: Katharina Wesselmann
: Homer's Iliad
: Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
: 9783110687958
: 1
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: English
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Since Ameis-Hentze-Cauer (1868-1913) no comprehensive, scholarly commentary of Homer's Iliad has been published in German. In the meantime considerable progress has been made in many traditional areas of Homeric studies (language, realia, structure etc.). In addition, generally acknowledged new fields such as narratology have been systematically studied. Furthermore, the knowledge of the Mycenaean language (Linear B) and oral poetry provide completely new possibilities of textual constitution and analysis. Using the old Ameis-Hentze-Cauer as a starting point, the new commentary reflects the current scholarship on Homer in a comprehensive way. As a new standard work, the 'Basel Commentary' of the Iliad has received considerable recognition among scholars worldwide. The fresh concept in terms of content and form serves the needs of different groups of users. The commentary primarily aims at students and academic teachers (at schools and universities), not only of Classics but also of cultural and literary studies as well as of humanities in general.

Katharina Wesselmann, Universität zu Kiel.

24 Rules Relating to Homeric Language (R)


The following compilation of the characteristics of Homeric language emphasizes itsdeviations from Attic grammar. Linguistic notes are included only exceptionally (but can be found in the ‘Grammar of Homeric Greek’ [G] in theProlegomena volume; references to the relevant paragraphs of that chapter are here shown in the right margin).

R1Homeric language is anartificial language, characterized by:G
1.1meter (which can result in a variety of remodellings);3
1.2the technique oforal poetry (frequently repeated content is rendered in formulae, often with metrically different variants);3
1.3different dialects: Ionic is the basic dialect; interspersed are forms from other dialects, particularly Aeolic (so-called Aeolicisms) that often provide variants according to 1.1 and 1.2.2
Phonology, meter, prosody
R2 Sound change ofᾱ>η: In the Ionic dialect, old ᾱ has changed to η; innon-Attic Ionic (i.e. also in Homer), this occurs also after ε, ι, ρ (1.30: πάτρης).5–8
When ᾱ is nonetheless found in Homer, it is generally:
2.1‘late’, i.e. it developedafter the Ionic-Attic sound change (1.3: ψυχάς);
2.2or adopted from the Aeolic poetic tradition (1.1: θεά).
R3Vowel shortening: Long vowels (esp. η) before another vowel (esp. ο/ω/α) in medial position are frequently shortened, although not consistently (e.g. gen. pl. βασιλήων rather than the metrically impossible four-syllable -έων; the related phenomenon ofquantitative metathesis [lengthening of a short second vowel] does oftennot occur [e.g. gen. sing. βασιλῆος rather than -έως]).39 f.
R4Digamma(ϝ): The Ionic dialect of Homer no longer used the phoneme /w/ (like Engl.will). The phoneme is, however,
4.1attested in Mycenaean, as well as in some dialects still in the alphabetic period (Mycenaeanko-wa /korwā/, Corinthian ϙόρϝα);19
4.2in part deducible etymologically (e.g. Homeric κούρη – with compensatory lengthening after the disappearance of the digamma – in contrast to Attic κόρη).27
In addition, digamma can often be deduced in Homer on the basis of the meter; thus in the case of:
4.3hiatus (see R 5) without elision (1.7: Ἀτρεΐδης τε (ϝ)άναξ);22
4.4hiatus without shortening of a long vowel at word end (1.321: τώ (ϝ)οι, cf. R 5.5);21
4.5a single consonant ‘making position’ (1.70: ὃς (ϝ)είδη).24
4.6Occasionally, digamma is no longer taken into account (1.21: υἱὸν ἑκηβόλον, originally ϝεκ-).26
R5Hiatus: The clash of a vocalic word end with a vocalic word beginning (hiatus ‘gaping’) is avoided through:
5.1elision: short vowels and -αι in endings of the middle voice are elided (1.14: στέμματ’ ἔχων; 1.117: βούλομ’ ἐγώ; 5.33: μάρνασθ’ ὁπποτέροισι), occasionally also -οι in μοι/σοι (1.170); hiatus that results from elision is left unchanged (1.2: ἄλγε’ ἔθηκεν);30/37
5.2ny ephelkystikon (movableny): only after a short vowel (ε and ι), esp. dat. pl. -σι(ν); 3rd sing. impf./aor./perf. -ε(ν); 3rd sing. and pl. -σι(ν); the modal particle κε(ν); the suffix -φι(ν), cf. R 11.4; the suffix -θε(ν), cf. R 15.1.ny ephelkystikon also provides metrically convenient variants;33
5.3contraction across word boundaries (noted ascrasis: τἄλλα, χἡμεῖς).31
– Hiatus is admissible predominantly in the case of:
5.4loss of digamma (cf. R 4.3);34
5.5so-called correption: a long vowel/diphthong at word end is shortened (1.17: Ἀτρεΐδαι τε καὶ ἄλλοι ἐϋκνήμιδες; 1.15 [with synizesis: R 7]: χρυσέ͜ῳ ἀνὰ σκήπτρῳ);35
5.6metrical caesura or more generally a semantic break;36
5.7after words ending in -ι and ‘small words’ such as πρό and ὅ.37
R6Vocalic contraction (e.g. following the loss of intervocalic /w/ [digamma], /s/ or /j/) is frequently not carried out in Homeric Greek (1.74: κέλεαι [2nd sing. mid., instead of Attic -ῃ]; 1.103: μένεος [gen. sing., instead of -ους]).43–45
R7Synizesis: Occasionally, two vowels are to be read as a single syllable, especially in the case of quantitative metathesis (1.1: Πηληϊάδε͜ω: R 3) but also in the gen. pl. -έ͜ων (synizesis is indicated by a sublinear curved line connecting the affected vowels, 1.18: θε͜οί.).46
R8Diectasis: Contracted forms (e.g. ὁρῶντες) may be ‘stretched’ (ὁρόωντες); the metrically necessary prosodic shape of older uncontracted forms (*ὁράοντες, ⏖–⏑) is thus artificially reconstructed. Similarly, the aor. inf. -εῖν is written -έειν (rather than the older *-έεν).48
R9Change in consonant quantity creates metrically convenient variants (which usually derive originally from different dialects: R 1.3):
9.1τόσ(σ)ος, ποσ(σ)ί, Ὀδυσ(σ)εύς, ἔσ(σ)εσθαι, τελέσ(σ)αι; Ἀχιλ(λ)εύς; ὅπ(π)ως, etc.17
9.2Variation at word beginning creates similar flexibility in π(τ)όλεμος, π(τ)όλις.18
R10Adaptationto the meter: Three (or more) short syllables in a row, or a single short between two longs (both metrically impossible), are avoided by:49 f.
10.1metrical lengthening (ᾱ᾿θάνατος, δῑογενής,οὔρεα rather than ὄρεα; μένεα πνείοντες rather than πνέ-);
10.2changes in word formation (πολεμήϊος...