Accent rules and examples for words and place-names ending in -ρα and -ειρα; lists of examples (Ira, Aigeira, Argoura, Cynosoura, etc.) and related Homeric citations.
σπεῖρα, στεῖρα ἡ μὴ τίκτουσα καὶ τὸ μέρος τῆς νεώς, ζεῖρα εἶδος χιτῶνος, οἱ δὲ ζώνης. * Τὰ εἰς 'ρα' τῇ 'ει' διφθόγγῳ ἢ 'ι' μακρῷ παραληγόμενα δισύλλαβα ὀξύνεται, εἰρά ἢ ἰρά ἡ ἐκκλησία ὡσαύτως καὶ Ἰρά ὄρος Μεσσήνης. Ῥιανὸς ἐν Μεσσηνιακῶν πρώτῳ. ἔστι καὶ πόλις Μαλιέων καὶ Λέσβου. καὶ ἡ παρ´ Ὁμήρῳ »Καρδαμύλην τ´ Ἐνόπην τε καὶ Ἱρήν« (ι 150). εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ βαρύνουσιν εἰς ἰδιότητα ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ »Ῥίπην τε Στρατίην τε« (Il. Β 606), »Ὄρθην« (ibid. 739). ἡ δὲ αὐτὴ ἀναλογία ἐχώρει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰς 'ος'. καὶ πάλιν ὡς ἐπ´ ἐκείνων ἐλέγομέν τινα ὁμοτόνως μένειν, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων· καί ἐστιν ὁρίσασθαι τὰ μείναντα ὅτι ἐπαίνων ὀνόματά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἀντιστρέφοντος τοῦ κανόνος· οὐ γὰρ τὰ ἐπὶ ἐπαίνου μένει. καὶ τῶν μὲν τρεπόντων ἀρητή Ἀρήτη, τῶν δὲ μεινάντων Πινυτή »μήτηρ πινυτή« (Od. υ 131). Ἀγαυή. οὕτως καὶ Ἰρή. σειρά, δειρά, πειρά. Τὰ διὰ τοῦ 'ειρα' ὑπὲρ δύο συλλαβὰς προπαροξύνονται, ἀγρώτειρα, Δηϊάνειρα, Θυάτειρα, Σάπφειρα, ἔθειρα, Σάμψειρα πόλις Αἰγύπτου, Ταύχειρα πόλις Λιβύης ἀπὸ Ταυχείρας τῆς Ἀντάνδρου θυγατρός. θηλυκῶς καὶ οὐδετέρως ὡς Στάγειρα. Αἴγειρα πόλις Ἀχαΐας, ἣν Ὅμηρος Ὑπερησίην φησίν. τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τὸ νῦν, ὥς φησιν Παυσανίας ἑβδόμῳ (c. 2, 6), ἐγένετο ἐπ´ αἰτίᾳ τοιᾷδε. Σικυωνίων στρατὸς ἀφίξεσθαι ἔμελλεν αὐτοῖς· οἱ δὲ ἀθροίζουσιν αἶγας καὶ πρὸς τοῖς κέρασιν ἔδησαν δᾷδας καὶ ἐξάπτουσι διὰ τῆς νυκτός· νομίσαντες οὖν τὴν φλόγα τοῦ ἐπικουρικοῦ πυρὸς ἔφυγον, Ὑπερησιεῖς δὲ Αἴγειραν τὴν πόλιν ὠνόμασαν. ἔνιοι δὲ ἀπὸ Αἰγιαλέως τὴν χώραν Αἰγιαλόν φασι τό τε Αἴγιον καὶ ἔτι Αἴγειραν. Ἀγρόειρα ἢ Ἀλλόειρα ἡ ὕστερον Ἀττάλεια καλουμένη πόλις Λυδίας. Τὰ εἰς 'ρα' ὑπὲρ δύο συλλαβὰς βραχὺ ἔχοντα τὸ 'α' καὶ πρὸ τέλους ἔχοντα 'ου' προπαροξύνεται, ἄρουρα, Ἄργουρα πόλις Θεσσαλίας ἡ πρότερον Ἄργισσα. ἔστι καὶ τόπος τῆς Εὐβοίας Ἄργουρα, ὅπου δοκεῖ τὸν Πανόπτην Ἑρμῆς πεφονευκέναι. μέμνηται Δημοσθένης λέγων »ἐξ Ἀργούρας τῆς Εὐβοίας«. Κυνόσουρα ἐπὶ τῆς ἄρκτου οἳ τὴν μὲν κυνόσουραν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν (Arat. Phaen. 36). καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ Λακωνικῇ φυλακῇ καὶ ἄκρα Μαραθῶνος οὕτως καλεῖται. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄκρα Ἀρκαδίας. Κόλουρα· ἔστι δὲ πόλεως ὄνομα ὡς Ἑκαταίῳ »δοκέω δὲ μάλιστα παρὰ Κόλουραν, ἵνα Πριηνέες ἕζοντο«. Ἴουρα·
