Mark said
>This is an unfair characterization of my previous post (# 4357). I am being
quoted out of context.
I'm sorry - I didn't mean to misrepresent you.
>Homeric Greek is classified as Attic-Ionic. Do you challenge this?
Yes. It is Ionic (not "Attic-Ionic") with a heavy overlay of Aeolic.
Aeolic elements include:
1 p- from IE *kw-
2 amme, umme etc
3 datives in -essi
4 perf ptcples in -ontes
5 infinitives in -menai or -men
6 patronymics such as Telamonios
7 Apocope of prepostiions
8 3rd person plurals such as e:gerthen (short final e)
9 Athematic conjugation of contracted verbs (eg phore:menai)
The dialect is irreducibly mixed, and even the ancient authors describe it
that way. To say it belongs to just one dialect group is patently wrong.
To say it belongs to a dialect group ("Attic-Ionic") which possibly did not
even exist at the time when the poems were coming into existence is
anachronistic. Attic is a later, and highly idosyncratic, form of Ionic,
with extensive influence from non-Ionic dialects around Attica. In Homer
there is no trace whatever of Doric, but elements of this dialect are needed
to explain certain features of Attic (this is one argument against the
so-called "Doric invasion"). In Homer there are some specifically Attic
elements, but they are clearly later alterations or additions.
Peter