Accent and prosody of Greek imperatives and infinitives: behavior of final -εστε, -σθε, -αι, -ν endings. Distribution of oxytone vs. barytone vs. perispomenon, forms like λέγετε/ἄγετε, ἐτύπτεσθε/τύπτεσθε, πιθέσθε/λαβέσθε, αι-forms proparoxytone, ν-forms length, perispomenon in monosyllables, behavior in present vs aorist and participles; examples cited from Homer.
ὁμότονα καθεστήκασιν οἷον ὅτι λέγετε—λέγετε, ὅτι ἄγετε—ἄγετε. ἐπίστασιν οὖν ἔχει τὸ ἔστε. τὸ μὲν ὁριστικὸν ὀξύνεται, τὸ δὲ προστακτικὸν βαρύνεται. ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ φάτε. * Τὰ εἰς 'σθε' προστακτικὰ ὁμοιοκατάληκτα τῷ οἰκείῳ ὁριστικῷ καὶ ὁμότονά ἐστιν αὐτῷ, ἐτύπτεσθε—τύπτεσθε, ἐλέγεσθε—λέγεσθε, ἐπίθεσθε πίθεσθε, ἐλάβεσθε λάβεσθε. τὸ δὲ πιθέσθε λαβέσθε παροξυνόμενα μεταγενεστέρων Ἰώνων ἐστίν. Τὰ εἰς 'αι' ὑπερδισύλλαβα προστακτικὰ προπαροξύνονται, ποίησαι, ἄσπασαι, πείρησαι «εἰ δ´ ἄγε μὴν πείρησαι» (Α 302), «ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν κατάλεξαι» (Od. τ 44), «νῦν δ´ αὖτ´ ἐμὸν ἔγχος ἄλευαι» (Il. Χ 285). τὸ δὲ λοῦσαι καὶ δέξαι καὶ κτῆσαι βαρύνονται ὡς δισύλλαβα. Πᾶν ἀπαρέμφατον ἢ εἰς 'ν' λήγει ἢ εἰς 'αι'. καὶ τὰ εἰς 'ν' μακροκατάληκτα δύο ἔχει τόνους. ἢ γὰρ βαρύνονται ἢ περισπῶνται. καὶ τὰ μὲν μονοσύλλαβα περισπῶνται, πλεῖν, ῥεῖν, ζῆν, δρᾶν. τὰ μέντοι ὑπὲρ μίαν συλλαβὴν ἢ βαρύνεται ἢ περισπᾶται. βαρύνεται μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ βαρυτόνων χρόνων ἐνεστῶτος καὶ μέλλοντος τύπτω τύπτειν τύψω τύψειν, ποιήσω ποιήσειν. τότε δὲ περισπᾶται, ὅτε καὶ τὰ ὁριστικὰ περισπῶνται, ποιῶ ποιεῖν, κτυπῶ κτυπεῖν, στελῶ στελεῖν, χρυσῶ χρυσοῦν, βοῶ βοᾶν. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐνεστῶτες ἀπὸ ἐντελείας ἔχουσι τὴν περισπωμένην ποιέειν ποιεῖν, οἱ δὲ δεύτεροι μέλλοντες οὔ· ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ εὐφρανεῖν γέγονε κατὰ διάλυσιν τὸ εὐφρανέειν. καὶ τὰ δὲ εἰς 'ν' τοῦ δευτέρου ἀορίστου ἀπὸ κλίσεως περισπῶνται, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ περισπώμενα, δραμεῖν, φαγεῖν, πιεῖν, ἐλθεῖν, ἰδεῖν. τὸ δὲ πέφνειν σεσημείωται. ἐβαρύνθη δέ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἡ μετοχὴ τούτου ἐβαρύνθη. Τὰ δὲ εἰς 'αι' λήγοντα ἀπαρέμφατα πάντα βαρύνεται, τύψαι, ποιῆσαι, κεῖραι—τὸ δὲ ποιήσαι κείραι εὐκτικά ἐστι—τελέσαι,
They are established as homotone, for example: ὅτι λέγετε—λέγετε, ὅτι ἄγετε—ἄγετε. The form ἔστε, then, admits of a distinction: the indicative is accented with an acute, but the imperative is accented with a grave. Likewise also φάτε.
The imperatives in -σθε, having the same ending as the corresponding indicative, are also homotone with it: ἐτύπτεσθε—τύπτεσθε, ἐλέγεσθε—λέγεσθε, ἐπίθεσθε—πίθεσθε, ἐλάβεσθε—λάβεσθε. But πιθέσθε and λαβέσθε, being paroxytone, belong to later Ionians.
The imperatives in -αι of more than two syllables are proparoxytone: ποίησαι, ἄσπασαι, πείρησαι, “εἰ δ´ ἄγε μὴν πείρησαι” (Α 302), “ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν κατάλεξαι” (Od. τ 44), “νῦν δ´ αὖτ´ ἐμὸν ἔγχος ἄλευαι” (Il. Χ 285). But λοῦσαι and δέξαι and κτῆσαι are accented with a grave, as being disyllables.
Every infinitive ends either in -ν or in -αι. And those ending in -ν with a long final syllable have two accents: for they are either grave-accented or circumflexed. And the monosyllables are circumflexed: πλεῖν, ῥεῖν, ζῆν, δρᾶν. But those of more than one syllable are either grave-accented or circumflexed. Grave-accented are those derived from barytone tenses of the present and future: τύπτω—τύπτειν, τύψω—τύψειν, ποιήσω—ποιήσειν. But they are circumflexed when the indicatives too are circumflexed: ποιῶ—ποιεῖν, κτυπῶ—κτυπεῖν, στελῶ—στελεῖν, χρυσῶ—χρυσοῦν, βοῶ—βοᾶν. And the presents have the circumflex from completeness, ποιέειν → ποιεῖν, but the second futures do not; for from εὐφρανεῖν there has arisen by resolution εὐφρανέειν. And the forms in -ν of the second aorist are circumflexed from inflection, just like the circumflexed ones: δραμεῖν, φαγεῖν, πιεῖν, ἐλθεῖν, ἰδεῖν. But πέφνειν is marked as exceptional: it was grave-accented, because the participle of it too was grave-accented.
But the infinitives ending in -αι are all grave-accented: τύψαι, ποιῆσαι, κεῖραι—though ποιήσαι and κείραι are optatives—τελέσαι.