Ionic Greek
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| Western group: Doric Northwest Greek | Central group: Aeolic Arcado-Cypriot | Eastern group: Attic Ionic |
| Achaean | ||
Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek (see Greek dialects).
Ionic (or Ionian) dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.
By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century B.C, the central west coast of Asia Minor, along with the islands of Chios and Samos, formed the heartland of Ionia proper. The Ionic dialect was also spoken on islands across the central Aegean and on the large island of Euboea north of Athens. The dialect was soon spread by Ionian colonization to areas in the northern Aegean, the Black Sea, and the western Mediterranean.
Ionic dialect is generally divided into four major time periods, Old Ionic (or Old Ionian) and New Ionic (or New Ionian). The exact transition between the two is not clearly defined, but 600 B.C. is a good approximation.
The Homeric works (the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Homeric Hymns), and the works of Hesiod, were written in a literary dialect called Homeric Greek or Epic Greek, which consists largely of Old Ionic, with some borrowings from the neighboring Aeolic dialect to the north. The poet Archilochus wrote in late Old Ionic.
The most famous New Ionic authors are Anacreon, Theognis, Herodotus, Hippocrates and in Roman times Aretaeus, Arrian, and Lucian.
The main differences between the Ionic dialect (Old and New) and Classical Attic were the following:
- In Ionic, the shift from long alpha to eta occurs in almost all words, whereas in Attic it does not occur after eta, iota, or rho. Example: Attic νεανίας (ne-a-ní-as) versus Ionic νεηνίης (ne-ē-ní-ēs), a "young person". Often the simple vowel ε or o of Attic dialect appears in Ionic as a diphthong (κούρη, koúrē, "old lady, girl", for κόρη, kórē; πείρας, peíras "end, border" for πέρας, péras)
- In many cases Ionic turned Proto-Greek labiovelar sound /kw/ into /k/ rather than /p/ before back vowels. Example: Attic ὅπως (hópōs) versus Ionic ὄκως (ókōs), "in whatever way, in which way". It is worth mentioning that similar divergent outcomes for /kw/ occurred also in Celtic and Italic branches of the Indo-European language family, for example between Latin and Oscan, as well as between P-Celtic (Welsh) and Q-Celtic (Irish) — e.g. Welsh pump, Breton pemp, Cornish pymp vs. Gaelic cóig or cùig, Irish cúig, Manx queig (note the treatment of the same consonant in English with this word meaning "five ").
- Ionic contracted adjoining vowels much less frequently than Attic. Example: Ionic γένεα (gén-e-a) versus Attic γένη (gén-ē), "family, stock".
- Ionic "ss" appears as "tt" in later Classical Attic. Example: Ionic τέσσαρες (téssares) versus Attic τέτταρες (téttares), "four".
- Ionic had a very analytical word-order, perhaps the most analytical one within ancient Greek dialects. Moreover the Ionic morphology of noun and verb doesn't have dual-forms.
- In some words, Attic initial aspiration was lacking in Old Ionic (the so called "psilosis"), and in New Ionic initial aspiration was probably lost entirely. Example: Attic ἵππος (híppos) versus Ionic ἴκκος (íkkos), "horse".
