Cambridge University Press

978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek

Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek

This is the first full-scale reference grammar of classical Greek in English in a
century. The first work of its kind to reflect the significant advances in linguistics
made in recent decades, it offers students, teachers and academics a comprehensive
yet user-friendly treatment. The chapters on phonology and morphology make full
use of insights from comparative and historical linguistics to elucidate the complex
systems of roots, stems and endings. The syntax offers linguistically up-to-date
descriptions of such topics as case usage, tense and aspect, voice, subordinate
clauses, infinitives and participles. An innovative section on textual coherence
treats particles and word order and discusses several sample passages in detail,
demonstrating new ways of approaching Greek texts. Throughout the book
numerous original examples are offered, all with translations and often with
clarifying notes. Clearly laid-out tables, helpful cross-references and full indexes
make this essential resource accessible to users of all levels.

E VE RT VAN E MDE B O A S specializes in the application of modern linguistic and

cognitive approaches to ancient Greek literature. He currently serves as Leventis
Research Fellow in Ancient Greek at Merton College, Oxford. His publications include
a monograph and articles on Greek tragedy, as well as several interdisciplinary studies
on the psychology of theatre audiences. He has previously held various teaching and
research positions at the University of Oxford, the University of Amsterdam, VU
University Amsterdam, the University of Groningen and Leiden University.

A L B ER T R IJ KSB A R O N is emeritus professor of Ancient Greek Linguistics at the

University of Amsterdam. His publications include highly acclaimed and widely
used Greek linguistics titles as well as numerous articles. He has edited and co-
edited collaborative works in this field.

L UU K H U IT INK is currently employed as a postdoctoral research fellow on the ERC

Project ‘Ancient Narrative’ at Heidelberg University, where he examines the rela-
tionship between ancient rhetoric and cognitive linguistics in order to shed light on
the ancient readerly imagination. He previously was the Leventis Research Fellow in
Ancient Greek at Merton College, Oxford, and held a Spinoza Visiting Fellowship at
Leiden University. He has published on linguistic and narratological topics in
classical and post-classical Greek and is the author of a CUP commentary on
Xenophon’s Anabasis III (together with Tim Rood), which is keyed to this grammar.

M A T H IE U D E B AK KE R is university lecturer at the classics department of the

University of Amsterdam, where he teaches courses on all aspects of ancient
Greek. He has published on the Greek historians and orators and previously
lectured at the University of Oxford.

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Cambridge Grammar
of Classical Greek
EVERT VAN EMDE BOAS University of Oxford
ALBERT RIJKSBARON Universiteit van Amsterdam
LUUK HUITINK Universität Heidelberg
MATHIEU DE BAKKER Universiteit van Amsterdam

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
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Names: Emde Boas, Evert van, 1982– author. | Rijksbaron, Albert, author. |
Huitink, Luuk, 1981– author. | Bakker, Mathieu de, author.
Title: Cambridge grammar of classical Greek / Evert van Emde Boas,
Albert Rijksbaron, Luuk Huitink, Mathieu de Bakker.
Description: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017024372 | ISBN 9780521198608
Subjects: LCSH: Greek language – Grammar.
Classification: LCC PA258 .E45 2017 | DDC 488.2421–dc23
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ISBN 978-0-521-19860-8 Hardback
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978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents

Preface xxxi
On Cs and Gs: History and Aims of the Book xxxi
Conception and Development xxxi
Target Audience and Scope xxxii
Some Principles of Presentation xxxiii
Using CGCG: A Few Points of Guidance xxxiv
Acknowledgements xxxv
Abbreviations, Symbols, Editions xxxviii
Abbreviations Used in This Book xxxviii
Other Symbols xxxix
Texts and Translations of Examples xxxix
On Terminology xl
Problems and Principles xl
Verbal Terminology xli
Tenses, Aspects and Moods xli
On ‘First’ and ‘Second’ Aorists and Perfects xlii

PART I: PHONOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY 1

1 The Signs and Sounds of Classical Greek 3

Writing: the Alphabet, Accent and Breathing Marks, Punctuation 3
The Alphabet 3
Particulars 4
Accents and Breathings 4
Punctuation 5
Further Diacritical Signs 6
The Alphabet, Breathings, Accents, Punctuation: a Very Brief Historical Overview 6
Pronunciation: Vowels and Diphthongs 7
Vowels 7
Phonetic Details 8
Diphthongs 8
Short Diphthongs 9
Long Diphthongs 9
‘Spurious’ Diphthongs ει and ου 10
Pronunciation: Consonants 10
List of Consonants 10