σπεῖρα, στεῖρα: the woman who does not bear, and also the part of a ship; ζεῖρα: a kind of tunic—some say, of a girdle.
Disyllables ending in -ρα, with the diphthong ει or long ι in the penult, are accented with an acute: εἰρά or ἰρά, “the church”; likewise Ἰρά, a mountain of Messenia. So Rhianus in the first book of the Messeniaca. There is also a city of the Malians and of Lesbos, and in Homer: “and Kardamyle and Enope and Ἱρή” (ι 150). But there are some who accent with a grave by way of peculiarity, as in “and Ῥίπην and Στρατίην” (Il. Β 606), “Ὄρθην” (ibid. 739).
The same analogy also held for words ending in -ος. And again, just as in those cases we said that certain forms remain with the same accent, so also in these; and it is possible to define those that have remained, that they are names of praise, the rule not being reversible—for not everything that is used in praise remains. Of those that change, ἀρητή becomes Ἀρήτη; of those that remain, Πινυτή: “a prudent mother” (Od. υ 131). Ἀγαυή. So too Ἰρή. σειρά, δειρά, πειρά.
Words in -ειρα of more than two syllables are accented with a proparoxytone: ἀγρώτειρα, Δηϊάνειρα, Θυάτειρα, Σάπφειρα, ἔθειρα, Σάμψειρα, a city of Egypt; Ταύχειρα, a city of Libya, from Ταύχειρα daughter of Antandrus. In the feminine and neuter likewise, as Στάγειρα.
Αἴγειρα, a city of Achaea, which Homer calls Ὑπερησίη. But its present name, as Pausanias says in the seventh book (c. 2, 6), arose on the following occasion. An army of the Sicyonians was about to come against them; and they gathered goats, tied torches to their horns, and set them alight during the night; thinking, then, that the blaze was the fire of an allied force, they fled, and the people of Ὑπερησίη named the city Αἴγειρα. Some, however, say that from Aegialeus the land is called Αἰγιαλός, and also Αἴγιον and further Αἴγειρα.
Ἀγρόειρα or Ἀλλόειρα, the city of Lydia later called Ἀττάλεια.
Words ending in -ρα of more than two syllables, with short α and having ου before the final syllable, are accented with a proparoxytone: ἄρουρα; Ἄργουρα, a city of Thessaly formerly Ἄργισσα. There is also a place in Euboea, Ἄργουρα, where Hermes is thought to have slain Panoptes. Demosthenes mentions it, saying “from Ἀργούρα of Euboea.”
Κυνόσουρα, in reference to the Bear—those who call the Cynosure an epithet (Arat. Phaen. 36). And thus it is also called of the Laconian watch-post and a headland of Marathon; and there is also a headland of Arcadia.
Κόλουρα: it is the name of a city, as in Hecataeus: “and I think especially near Κόλουρα, where the Prienians were settled.”
Ἴουρα: