Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey and in the Homeric Hymns.
It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of Ionic and Aeolic, with a few forms from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic.
It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter, by poets such as Hesiod and Theognis of Megara.
Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 3rd century BC, but it disappeared with the rise of Koine Greek.
Main features
In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed.
Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek.
Phonology
Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long  to : thus, Homeric  for Attic  "Troy", "hour", "gates (dat.)".
Exceptions include nouns like  "goddess", and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns:  "of goddesses, of the son of Atreus".
Nouns
; First declension
The nominative singular of most feminine nouns ends in , rather than long , even after , , and  (an Ionic feature):  for .
However,  and some names end in long .
Some masculine nouns have a nominative singular in short  rather than  (, ):  for Attic .
The genitive singular of masculine nouns ends in  or , rather than :  for Attic .Some suggest that -ᾱο may have originally been the more expected -ηο, with -ηο later being transcribed -ᾱο under the influence of other (literary) dialects, whilst others suggest that -ᾱο may have been an Aeolic form.
(See λᾱός and Ποσειδᾱ́ων for expected ληός and Ποσειδήων.)
The genitive plural usually ends in  or :  for Attic .
-ᾱων for expected -ηων would occur for the reasons given in Note 1.
The dative plural almost always end in  or :  for Attic .
; Second declension
Genitive singular: ends in , as well as .
For example, , as well as .
Genitive and dative dual: ends in .
Thus,  appears, rather than .
Dative plural: ends in (ν) and .
For example, , as well as .
; Third declension
Accusative singular: ends in , as well as .
For example, , as well as .
Dative plural: ends in  and .
For example,  or .
Homeric Greek lacks the quantitative metathesis present in later Greek (except in certain masculine α-stem genitive singulars):
Homeric  instead of ,  instead of
instead of
instead of
instead of
Homeric Greek sometimes uses different endings:
alternates with
A note on nouns:
After short vowels, the reflex of Proto-Greek *ts can alternate between  and  in Homeric Greek.
This can be of metrical use.
For example,  and  are equivalent;  and ;  and .
A relic of the Proto-Greek instrumental case, the ending (ν) ((ν)) can be used for the dative singular and plural of nouns and adjectives (occasionally for the genitive singular and plural, as well).
For example,  (...by force),  (...with tears), and  (...in the mountains).
Pronouns
First-person pronoun (singular "I", dual "we both", plural "we")
Second-person pronoun (singular "you", dual "you both", plural "you")
Third-person pronoun (singular "he, she, it", dual "they both", plural "they")
Third-person singular pronoun ("he, she, it") (the relative) or rarely singular article ("the"):
Third-person plural pronoun ("they") (the relative) or rarely plural article ("the"): nominative , dative .
Interrogative pronoun, singular and plural ("who, what, which")
Verbs
; Person endings
appears rather than .
For example,  for  in the third-person plural active.
The third plural middle/passive often ends in  or ; for example,  is equivalent to .
; Tenses
Future: Generally remains uncontracted.
For example,  appears instead of  or  instead of τελῶ.
Present or imperfect: These tenses sometimes take iterative form with the letters  penultimate with the ending.
For example, : 'they kept on running away'
Aorist or imperfect: Both tenses can occasionally drop their augments.
For example,  may appear instead of , and  may appear instead of .
Homeric Greek does not have a historical present tense, but rather uses injunctives.
Injunctives are replaced by the historical present in the post-Homeric writings of Thucydides and Herodotus.
; Subjunctive
The subjunctive appears with a short vowel.
Thus, the form , rather than .
The second singular middle subjunctive ending appears as both  and .
The third singular active subjunctive ends in (ν).
Thus, we see the form , instead of .
Occasionally, the subjunctive is used in place of the future and in general remarks.
; Infinitive
The infinitive appears with the endings , , and , in place of  and .
For example,  for ;  instead of ; , , or  for ; and  in place of .
; Contracted verbs
In contracted verbs, where Attic employs an , Homeric Greek will use  or  in place of .
For example, Attic  becomes .
Similarly, in places where  contracts to  or  contracts to , Homeric Greek will show either  or .
Adverbs
; Adverbial suffixes
conveys a sense of 'to where';  'to the war'
conveys a sense of 'how';  'with cries'
conveys a sense of 'from where';  'from above'
conveys a sense of 'where';  'on high'
Particles
'so' or 'next' (transition)
'and' (a general remark or a connective)
; Emphatics
'indeed'
'surely'
'just' or 'even'
'I tell you ...' (assertion)
Other features
In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article. , ,  and their inflected forms do occur, but they are in origin demonstrative pronouns.Goodwin, William W. (1879).
A Greek Grammar (pp 204).
St Martin's Press.
Vocabulary
Homer (in the Iliad and the Odyssey) uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are proper names.
Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena.The Iliad: A Commentary: Volume 5, Books 17-20, Geoffrey Stephen Kirk, Mark W. Edwards, Cambridge University Press, 1991,  p53, footnote 72Google preview Sample
The Iliad, lines 1–7
Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ’ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα· Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.
Robert Fitzgerald (1974):
Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
Begin it when the two men first contending broke with one another—                     the Lord Marshal Agamemnon, Atreus' son, and Prince Akhilleus.
See also
Ancient Greek dialects
Homeric texts
Notes
References
Bibliography
Pharr, Clyde.
Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners.
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, new edition, 1959.
Revised edition: John Wright, 1985.  .
First edition of 1920 in public domain.
Further reading
Bakker, Egbert J., ed. 2010.
A companion to the Ancient Greek language.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Christidis, Anastasios-Phoivos, ed. 2007.
A history of Ancient Greek: From the beginnings to Late Antiquity.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Colvin, Stephen C. 2007.
A historical Greek reader: Mycenaean to the koiné.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edwards, G. Patrick.
1971.
The language of Hesiod in its traditional context.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Hackstein, Olav.
2010.
"The Greek of epic."
In A companion to the Ancient Greek language.
Edited by Egbert J. Bakker, 401–23.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Horrocks, Geoffrey C. 1987.
"The Ionian epic tradition: Was there an Aeolic phase in its development?"
Minos 20–22: 269–94.
––––.
2010.
Greek: A history of the language and its speakers.
2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Janko, Richard.
1982.
Homer, Hesiod, and the Hymns: Diachronic development in epic diction.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
––––.
1992.
"The origins and evolution of the Epic diction."
In The Iliad: A commentary.
Vol. 4, Books 13–16.
Edited by Richard Janko, 8–19.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lord, Albert B. 1960.
The singer of tales.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nagy, Gregory.
1995.
"An evolutionary model for the making of Homeric poetry: Comparative perspectives."
In The ages of Homer.
Edited by Jane Burr Carter and Sarah Morris, 163–79.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Palmer, Leonard R. 1980.
The Greek language.
London: Faber & Faber.
Parry, Milman.
1971.
The making of Homeric verse: The collected papers of Milman Parry.
Edited by Adam Parry.
Oxford: Clarendon.
Reece, Steve.
2009.
Homer's Winged Words: the Evolution of Early Greek Epic Diction in the Light of Oral Theory.
Amsterdam: Brill.
West, Martin L. 1988.
"The rise of the Greek epic."
Journal of Hellenic Studies 108: 151–72.
