Things are not always as simple as we would
like them to be. There is a lot of evidence that the biphonemic value of zeta
was real enough.
(1) For the purpose of scansion zeta
behaved like the clusters represented as psi /ps/ or ksi /ks/, making a
preceding short-vowelled syllable heavy "by position".
(2) There was no compensatory
lengthening in the sequence -Vn- denasalised before <z> in Attic, e.g.
plazo: < *planzo: < *plangjo:, which suggests that the first syllable was
closed: [plaz.do:].
(3) The variant spelling <sd>
(<sdeus>, <sdugo->, <eikasdo:> etc.) or <sz> (i.e. sigma
+ zeta) was common in dialectal orthographies and in inscriptions. Alexandrian
grammarians used <-sd-> regularly in present-tense verb
forms (<elpisdo:> etc.).
(4) Dialectal developments of intervocalic
zeta produced something spelt <-dd-> (or -tt-), e.g. <trapedda> for
<trapeza>. As a result, verbs like <ko:mazo:> have alternative
spellings like <ko:masdo:> and <ko:maddo:>.
(5) In many cases zeta reflects
etymological *sd, e.g. hizo: < *si-sd-o:, ozos < *osdo-s.
Historical scenario:
Zeta reflects inherited *sd [*zd] fell
together with the clusters *dj (also < *j-), *gj and *gWj-. Some kind of
palatal fricative probably developed in the latter sequences at first. It was
then dispalatalised, becoming a coronal fricative, and the whole sequence
underwent assimilatory "smoothing" (cf. *tj/*tHj/*kj/*kHj > *tç > *tþ >
tt ~ ss and *pj > *pç > *pþ > *pt). I would suggest that *dj/*gj/*gWj
developed into something like *dð > *ðð, merging with *zd > *zð ~ ðð.
The actual phonetic value of zeta may have varied dialectally between [zð] and
[ðð], interpreted as biphonemic /sd/ and /dd/, respectively, hence the variant
spellings. Note that Greek voiced stops tended to be lenited into continuants
already in late Classical Greek: b, d, g > v, , G/j. The shift was concealed
by the conservative Classical spelling, but there is local graphemic evidence
for d > ð as early as the 6th/5th c. BC.
In Byzantine Greek [zð] changed into
(intervocalic) [-zz-] or (initial) [z-]. The intervocalic geminate was
eventually simplified, giving us the modern state of affairs.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 7:15 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Scythians, Zoroastrians, etc.
> Was it [zd] or [dz]?
I've been wondering about this
also. My Greek Grammar gives [zd] as the value of zeta, but much of what I
read in I.E. studies seems to imply that it was an affricate and a single
phoneme.
David