Accentuation, syllable-length, and formation of Greek words ending in -γος and -αγος; examples (λόγος, μόγος, ψόγος, κράγος, ζυγός), place names and ethnics (Μάγοι, Ζυγοί), Homeric usage of ζυγός.
ὂν ἀπὸ τοῦ 'μα' στερητικοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἔργον· ὁ γὰρ μάργος οὐδὲν ἀγαθὸν ἐργάζεται. Τὰ εἰς 'ογος' διβράχεα βαρύνεται, λόγος, μόγος, ψόγος. Τὰ διὰ τοῦ 'αγος' διβράχεα ἐπιθετικὰ καὶ μὴ ἐθνικὰ ὀξύνεται, φαγός, κραγός ὁ κραυγαστικός. τὸ δὲ κράγος ὁ κραυγασμὸς βαρύνεται καὶ τὸ Κράγος ὄρος Λυκίας. Ἀλέξανδρος δευτέρῳ Λυκιακῶν. ἀπὸ Κράγου τοῦ Τρεμίλητος υἱοῦ, μητρὸς δὲ Πραξιδίκης νύμφης. καὶ τὸ Μάγος ἐθνικόν. εἰσὶ δὲ Μάγοι ἔθνος περὶ Μηδίαν. * Τὰ εἰς 'γος' δισύλλαβα εἰ ἔχοι πρὸ τέλους δίχρονον συνεσταλμένον, κύρια ἢ προσηγορικὰ ὄντα βαρύνεται οἷον κράγος, πάγος, τράγος, χωρὶς εἰ μὴ μεταπλάσσοιτο εἰς γένος οὐδέτερον, ὡς ἔχει τὸ ζυγός εὑρημένον παρὰ τῷ ποιητῇ καὶ οὐδέτερον. τὸ δὲ ζυγός παρ´ Ὁμήρῳ οὐ σύνηθες ἐπὶ σταθμοῦ. ζυγὸν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος οἶδεν ἅρματος καὶ ἁμάξης καὶ ζυγόδεσμον ἱμάντα (Ω 270) τὸν ζυγὸν τῶν ζῴων ζευγνύντα. ὅθεν ὑψίζυγος οὐχ ὁ ἄνω σταθμίζων τὰ κατ´ ἀνθρώπους δύναται εἶναι. ἔστι δὲ ζυγός καὶ καθέδρα τῶν ἐρεσσόντων, ὅθεν ὑψίζυγος ὁ ὕψι καθέδραν ἔχων κατὰ τὸ «ἐπὶ ζυγοῖς καθέζετο ἀρχῆς» τὸ τοῦ τραγικοῦ καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς κυβερνητικῆς μετενήνεκται καταστάσεως. καὶ τὸ ζυγομαχεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν πλοίοις ζυγῶν δύναται εἶναι, ὅτε περὶ τὰς καθέδρας διαφέρονται ἐρέσσοντες οἱ ἐρέται. εἰσὶ καὶ Ζυγοί πόλις πρὸς τῷ τῆς Ἀσίας Βοσπόρῳ. Τὰ εἰς 'γος' δισύλλαβα φύσει μακρᾷ παραληγόμενα ὀξύνεται, εἰ μὴ κύρια εἴη, λοιγός, φηγός, πηγός. τὸ δὲ Λᾶγος κύριον. εἴρηται καὶ τρισυλλάβως «Λάαγος φίλος υἱὸς ἀρίζηλος Πτολεμαῖος». οὐ φύσει οὖν δισυλλαβεῖ, ἀλλ´ ἐκ τοῦ τρισυλλάβου γέγονεν.
Derived from the privative μα- and from ἔργον; for the μάργος accomplishes nothing good. The disyllables in -ογος with two short syllables are barytone: λόγος, μόγος, ψόγος. The disyllables through -αγος, adjectival and not ethnic, are oxytone: φαγός, κραγός ‘the clamorous’. But κράγος ‘the clamour’ is barytone, and also Κράγος, a mountain of Lycia. Alexander in the second book of the Lyciaca: “from Κράγος, son of Tremiles, and his mother the nymph Praxidice.” And Μάγος is an ethnic; for the Μάγοι are a people around Media.
The disyllables in -γος, if they have before the final syllable a long vowel contracted, being proper names or appellatives, are barytone, e.g. κράγος, πάγος, τράγος—unless they are transformed into the neuter gender, as with ζυγός, found in the poet and neuter. But ζυγός in Homer is not the usual word for a balance-beam; for he knows ζυγόν of a chariot and of a wagon, and ζυγόδεσμον ἱμάντα (Ω 270), the strap that yokes the yoke of the animals. Hence ὑψίζυγος cannot be “the one who from above weighs what pertains to men.” But ζυγός is also the seat of the rowers; hence ὑψίζυγος is “the one who has a seat on high,” according to the tragic poet’s line “he sat upon the thwarts of command”; and this too has been transferred from a nautical arrangement. And ζυγομαχεῖν can be from the thwarts in ships, when the rowers contend about the seats as they row. There are also Ζυγοί, a city by the Bosporus of Asia.
The disyllables in -γος with a naturally long penult are oxytone, unless they are proper names: λοιγός, φηγός, πηγός. But Λᾶγος is a proper name. It is also said trisyllabically: “Λάαγος, dear son, the very glorious Ptolemy.” It is therefore not disyllabic by nature, but has come from the trisyllable.