Ancient Greek for Everyone:A New Digital Resource for Beginning Greek

Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun

2013 editionWilfred E. Majorwmajor@lsu.edu

Ancient Greek for Everyone

This class AGE Unit 3: Introduction to the Greek Noun• You have learned the basics of Greek verbs: what

actions they describe, how to form them, and how to translate them.

• Next we add words that will enrich these actions with much concrete information: NOUNS.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A NOUN indicates a person, place or thing. • An English noun by itself indicates what the person,

place or thing is (child, divinity, ruler…) • and whether it is singular or plural. • A Greek noun, however, normally communicates

THREE pieces of information: – Gender – Number – Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender

• All Greek nouns have gender. • The gender may simply reflect the gender of a person or animal. • In some cases, the form or spelling of a word dictates its

grammatical gender, regardless of its meaning (so ἀνδρεία, the Greek word for “manliness,” is grammatically feminine).

• In many cases, however, the gender was assigned to nouns so long ago that Greeks did not know or understand why a noun had a specific gender.

– Number – Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender • Greek distinguishes three grammatical genders: • Masculine • Feminine • Neuter (= the Latin word “neither,” meaning neither

masculine nor feminine) – Number – Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of information: – Gender • Greek distinguishes three grammatical genders: • Masculine, Feminine, Neuter • English mostly distinguishes these three genders only in

pronouns: he, she, it. • For Greek nouns, by contrast, the gender is as much a part

of the noun as its spelling and you must know a noun’s gender to comprehend Greek.

– Number – Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender– Number

• Like English nouns, Greek nouns indicate singular and plural: • singular: child, divinity, ruler • plural: children, divinities, rulers • English nouns most often indicate the plural by adding –s, but

some nouns use different suffixes and other changes to indicate the plural.

– Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender– Number– Case • Greek puts every noun into a particular case to

indicate its role in an action or place in an idea.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender– Number– Case Greek uses four cases: • Nominative • Genitive • Dative • Accusative

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative: The nominative case indicates that a

noun is the subject of a verb. – Genitive – Dative – Accusative

Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative– Genitive – Dative – Accusative: The accusative case indicates that a

noun is the first (primary, direct) object of a verb.

Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative– Genitive – Dative: The dative case indicates that a noun is

the second (indirect) object of a verb. – Accusative:

Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative– Genitive

– Dative: The dative case also indicates the means, tool or instrument used to accomplish an action. English most often uses “with” to indicate this use. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix.

– Accusative:Mary carries the child with her hands.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative– Genitive: The genitive case plays roughly the

same role as the preposition “of” in English. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix.

– Dative– Accusative:

Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.The cup is empty of water.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – Nominative– Genitive: While English can indicate possession either

with “of” or an ’s, Greek can indicate possession only with the Genitive case. All the highlighted words would be in the Genitive case in Greek, with no distinction among them.Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Mary gives the rulers Joseph’s child. Joseph’s cup is empty of water.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• Greek uses four cases: – Study the sentences below.– They are the same sentence as on the previous slides,

but with pronouns substituted for the nouns. – Why are the sentences still wrong? – English uses case forms for personal pronouns, but not

for nouns. Greek uses case forms for nearly all nouns.

Her gives they its.Mary gives the rulers the child of he.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Greek uses four cases: – See how changing the case form of the pronouns makes

the sentence correct: She gives them it (it to them).

Mary gives the rulers his child (of him, of his).

• English uses case forms for personal pronouns, but not for nouns. Greek uses case forms for nearly all nouns.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender– Number– Case

PARSING: To “parse” a Greek noun means to identify the above three qualities about a specific noun form.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• PARSING: To “parse” a Greek noun means to identify the three qualities about a specific noun form.