[edit] Glossary
- ἄβδης ábdês scourge ( Hipponax .98)
- ἄεθλον áethlon (Attic ἆθλον athlon prize)
- ἀειναῦται aeinaûtai archontes in Miletus and Chalcis (aeí always + naûtai sailors)
- ἀλγείη algeíē illness (Cf.Attic ἀλγηδών algēdṓn pain) Algophobia
- ἄμπωτις ámpōtis ebb,being sucked back, i.e. of sea (Attic anápōtis, verb anapínō) (Koine,Modern Greek ampotis)
- ἄνου anou (Attic ἄνω ánō, up)
- Απατούρια Apatoúria Pan-ionic festival ( see also Panionium )
- ἀππαλλάζειν appallázein (Attic ἐκκλησιάζειν ekklesiázein gather together,decide) (Doric apellazein)
- ἀχάντιον achántion (Attic ἀκάνθιον akánthion small thorn acanthus)
- βάθρακοι báthrakoi (Attic βάτραχοι bátrachoi, frogs) in Pontus babakoi
- βροῦκος broûkos species of locust (Attic akrís) (Cypriots call the green locust βρούκα broúka)
- βυσσός byssós (Attic βυθός bythós depth,bottom,chaos)
- γάννος gánnos Ephesian (Attic huaina (glanos Aristotle.HA594a31.) (Phrygian and Tsakonian ganos
- εἴδη eídē (Attic ὕλη hýle forest) (Aeolic Greek eide also) (Greek Eidos)
- ἐνθαῦτα enthaûta here (entoutha also) (Attic ἐνταῦθα entaûtha) (Elean ἐνταῦτα entaûta)
- ἐργύλος ergýlos (Attic ἐργάτηςergátēs worker)
- ἑστιᾶχος hestiâchos ionic epithet for Zeus ,related to Hestia (oikourós, housekeeper, οἰκῶναξ oikônax)
- ἠγός ēgós (Attic εὐδαίμων eudaímon happy) (Hesychius s.v. εὐηγεσίη) (τ 114)
- ἠέλιος êélios (Attic hḗlios sun) (Cretan abelios)
- Ἰαστί Iastí, "the ionic way" ( Ἰάονες, Iáones, Ionians; Ἰάς, Iás, old name of Attica, Strabo IX, 1.5 )
- ἴδη ídē forested mountain (Attic δρυμῶν ὄρος drymôn óros) (Herodotus 4,109,2) (Mount Ida)
- ἰητρός iētrós,iētēr (Attic iatrós,iatēr doctor)
- ἴκκος íkkos (Attic ἵππος híppos ,horse) (Mycenaean i-qo )
- κάρη kárē head (Common kara) (Poetic kras)
- κιθών kithṓn (Attic χιτών chitṓn)
- κοεῖν koeîn (Attic νοεῖν noeîn to think) noesis
- κοῖος koîos (Attic ποῖος poîos who?)
- κύθρη kýthrē (Attic χύτρα chýtra cooking pot)
- μύτταξ mýttax (Attic πώγων pṓgōn beard)
- Ξουθίδαι Xouthidai Ionians from Xuthus
- ὀδμή odmḗ (Attic ὀσμή osmḗ scent, smell)
- πηλός pēlós thick wine, lees (Attic πηλός pelós mud, silt) (proverbial phrase mê dein ton Oinea Pêlea poiein , don't make wine into lees, Ath.9.383c, cf. Demetr.Eloc.171)
- ῥηχίη rhêchíê flood-tide , loanword to Attic as ῥαχία rhachía (Homeric,Koine,Modern Greek πλημμυρίς plêmmurís -ída)
- σαβακός sabakís (Attic σαθρός sathrís decayed) Chian
- σάρμοι sármoi lupins (Attic θέρμοιthermoi} Carystian
- σκορπίζω skorpízô scatter, disperse (probably from skorpios scorpion and an obsolete verb skerpô ,penetrate)
- ταῦροι[2] taûuroi (Attic tauroi bulls) (Ephesian word, the youths who acted as cupbearers at the local festival of Poseidon)
- φοινικήια phoinikḗia grámmata Lydians and Ionians called so the letters
- χλοσσός chlossós (Attic ἰχθύς ichthús fish)
- ὦ οἰοῖ ô oioî exclamation of discontent ἐπιφώνημα σχετλιαστικὸν παρ' Ἴωσι
[edit] References
- Hesychius of Alexandria
- A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity- A.Panayotou Ionic and Attic
- A Grammar of the Greek Language by Benjamin Franklin Fisk Ionic Dialect
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