Analysis of accent patterns for plural forms and genitives in Ancient Greek, describing gender-based alternations (perispomenon vs barytone) with illustrative examples.
παιδισκῶν «τῶν παιδισκῶν τινι δοὺς» παρὰ τῷ Μενάνδρῳ ἐν τῷ Ἥρωϊ. καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον, περισπᾷ τὴν ἰδίαν γενικὴν καίτοι ὁμοφωνοῦσαν τῷ ἀρσενικῷ βαρυνομένῳ οἱ πόρνοι τῶν πόρνων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὁμοίως, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐκ τῶν ἀρσενικῶν τὰ θηλυκὰ παρεσχημάτισται, ἀλλ´ ἔστιν ἡ πρώτη τούτων θέσις ἐπὶ τῶν θηλυκῶν, διὸ καὶ ὡς μονογενὲς περιεσπάσθη. τὰ δὲ ἀρσενικὰ ποιητικώτερον κατὰ τὸ γένος τὴν παραγωγὴν πεποίηνται, ὅθεν καὶ βαρυτονοῦσι τὰς γενικὰς ταῖς ἰδίαις εὐθείαις ἀκολοθοῦντα. τὸ μέσαι μεσῶν, ὑπάται ὑπατῶν, νεάται νεατῶν ἐπὶ τῶν χορδῶν περισπῶμεν. κύρια γάρ εἰσιν αὐτῶν ὀνόματα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μονογενῆ. τὰ μέντοιγε ἐπιθετικὰ βαρύνεται, ἐπεὶ τὰ τούτων ἀρσενικά «κοῦραι πετράων ἤριπον ἐξ ὑπάτων». τὸ χιλιῶν παρ´ Ἀθηναίοις παραλόγως περισπᾶται. Ἐὰν δὲ εὑρεθῶσιν ὁμοφωνοῦσαι ἀπὸ τῶν εἰς 'ες' πληθυντικῶν εὐθειῶν θηλυκῶν γενικαὶ γενικαῖς ἀρσενικῶν περισπωμέναις, οὐκ ἀναγκάζονται καὶ ὁμοτονεῖν αὐταῖς. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου εἴ τι μὲν ἀρσενικὸν εἰς 'αι' τὴν εὐθεῖαν ἔχοι, τὸ δὲ θηλυκὸν εἰς 'ες', ἡ μὲν τοῦ ἀρσενικοῦ περισπᾶται, ἡ δὲ τοῦ θηλυκοῦ βαρύνεται· αἱ Δαναΐδες μέντοι τῶν Δαναΐδων βαρυτόνως, οἱ Δαναΐδαι δὲ τῶν Δαναϊδῶν περισπωμένως· ὅμοιον ἔχει καὶ οἱ Τανταλίδαι Τανταλιδῶν, οἱ Ἡλιάδαι τῶν Ἡλιαδῶν, οἱ Πριαμίδαι τῶν Πριαμιδῶν, αἱ Τανταλίδες δὲ τῶν Τανταλίδων, αἱ Ἡλιάδες τῶν Ἡλιάδων, αἱ Πριαμίδες τῶν Πριαμίδων βαρυτόνως. Πᾶσα εὐθεῖα δισύλλαβος εἰς 'ες' λήγουσα πληθυντικὴ δηλονότι περισπᾶται τὴν ἰδίαν γενικήν, μῆνες μηνῶν, ἄνδρες ἀνδρῶν, θῶπες θωπῶν, φῶτες φωτῶν, χῆνες χηνῶν, χεῖρες χειρῶν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὁμοίως, ἐννέα σεσημειωμένων, περὶ ὧν καὶ λόγον δίδομεν. τίνων, ὅτε πυσματικῶς, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τοῦ ἀορίστου, ἐκεῖνο γὰρ περισπᾶται. Τρῶες Τρώων, δμῶες δμώων, ἵνα ἐκφύγωσι τὸ αἱ Τρῳαί τῶν Τρῳῶν καὶ αἱ δμῳαί τῶν δμῳῶν, ὀξυνόμενα κατὰ τὰς εὐθείας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περισπῶνται τὰς γενικάς. θῶες θώων διὰ τὸ θῳή, ὃ σημαίνει τὴν ζημίαν, αἱ θῳαί τῶν θῳῶν. παῖδες παίδων, οὐ πρὸς διαστολήν, ὥς τινες ἐνόμισαν, τοῦ αἱ πέδαι τῶν πεδῶν ἐπὶ τῶν δεσμῶν. ἡ γὰρ γραφὴ τὴν διαστολὴν ποιεῖται· τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν δεσμῶν διὰ τοῦ 'ε', ἐκεῖνο δὲ διὰ τῆς 'αι' διφθόγγου· ἀλλ´ ἴσως ἐπειδὴ ὡς ἀπὸ