• For example, a specific noun form could be – Masculine – Singular – Nominative

• Once you know these three items and the noun’s meaning, you have identified the noun completely and understand what it means.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

AGE Unit 3: Introduction to the Greek Noun• Now you have learned the what information a Greek

noun conveys. • Next we learn how a Greek noun conveys this

information. • You have seen how English nouns change to indicate

number and how English pronouns change to fit their role in a sentence.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• To begin building a Greek noun, start with the “stem.” • The stem tells you to what person, place or thing the noun

refers:

παιδ = “child” δαιμον = “divinity” ἀρχοντ = “ruler”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• All the nouns in this part are masculine in gender. • As with verbs, Greek adds suffixes to the stems to indicate

further information. • Since Greek has two numbers (singular, plural) and four

cases (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative), Greek nouns need eight different endings to cover all the possibilities.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nominative –ς • Genitive –ος • Dative –ι • Accusative –α

Plural

• Nominative –ες • Genitive –ων • Dative –σι • Accusative –ας

Building a Greek NounThird Declension Endings

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• All the nouns in this part are masculine in gender. • We begin with nouns whose stem ends in a dental (-τ/-δ/-θ/-ν).• Recall that when a sigma follows a dental, the dental disappears

and the sigma remains: δ + σ = σ. • Notice that two of the noun endings involve adding a sigma to

the stem: nom. sing. = -ς, dat. plu. = -σι.

παιδ = “child”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. (παιδς ) παῖς • Gen. παιδός • Dat. παιδί • Acc. παῖδα

Plural

• Nom. παῖδες • Gen. παίδων • Dat. (παιδσι ) παισί

• Acc. παῖδας

Building a Greek Noundeclension of παῖς, παιδός ὁ child

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Spell it Like It Sounds!• Remember: A word ending in -σι can add a final -ν

(“nu-movable”) to make pronunciation easier: – For example, εἴκοσι εἶσι εἴκοσιν εἶσιν. – This added -ν has no meaning; it simply helps

pronunciation. – For the noun παῖς, this means the dative plural

form παισί can appear as παισίν. It does not affect the parsing, meaning or translation.

Ancient Greek for EveryoneDECLINING: The process of writing or saying all the forms of a noun is called “declining” them (ancient scholars metaphorically described noun forms as “declining” down from their nominative singular form). • A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of

information: – Gender– Number– Case

PARSING: To “parse” a Greek noun means to identify the above three qualities about a specific noun form.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• PARSING: to “parse” a Greek noun means to identify the

above three qualities about a specific noun form. • For example, παῖς is– Masculine – Singular – Nominative

• The above information, plus the stem meaning, tells you that “child” is the subject of the sentence.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• All the nouns in this part are masculine in gender. • We begin with nouns whose stem ends in a dental (-τ/-δ/-θ/-ν).• Notice that two of the noun endings involve adding a sigma to

the stem: Nom. sing. = -ς, Dat. plu. = -σι. • Recall that when a sigma follows a dental, the dental disappears

and the sigma remains: ν + σ = σ. • But remember the unpopularity of sigma and the process of

“compensatory lengthening,” where a Greek word drops a sigma and lengthens a vowel to make up for the loss.

δαιμον = “divinity”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. (δαιμονς ) δαίμων

• Gen. δαίμονος

• Dat. δαίμονι • Acc. δαίμονα

Plural

• Nom. δαίμονες • Gen. δαιμόνων

• Dat. (δαιμονσι )

δαίμοσι • Acc. δαίμονας

Building a Greek Noundeclension of δαίμων -ονος ὁ divinity

Ancient Greek for EveryoneBuilding a Greek Noun• All the nouns in this part are masculine in gender. • We begin with nouns whose stem ends in a dental (-τ/-δ/-θ/-ν).• Notice that two of the noun endings involve adding a sigma to the

stem: Nom. sing. = -ς, Dat. plu. = -σι. • Recall that when a sigma follows a dental, the dental disappears

and the sigma remains: τ + σ = σ. • But remember the unpopularity of sigma and the process of

“compensatory lengthening,” where a Greek word drops a sigma and lengthens a vowel to make up for the loss.

