σφωέ
Ancient Greek
Etymology
PIE word |
---|
*swé |
A conflation of the consonantism of σφεῖς (spheîs, “they”) with the vocalism of νώ (nṓ, “we two”), suffixed with the dual ending -ε.[1]
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /spʰɔː.é/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /spʰoˈe/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /sɸoˈe/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /sfoˈe/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /sfoˈe/
Pronoun
σφωέ • (sphōé)
- Epic enclitic third person dual personal pronoun: they two, the two of them, both of them, these two
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.8:
- τίς τ’ ἄρ σφωε θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι;
- tís t’ ár sphōe theôn éridi xunéēke mákhesthai?
- So which one of the gods brought these two [Achilles and Agamemnon] together to fight in a quarrel?
- τίς τ’ ἄρ σφωε θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι;
Inflection
Irregular declension of σφωέ; σφωῐ̈ν (Epic)
Case / # | Dual | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | σφωέ sphōé | ||||||||||||
Genitive | σφωῐ̈ν sphōïn | ||||||||||||
Dative | σφωῐ̈ν sphōïn | ||||||||||||
Accusative | σφωέ sphōé | ||||||||||||
Vocative | σφωέ sphōé | ||||||||||||
Notes: |
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References
- Rix, Helmut (1976) Historische Grammatik des Griechischen: Laut- und Formenlehre (in German), Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, →ISBN, §193, page 180
Further reading
- “σφωέ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- σφωέ in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963