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978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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vi Contents

Phonetic Details 11
Stops 11
Fricatives 12
Resonants 12
Geminates 13
Letters Representing Two Consonants 13
Elision, ‘Movable’ Consonants, Crasis, Hiatus 14
Elision 14
‘Movable’ Consonants 14
Crasis 15
Hiatus 16
Historical Developments: Introduction 16
Historical Developments: Ablaut (Vowel Gradation) 18
Introduction; Qualitative and Quantitative Ablaut 18
Some Typical Greek Ablaut Patterns 19
Historical Developments: Vowels 20
Attic-Ionic ᾱ > η 20
Contraction of Vowels 21
Contraction of α, ε, η, ο and ω 21
Diphthongs 22
Summary Table of Contractions 22
Further Particulars and Exceptions 23
Long and Short: the Augment, Stem Formation, Compensatory Lengthening 24
Compensatory Lengthening 24
Summary Table 25
Shortening: Osthoff’s Law 25
Quantitative Metathesis 27
Historical Developments: Consonants 27
Consonants at Word End 27
The Disappearance of ϝ, y and σ 28
Sound Changes Involving ῐ/y 28
Sound Changes Involving ῠ/ϝ 29
Sound Changes Involving σ 30
Other Consonant Clusters: Vocalization of Resonants, Assimilation, Loss of
Consonants 30
Vocalization of Syllabic Resonants 30
Assimilation in Consonant Clusters 31
Loss of Consonants 33
Loss of Aspiration: Grassmann’s Law 34

2 Introduction to Nominal Forms 35

Basic Categories 35

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978-0-521-19860-8 — The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek
Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents vii

Building Blocks: Stems and Endings 35

Declensions and Endings 36
Declensions 36
Table of Endings 38

3 The Article 39

4 Nouns 40
First-Declension Nouns 40
Stems, Types and Gender of First-Declension Nouns 40
Feminine Nouns in -η, -ᾱ or -ᾰ 40
Masculine Nouns in -ης or -ᾱς 42
Further Notes and Exceptions 43
Second-Declension Nouns 43
Stems, Types and Gender of Second-Declension Nouns 43
Masculine (and Feminine) Nouns in -ος or -ους 44
Neuter Nouns in -ον or -ουν 45
Further Notes and Exceptions 45
Third-Declension Nouns 46
Stems, Types and Gender of Third-Declension Nouns 46
Stems in a Labial Stop (π, β, φ) or Velar Stop (κ, γ, χ) 48
Stems in a Dental Stop (τ, δ, θ, except ντ) 49
Stems in ντ 50
Stems in ν 51
Stems in a Liquid (λ or ρ) 52
Stems in (ε)ρ, with Three Ablaut Grades (Type πατήρ, ἀνήρ) 53
Stems in σ (Neuter Nouns in -ος, Names in -ης) 54
Stems in ι/ε(y) (Type πόλις) 56
Stems in υ (Type ἰσχύς) or in υ/ε(ϝ) (Type πῆχυς) 57
Stems in ηυ/η(ϝ) (Type βασιλεύς) 58
Ζεύς, ναῦς, βοῦς 59
Further Notes and Exceptions 60
Conspectus of Noun Types 61

5 Adjectives and Participles 63

First-and-Second-Declension Adjectives and Participles 63
Of Three Endings (-ος, -η/-ᾱ, -ον) 63
Adjectives 63
Participles 64
Of Three Endings, with Contraction (-οῦς, -ῆ/-ᾶ, -οῦν) 64
Of Two Endings (-ος, -ον or -ους, -ουν) 65

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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viii Contents

Further Particulars 67
Mixed-Declension Adjectives 68
First-and-Third-Declension Adjectives and Participles 69
Of Three Endings, Stems in ντ (-ων, -ουσα, -ον and πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν) 69
Adjectives 69
Participles 70
Of Three Endings, Perfect Active Participles in -ώς, -υῖα, -ός 72
Of Three Endings, Stems in υ/εϝ (-υς, -εια, -υ) 73
Of Three Endings, Stems in ν (-ας, -αινα, -αν) 74
Of Three Endings, Stems in εντ (-εις, -εσσα, -εν) 74
Third-Declension Adjectives 75
Of Two Endings, Stems in ον (-ων, -ον) 75
Of Two Endings, Stems in σ (-ης, -ες) 76
Further Particulars 77
Adjectives Formed with Dental-Stem Nouns 77
Adjectives of One Ending 77
Comparison of Adjectives 77
Introduction 77
Comparatives in -τερος and Superlatives in -τατος 78
Comparatives in -()ων and Superlatives in -ιστος 80

