-φι
Appearance
See also: φι and Appendix:Variations of "fi"
Ancient Greek
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- -φῐν (-phin) — with movable nu, before a vowel
Etymology
[edit]From the Proto-Indo-European instrumental plural inflection *-bʰi(s), reanalyzed as a suffix. Cognate with Sanskrit भिस् (-bhis, “plural instrumental marker”), Old Armenian -ւ (-w).
Suffix
[edit]- Creates a transnumeral case-form used with several different meanings:
- instrumental
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.407–408:
- τοὺς δ’ αὖτ’ ἐξ ἄντρου προσέφη κρατερὸς Πολύφημος·
ὦ φίλοι, Οὖτίς με κτείνει δόλῳ οὐδὲ βίηφιν.- toùs d’ aût’ ex ántrou proséphē krateròs Polúphēmos;
ô phíloi, Oûtís me kteínei dólōi oudè bíēphin. - Mighty Polyphemus addressed [the other Cyclopes] back out of his cave:
"Friends, No One [i.e., Odysseus] is killing me by neither cunning nor force."
- toùs d’ aût’ ex ántrou proséphē krateròs Polúphēmos;
- τοὺς δ’ αὖτ’ ἐξ ἄντρου προσέφη κρατερὸς Πολύφημος·
- locative
- 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 9.237–239:
- αὐτὰρ ὅ γ’ εἰς εὐρὺ σπέος ἤλασε πίονα μῆλα,
πάντα μάλ’, ὅσσ’ ἤμελγε, τὰ δ’ ἄρσενα λεῖπε θύρηφιν,
ἀρνειούς τε τράγους τε, βαθείης ἔντοθεν αὐλῆς.- autàr hó g’ eis eurù spéos ḗlase píona mêla,
pánta mál’, hóss’ ḗmelge, tà d’ ársena leîpe thúrēphin,
arneioús te trágous te, batheíēs éntothen aulês. - And [Polyphemus] drove into the wide cave his fat sheep,
all of them that he would milk, but left the males at the door, the rams and billy-goats, inside the deep courtyard.
- autàr hó g’ eis eurù spéos ḗlase píona mêla,
- αὐτὰρ ὅ γ’ εἰς εὐρὺ σπέος ἤλασε πίονα μῆλα,
- ablative, often with the prepositions ἐκ (ek) and ἀπό (apó)
- (rare) genitive
- (rare) dative
- instrumental
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920) “Part II: Inflection”, in A Greek grammar for colleges, Cambridge: American Book Company, § 280
- William Bedell Stanford (1959) [1947]. "Introduction, Grammatical Introduction". Homer: Odyssey I-XII 1 (2nd ed.). Macmillan Education Ltd. p. lx.