominative – α
- Genitive –ος ων
- Dative –ι σι
- Accusative – α
This is the third declension.
Paradigm for σῶμα (pres, active, indicative)
Singular Plural
- Nom. (σωματ ->) σῶμα σώματα
- Gen. σώματος σωμάτων
- Dat. σώματι σώμασι
- Acc. (σωματ ->) σῶμα σώματα
Recall that only a limited number of sounds may end a Greek word (vowel, -ν/-ρ/-ς), so the final –τ must drop off in the nominative singular and accusative singular, since now there is no additional ending.
σωματ = “body”
Paradigm for the neuter definite article
Singular Plural
- Nom. τό τά
- Gen. τοῦ τῶν
- Dat. τῷ τοῖς
- Acc. τό τά
Whenever a neuter noun is the subject of a sentence, the verb is …
- Neuter nouns derive from collective feminine nouns, and so originally they were always singular.
- This habit persists in ancient Greek in a strange way. Whenever a neuter noun is the subject of a sentence, the verb is 3rd person singular (even if the neuter subject is plural):
–τὸ σῶμα δείκνυσι…. “The body shows…”
–τὰ σώματα δείκνυσι….“The bodies show…”
αἷμα
αἷμα -ατος τό blood
γράμμα
γράμμα -ατος τό letter
ὄνομα
ὄνομα -ατος τό name
πνεῦμα
πνεῦμα -ατος τό wind, breath, spirit
πρᾶγμα
πρᾶγμα -ατος τό thing; (pl.) circumstances, affairs, business
στόμα
στόμα -ατος τό mouth
σχῆμα
σχῆμα -ατος τό form, appearance
σῶμα
σῶμα -ατος τό body
χρῆμα
χρῆμα -ατος τό thing, (pl.) money
θέλημα
θέλημα -ατος τό will, wish, desire
ῥῆμα
ῥῆμα -ατος τό word, saying
σπέρμα -ατος τό seed, offspring
σπέρμα -ατος τό seed, offspring
