Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek refers to the stage in the history of the Greek language corresponding to Classical Antiquity, which normally applies on two ancient periods of Greek history: Archaic and Classic Greece. The Ancient era of Greek history normally includes also the Hellenistic (post-Classic) age, however that period formally composes its own stage in the Greek Language known as Hellenistic Greek. For information on the Greek language prior to the creation of the Greek alphabet, see articles Mycenaean Greek and Proto-Greek.

Sound changes

These sound changes since Proto-Greek affect most or all Ancient Greek dialects:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Syllabic /r/, /l/ become /ro/ and /lo/ in Mycenean Greek and Aeolic Greek; otherwise /ra/ and /la/, but /ar/ and /al/ before resonants and analogously.
• Loss of /h/ from original /s/ (except initially) and of /j/.
• Loss of /w/ in many dialects (later than loss of /h/ and /j/).
• Loss of labiovelars, which were converted (mostly) into labials, sometimes into dentals or velars.
• Contraction of adjacent vowels resulting from loss of /h/ and /j/ (and, to a lesser extent, from loss of /w/); more in Attic Greek than elsewhere.
• Rise of a distinctive circumflex accent, resulting from contraction and certain other changes.
• Limitation of the accent to the last three syllables, with various further restrictions.
• Loss of /n/ before /s/ (incompletely in Cretan Greek), with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.

Note that /w/ and /j/, when following a vowel and not preceding a vowel, combined early on with the vowel to form a diphthong and were thus not lost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The loss of /h/ and /w/ after a consonant were often accompanied by compensatory lengthening of a preceding vowel. The loss of /j/ after a consonant was accompanied by a large number of complex changes, including diphthongization of a preceding vowel or palatalization or other change to a directly preceding consonant. Some examples:

Related Topics:
Compensatory lengthening - Palatalization

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• /pj/, /bj/, /phj/ -> /pt/
• /lj/ -> /ll/
• /tj/, /thj/, /kj/, /khj/ -> /s/ when following a consonant; otherwise /tt/ (Attic), /ss/ (Ionic)
• /gj/, /dj/ -> /zd/
• /mj/, /nj/, /rj/ -> /j/ is transposed before consonant and forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel
• /wj/, /sj/ -> /j/, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel

The results of vowel contraction were extremely complex and differed from dialect to dialect. Such contractions occur in the inflection of a number of different noun and verb classes and are among the most difficult aspects of Ancient Greek grammar. They were particularly important in the large class of contracted verbs, denominative verbs formed from nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel. (In fact, the reflex of contracted verbs in Modern Greek ? i.e. the set of verbs derived from Ancient Greek contracted verbs ? represents one of the two main classes of verbs in that language.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~