6 Adverbs 83
Formation of Adverbs 83
Introduction 83
Manner Adverbs in -ως 83
Adverbs Based on Other Case-Forms 84
Specific Formations of Adverbs Indicating Space 86
Adverbs Deriving from Prepositions/Prepositional Phrases 87
Comparison of Adverbs 87

7 Pronouns 89
Personal Pronouns 89
Reflexive Pronouns 90
The Reciprocal Pronoun 91
The Possessive ‘Pronoun’ 92
αὐτός 92
Demonstrative Pronouns 93
ὅδε 93
οὗτος 94
ἐκεῖνος 94
Further Particulars 95

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents ix

Other Demonstratives 95
Deictic Iota 95
Relative Pronouns 96
ὅς and ὅστις 96
Other Relative Pronouns 96
Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns 97
τίς, τί; τις, τι 97
Other Interrogative Pronouns 97
Seemingly Similar Forms of αὐτός, ὁ αὐτός, ἑαυτοῦ and οὗτος 98

8 Correlative Pronouns and Adverbs 99

The System of Correlative Pronouns and Adjectives 99
The System of Correlative Adverbs 100

9 Numerals 101
List of Numerals 101
Declension of Numerals 102
Further Particulars 103

10 The Dual: Nominal Forms 105

Endings 105
Forms 105
The Article 105
Nouns and Adjectives/Participles 106
Pronouns 106

11 Introduction to Verb Forms 108

Summary of the Greek Verbal System 108
Basic Categories and Elements 110
Categories of the Verb 110
Finite versus Non-finite Verb Forms 110
Categories Pertaining to All Verb Forms: Tense-Aspect and Voice 110
Categories Pertaining Only to Finite Verb Forms 111
Categories Pertaining to Non-finite Verb Forms 112
Morphological Building Blocks: Stems, Endings, and Other Markings 112
Verb Stems and Tense-Aspect Stems 112
Endings 114
Thematic Vowels, Optative Suffixes, Participle Suffixes 114
Augments and Prepositional Prefixes 115
Thematic and Athematic Conjugations 115
Endings 116

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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x Contents

Personal Endings 116

Tables of Endings 117
Subjunctives 119
Imperatives 120
Exceptions 120
Endings of Non-finite Forms 121
Infinitives 121
Participles and Verbal Adjectives 121
Augments and Reduplications 121
Formation of the Augment 121
With Stems Beginning with a Consonant 121
With Stems Beginning with a Vowel or Diphthong 122
Further Particulars 122
Formation of Reduplications 123
Two Types of Reduplication 123
Further Particulars 124
Reduplications Outside the Perfect 125
The Relative Position of Augments, Reduplications and Prefixes 125
Basic Rules 125
Further Particulars 127

12 The Present 128

Thematic (-ω) and Athematic (-μι) Presents 128
The Thematic Present 129
Overview of Forms 129
Non-Contract and Contract Presents 130
Endings 131
Contract Presents 131
Simple Contraction Rules 131
Further Particulars 132
Thematic Present Stem Formation 134
Presents without Elaboration 134
Presents with an Original Yod 135
Presents with a Nasal Infix 137
Presents with the Suffix -(ι)σκ- 137
Reduplicated Presents 137
The Athematic Present 138
Overview of Forms 138
Verbs in -νυμι 138
Reduplicated Verbs 139
Root Presents 141

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Present Stems with a Long and Short Variant 142

Types of -μι Verb; Present Stem Formation 142
Verbs in -νυμι 142
Reduplicated Verbs 143
Root Presents 143
Endings 144
Thematic Forms 145

13 The Aorist: Active and Middle 147

Types of Aorist (Active and Middle) Stem 147
Sigmatic (and Pseudo-Sigmatic) Aorists 148
Overview of Forms 148
Sigma and Alpha 149
Endings 150
Stem Formation of Sigmatic Aorists 151
Verb Stems Ending in ι, υ or a Diphthong 151
Verb Stems Ending in ε, α or ο (or η or ω) 151
Verb Stems Ending in a Labial or Velar Stop 153
Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 153
The Pseudo-Sigmatic Aorist – Verb Stems Ending in a Resonant 154
Thematic Aorists 155
Overview of Forms 155
Stems and Endings 156
‘Irregular’ Forms 157
The Most Common Thematic Aorists 158
Verbs with Vowel Variations between the Present and Aorist Stems 158
Other Differences between the Present and Aorist Stems 158
Suppletive Verbs 159
Root Aorists 160
Overview of Forms 160
Stems 161
Endings 162
δίδωμι, τίθημι and ἵημι 163
Overview of Forms 163
Stems 164
Endings 165
Verbs With More Than One Type of Aorist 166