ἀρχοντ = “ruler”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. (ἀρχοντς ) ἄρχων

• Gen. ἄρχοντος

• Dat. ἄρχοντι • Acc. ἄρχοντα

Plural

• Nom. ἄρχοντες

• Gen. ἀρχόντων

• Dat. (ἀρχοντσι ) ἄρχουσι

• Acc. ἄρχοντας

Building a Greek Noundeclension of ἄρχων -οντος ὁ ruler

Ancient Greek for Everyone• VOCABULARY: Since the nominative singular displays

variations in response to the sigma, nouns are listed in three parts: – The nominative singular: so you always see exactly

how this form appears. – The genitive singular: so you can see the stem

(everything before the ending -ος) – The gender: the word ὁ indicates that these nouns are

masculine.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Examples of Vocabulary entries • ἄρχων, ἄρχοντος ὁ ruler • δαίμων, δαίμονος ὁ divinity • παῖς, παιδός ὁ child

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Next – practice with ἄρχων, δαίμων, παῖς

• Be able to pronounce and parse a random form • Be able to link the case of the form to its function in a sentence.

So for example, in the sentence: 1 gives 2 of 4 to 3.

A noun in the nominative case functions where 1 is. A noun in the genitive case functions where 4 is. A noun in the dative case functions where 3 is. A noun in the accusative case functions where 2 is.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• Why does the word ὁ indicate the noun is masculine in gender? • This is the word “the” in Greek. • More specifically, it is the “definite article.”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• The definite article is far and away the most common word in

Greek (making up about 10% of Greek texts all by itself), so it is essential to understanding Greek.

• Like nouns, the definite article in Greek has gender, number and case. Also like nouns, then, it needs eight forms to cover the two numbers (singular and plural) and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative).

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. ὁ • Gen. τοῦ• Dat. τῷ• Acc. τόν

Plural

• Nom. οἱ• Gen. τῶν • Dat. τοῖς • Acc. τούς

Building a Greek NounThe masculine definite article

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• Like nouns, the definite article in Greek has

gender, number and case. • The noun and the definite article must parse the

same: they must be the same in gender, number and case.

• Most often, Greek includes the definite article, even when English does not (e.g., with proper names). Unless there is some reason to omit it, expect that the definite article will be present.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. ὁ παῖς • Gen. τοῦ παιδός • Dat. τῷ παιδί • Acc. τὸν παῖδα

Plural

• Nom. οἱ παῖδες • Gen. τῶν παίδων • Dat. τοῖς παισί • Acc. τοὺς παῖδας

Building a Greek NounDeclension + article of παῖς, παιδός ὁ child

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. ὁ δαίμων• Gen. τοῦ δαίμονος

• Dat. τῷ δαίμονι • Acc. τὸν δαίμονα

Plural

• Nom. οἱ δαίμονες • Gen. τῶν

δαιμόνων • Dat. τοῖς δαίμοσι • Acc. τοὺς δαίμονας

Building a Greek Noundeclension + article of δαίμων -ονος ὁ divinity

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. ὁ ἄρχων• Gen. τοῦ

ἄρχοντος • Dat. τῷ ἄρχοντι • Acc. τὸν ἄρχοντα

Plural

• Nom. οἱ ἄρχοντες • Gen. τῶν

ἀρχόντων • Dat. τοῖς ἄρχουσι • Acc. τοὺς

ἄρχοντας

Building a Greek Noundeclension + article of ἄρχων -οντος ὁ ruler

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Next– practice with ἄρχων, δαίμων, παῖς• Be able to pronounce and parse a random form. • Be able to link the noun form with the appropriate form

of the definite article and vice versa. • Be able to link the case of the form to its function in a

sentence.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 1 Vocabulary: DCC Classical• ἀγών -ῶνος ὁ contest• δαίμων -ονος ὁ divinity • ἡγεμών -όνος ὁ guide, commander• παῖς, παιδός ὁ child • πούς, ποδός ὁ foot

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 1 Vocabulary: NT (New Testament) • αἰών -ῶνος ὁ age, eternity • ἄρχων -οντος ὁ ruler

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 1 Vocabulary: Core• ἄρχων -οντος ὁ ruler

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• Next– Feminine nouns.