Abstract
The language of Archaic and Classical Greek elegy is closely related to that of epic poetry, such as Homer. Its surface is primarily (East) Ionic, but the underlying structure is the Panhellenic poetic language. The diction of elegy avoids both the archaic excesses of Homer and the parochial features of Ionic.
1. Introduction
In the Classical Age, the Greek language had no single common standard (like the Hellenistic Koine (Koine, Features of; Koine, Origins of)). The Greek-speaking world was still …