Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

Get access Subject: Language And Linguistics

General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis
Associate Editors: Vit Bubenik, Emilio Crespo, Chris Golston, Alexandra Lianeri, Silvia Luraghi, Stephanos Matthaios

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The Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics (EAGLL) is a unique work that brings together the latest research from across a range of disciplines which contribute to our knowledge of Ancient Greek. It is an indispensable research tool for scholars and students of Greek, of linguistics, and of other Indo-European languages, as well as of Biblical literature.

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Wackernagel’s Law I

(3,604 words)

Author(s): David Goldstein
Abstract Wackernagel’s Law is a generalization referring to the tendency of certain enclitics and postpositives to occur second within their clause or sentence. 1. Introduction Wackernagel (1892) observes that, across archaic Indo-European languages (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Gothic, etc.), enclitic and postpositive items tend to occur second in their clause or sentence (depending on the clitic), as in the following example from Herodotus ( = marks the host-clitic relationship; the relevant clitic is in bold): 1. eíretó=min ho Astuágēs asked-him the Astyages ‘Astyages asked hi…
Date: 2014-01-22

Wackernagel’s Law II (V’S)

(1,293 words)

Author(s): Chris Golston
Abstract Wackernagel’s Law II (also called the Law of Lengthening, among other names) refers to the lengthening of a short initial vowel in the second word of a compound, as in dus-āḗs ‘ill-blowing’ from aênai ‘to blow’. The second member of a compound in Greek often begins with a long vowel, where a short vowel would be expected based on the vowel of the root. The lengthening (Germ. Dehnung) of that vowel has come to be known as Wackernagel’s other law, Wackernagel II, the Law of Lengthening, or the Dehnungsgesetz, after Wackernagel (1889). Note that long ā, ē, ō in the second member of eac…
Date: 2014-01-27