Passage lists place-names and then discusses phonological and accentual rules: accentuation and vowel/diphthong changes (ει, οι), behavior of endings in -νη, -η, -ο, examples and analogies, and occasional etymologies.
ὁ ποταμὸς προσβάλλει ἰλύν. λέγονται καὶ Ἐχινάδες διὰ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ὀξὺ παρὰ τὸν ἐχῖνον ἢ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἔχειν ἐχίνων. Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ ἀπὸ Ἐχίνου μάντεως. Καινίνη πόλις Σαβίνων ἡ ὑπὸ Ῥωμύλου ἁλοῦσα. Λιγυστίνη πόλις Λιγύων τῆς δυτικῆς Ἰβηρίας ἐγγὺς καὶ τῆς Ταρτησσοῦ πλησίον. Πλινθίνη πόλις τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ἐπὶ τῆς Μαρείας. Μοτίνη πόλις Ἰταλίας, ἄποικος Ῥωμαίων. Πολύβιος τρίτῳ (c. 40, 8)· Φλέγων δὲ Μουτίνην αὐτήν φησι. Σαβίνη ἐπὶ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας. Σιβερίνη πόλις Οἰνωτρῶν. τὸ δὲ ἐχινῆ ἡ τραχεῖα δορὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐχινέα γέγονε, διὸ περισπᾶται. τὸ δὲ Φωτεινή κύριον διὰ τῆς 'ει' διφθόγγου γραφόμενον ὀξύνεται. μετάγεται γὰρ ἀπὸ ἐπιθέτου. Τὰ εἰς 'νη' δισύλλαβα μονογενῆ παραληγόμενα μὲν τῇ 'οι' διφθόγγῳ βαρύνονται, οἴνη ἡ ἄμπελος καὶ ὁ ἐν τοῖς βόλοις κενός· ἔστι καὶ Οἴνη πόλις Ἄργους. Ἑκαταῖος ἱστοριῶν πρώτῳ. θοίνη ἡ τροφή. τὸ δὲ ποινή ὀξύνεται. παραληγόμενα δὲ 'ο' ὀξύνεται, μονή, γονή καὶ φονή ἡ ὀλεθρία. * Τὰ διὰ τοῦ 'οινη' ὑπὲρ δύο συλλαβὰς ἔχοντα πρὸ τοῦ 'ν' τὴν 'οι' δίφθογγον οὐκ εἰσὶ γνήσια. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀγκοίνη βαρυνόμενον παρὰ τὴν ἀγκῶνος γενικὴν πεποιημένον τροπὴν ἔσχε τοῦ 'ω' εἰς τὴν 'οι' δίφθογγον. τὸ δὲ μενοινή ὀξυνόμενον καὶ αὐτὸ τροπὴν ἔσχε τοῦ 'ω' εἰς τὴν 'οι' δίφθογγον. ὤφειλεν γὰρ εἶναι μενωνή. τὰ γὰρ εἰς 'η' λήγοντα θηλυκὰ ἀπὸ ῥημάτων γινόμενα, ἔχοντα ἐν τῇ τελευταίᾳ καὶ τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς τὸ αὐτὸ σύμφωνον ἢ ἀντίστοιχον, τῷ 'ω' μεγάλῳ παραλήγεται. ὁ δὲ λόγος ἐπὶ τρισυλλάβων οἷον ἀγωγή ἔδει εἶναι ἀγή καὶ γέγονεν ἀγωγή, ὁμοίως ἔδω ἐδή ἐδωδή, ὄζω ὀδή ὀδωδή, ὄπτω ὀπή ὀπωπή, ἔχω ὀχή ὀκωχή, ἄκω ἀκή ἀκωκή, οὕτω μένω τὸ προθυμοῦμαι μενή μενωνή, εἰ καὶ μὴ τὸ αὐτὸ σύμφωνον ἢ καὶ ἀντίστοιχον ἔχει ἐν τῇ τελευταίᾳ καὶ τῇ πρὸ αὐτῆς συλλαβῇ, καὶ ἴσως ὡς κατὰ τοῦτο γέγονεν τροπῇ τοῦ 'ω' εἰς τὴν 'οι' δίφθογγον μενοινή. παρατηρήσεις γὰρ τοῦτο, ὅτι τὰ οὕτω διπλασιασθέντα ἀπὸ φωνήεντος ἤρχετο οἷον ἀγωγή, ἀκωκή, ἐδωδή. τὸ δὲ μενοινή μόνον ἀπὸ συμφώνου· καὶ ἐπεὶ παρήλλαξεν κατὰ τὴν ἄρχουσαν πρὸς τὰ προκείμενα, παρήλλαξεν καὶ περὶ τὴν παραλήγουσαν. * Τὸ Κελαιναί πόλις τῆς μικρᾶς Φρυγίας ἡ καὶ Ἀπάμεια μόνον εἰς 'αινη' καταλῆγον ὀξύνεται ἐπιθετικὸν ὄν.
The river casts up mud. They are also called Ἐχινάδες because of their rough and sharp character, from the ἐχῖνος, or because they have a multitude of ἐχῖνοι. But Apollodorus derives the name from Ἐχῖνος the seer. Καινίνη, a city of the Sabines, the one captured by Romulus. Λιγυστίνη, a city of the Ligyes of western Iberia, near it and close to Tartessus. Πλινθίνη, a city of Egypt on Lake Mareia. Μοτίνη, a city of Italy, a colony of the Romans. Polybius in the third book (c. 40, 8): but Phlegon says that it is Μουτίνη itself. Σαβίνη is used both of the woman and of the country. Σιβερίνη, a city of the Oenotrians. Now ἐχινῆ, “the rough hide,” has come from ἐχινέας; therefore it is circumflexed. But the proper name Φωτεινή, written with the diphthong ει, is accented with an acute; for it is transferred from an adjective.
The disyllabic, single-gender words in -νη, when they have the diphthong οι in the penult, are accented with a grave: οἴνη, the vine, and the empty space among clods; there is also Οἴνη, a city of Argos—Hecataeus in the first book of his Histories. θοίνη, “food.” But ποινή is accented with an acute. But when they have ο in the penult, they are accented with an acute: μονή, γονή, and φονή, “destruction.”
The forms in -οινη with more than two syllables, having the diphthong οι before ν, are not genuine. For ἀγκοίνη, accented with a grave, being made from the genitive of ἀγκών, has undergone a change of ω to the diphthong οι. And μενοινή, accented with an acute, has likewise undergone a change of ω to the diphthong οι; for it ought to be μενωνή. For feminine nouns ending in -η that are formed from verbs, and that have in the last syllable and the one before it the same consonant or a corresponding one, have ω (long) in the penult. The rule applies to trisyllables, for example: ἀγωγή ought to be ἀγή, and it has become ἀγωγή; likewise ἔδω, ἐδή, ἐδωδή; ὄζω, ὀδή, ὀδωδή; ὄπτω, ὀπή, ὀπωπή; ἔχω, ὀχή, ὀκωχή; ἄκω, ἀκή, ἀκωκή; so too μένω in the sense “I am eager,” μενή, μενωνή—although it does not have the same consonant or a corresponding one in the last syllable and the one before it—and perhaps for this reason μενοινή has arisen by changing ω to the diphthong οι. For you will observe this, that the forms thus doubled began with a vowel, as ἀγωγή, ἀκωκή, ἐδωδή; but μενοινή alone begins with a consonant; and since it differed in its initial sound from the preceding examples, it also differed in respect of the penult.
Κελαιναί, a city of Lesser Phrygia, also called Apamea, the only word ending in -αινη, is accented with an acute, since it is adjectival.