Of παιδισκῶν: “having given to one of the παιδισκῶν,” in Menander in the Hero. And if there is anything else of this sort, it circumflexes its own genitive, although it is homophonous with the masculine, which is barytone: οἱ πόρνοι, τῶν πόρνων; and likewise in the remaining cases, since the feminines have not been formed from the masculines, but the primary establishment of these forms is in the feminines; therefore it has been circumflexed as a monogeneric form. The masculines, however, have been made in a more poetic fashion, as regards gender, by derivation; hence they also make their genitives barytone, following their own nominatives.
We circumflex μέσαι, μεσῶν; ὑπάται, ὑπατῶν; νεάται, νεατῶν, in the case of the strings; for these are proper names and for this reason monogeneric. The adjectival forms, however, are barytone, since their masculines are: “κοῦραι πετράων ἤριπον ἐξ ὑπάτων.”
The form χιλιῶν among the Athenians is circumflexed contrary to rule.
But if there are found genitives of feminines, homophonous with the plural nominatives in -ες, corresponding to circumflexed genitives of masculines, they are not compelled to have the same accent as those. Conversely, if some masculine has the nominative in -αι, but the feminine in -ες, the masculine genitive is circumflexed, but the feminine is barytone: αἱ Δαναΐδες, τῶν Δαναΐδων, with barytone accent; but οἱ Δαναΐδαι, τῶν Δαναϊδῶν, with circumflex. The same holds also for οἱ Τανταλίδαι, Τανταλιδῶν; οἱ Ἡλιάδαι, τῶν Ἡλιαδῶν; οἱ Πριαμίδαι, τῶν Πριαμιδῶν; but αἱ Τανταλίδες, τῶν Τανταλίδων; αἱ Ἡλιάδες, τῶν Ἡλιάδων; αἱ Πριαμίδες, τῶν Πριαμίδων, with barytone accent.
Every disyllabic plural nominative ending in -ες, of course, circumflexes its own genitive: μῆνες, μηνῶν; ἄνδρες, ἀνδρῶν; θῶπες, θωπῶν; φῶτες, φωτῶν; χῆνες, χηνῶν; χεῖρες, χειρῶν; and the rest likewise—nine being noted as exceptions, about which we also give an account.
τίνων, when interrogative, by way of contrast with the indefinite; for that is circumflexed.
Τρῶες, Τρώων; δμῶες, δμώων, in order to avoid αἱ Τρῳαί, τῶν Τρῳῶν, and αἱ δμῳαί, τῶν δμῳῶν, which are oxytone in the nominatives, and for this reason circumflex their genitives.
θῶες, θώων, because of θῳή, which means “penalty,” (sc. to avoid) αἱ θῳαί, τῶν θῳῶν.
παῖδες, παίδων, not by way of distinction, as some supposed, from αἱ πέδαι, τῶν πεδῶν, in the sense of fetters. For the spelling makes the distinction: the one in the sense of fetters is written with ε, but the other with the diphthong αι; but perhaps because as from…