Quantitative Metathesis - Greek

Greek

In the Attic and Ionic dialects of Greek, ēo and ēa often exchange length, becoming and .

This quantitative metathesis is more accurately described as one form of long-vowel shortening. Usually if quantitative metathesis affects a word, other kinds of shortening do as well, in the forms where quantitative metathesis cannot occur:

  • ēwo (quantitative metathesis)
  • ēwsews (shortening of long diphthong before consonant)
  • ēiei (analogical shortening)

In general, the vowels affected by this shortening were separated by the Proto-Indo-European semivocalic versions of u or i, usually deleted in later Greek: w (written ϝ or υ̯ ) or y (written ι̯ ).

Read more about this topic:  Quantitative Metathesis

Famous quotes containing the word greek:

    In all the good Greek of Plato
    I lack my roastbeef and potato.

    A better man was Aristotle,
    Pulling steady on the bottle.
    John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded.
    Simone Weil (1909–1943)

    It is an elegant refinement that God learned Greek when he wanted to become a writer—and that he did not learn it better.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)