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ephelcystic nu

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English

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek νῦ ἐφελκυστικόν (nû ephelkustikón, literally attractive nu; dragged-in nu; affixed nu), from the letter νῦ () + ἐφελκῠστῐκός (ephelkustikós, attracted to; drawn towards) from ἐφέλκυσις (ephélkusis, attraction, pull; affixation). Shortened from earlier ἐφελκυστικόν τοῦ νῦ (ephelkustikón toû nû, literally pulling in nu; attracting nu), transferring the epithet to the letter nu itself.

Noun

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ephelcystic nu (plural ephelcystic nus)

  1. (grammar, linguistics, phonology) Euphonic nu /ν/ (n). Consonant /ν/ affixed to vowel endings of some Ancient Greek grammatical forms to produce euphony: in prevocalic position, to avoid sounding two vowels in a row (hiatus), and prevent elision or fusion of vowels contracting into one sound (crasis). In preconsonantal coda position, /ν/ may be added to create a long syllable in poetic meter. Nu is also usually written before a pause at the end of a clause in prose or the end of a verse in poetry.
  2. (grammar, linguistic morphology) Paragogic nu /ν/ (n), understood as an allomorph of certain Greek morphemic forms otherwise terminating in vowels /ε/ (e) or /ι/ (i), viz. third person verb and third declension dative plural noun forms, phonemically represented as -ε(ν) (-e(n)) and -ῐ(ν) (-i(n)). An early AtticIonic innovation, nu paragoge spread through the Hellenic world; inclusion or omission of /ν/ in ancient inscriptions is so variable and unpredictable as to suggest morphemes with and without /ν/ occurred in free variation, not bound to the prescriptive rules of phonetic harmony codified by later Byzantine grammarians.

Synonyms

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