14 The Aorist: Passive (θη-/η-) 168

Types of Aorist Passive Stem 168
Conjugation of θη-Aorists and η-Aorists 169

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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xii Contents

Overview of Forms 169

Endings 170
θη-Aorist Stems 171
Formation of θη-Aorist Stems 171
Verb Stems Ending in υ or a Diphthong 171
Verb Stems Ending in Other Vowels 172
Verb Stems Ending in a Labial or Velar Stop 173
Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 174
Verb Stems Ending in a Resonant 175
Suppletive Stems 176
Further Notes and Exceptions 176
η-Aorist Stems 177
Formation of η-Aorist Stems 177
Verbs without Vowel Differences between the Present and η-Aorist Stem 177
Verbs with Vowel Differences between the Present and η-Aorist Stems 178

15 The Future: Active and Middle 180

Types of Future Stem 180
Conjugation of the Future 180
Overview of Forms 180
Sigmatic Future 180
Attic Future 182
Endings 183
Sigmatic Future Stems 183
Stem Formation 183
Verb Stems Ending in ι, υ or a Diphthong 183
Verb Stems Ending in Other Vowels 184
Verb Stems Ending in a Labial Stop 185
Verb Stems Ending in a Velar Stop 186
Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 187
Suppletive Verbs 187
Further Particulars 188
Attic Future Stems 188
Stem Formation 188
Verb Stems Ending in a Resonant 188
Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 189
Other Attic Futures 190
Other Futures 191
Verbs with a Middle Future 191

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents xiii

16 The Future: Passive (θη-/η-) 194

Types of Future Passive Stem 194
Conjugation of the Future Passive 195
Overview of Forms 195
Particulars 195

17 The Perfect (and Future Perfect): Introduction 197

Perfect (and Future Perfect) Stems 197
Types of Stem 197
Periphrastic Forms 198

18 The Perfect: Active 199

Types of Perfect Active Stem 199
κ-Perfects, Aspirated Perfects, Stem Perfects: Conjugation 200
Overview of Forms 200
Endings, Periphrastic Forms 202
κ-Perfects, Aspirated Perfects, Stem Perfects: Stems 203
Stem Formation 203
Verb Stems Ending in ι, υ or a Diphthong 203
Verb Stems Ending in Other Vowels 203
Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 204
Verb Stems Ending in a Resonant 205
The Aspirated Perfect – Verb Stems Ending in a Labial or Velar Stop 205
Stem Perfects 206
Irregular Stem Perfects: ἔοικα, εἴωθα, οἶδα 208
Further Particulars 208
Mixed Perfects (δέδοικα, ἕστηκα, τέθνηκα and βέβηκα) 209
Overview of Forms 209
Particulars 210

19 The Perfect: Middle-Passive 212

The Perfect Middle-Passive Stem 212
Conjugation of the Perfect Middle-Passive 212
Overview of Forms 212
Endings 214
Overview of Middle-Passive Perfect Stem Changes Before Different Endings 215
Perfect Middle-Passive Stems 215
Stem Formation 215
Verb Stems Ending in ι, υ or a Diphthong 215
Verb Stems Ending in Other Vowels 216
Verb Stems Ending in a Labial Stop 217

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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xiv Contents

Verb Stems Ending in a Velar Stop 218

Verb Stems Ending in a Dental Stop 219
Verb Stems Ending in a Resonant 219
Further Notes and Exceptions 221

20 The Future Perfect 222

Formation of the Future Perfect 222
General 222
Future Perfect Active: Particulars 222
Future Perfect Middle-Passive: Particulars 223

21 The Dual: Verb Forms 224

Endings 224
Examples of Dual Forms 225

22 Principal Parts 228

Regular Principal Parts 228
Principal Parts with Peculiarities 230

23 Word Formation 260

Introduction 260
Nominal Word Formation 261
Nominal Word Formation by Means of Derivation 261
Some Terminology Concerning Nouns 261
List of Derivational Suffixes 262
Nominal Word Formation by Means of Composition 269
Compound Adjectives with Nominal/Adverbial Element + Nominal Element 269
Compound Forms with Verbal Element + Nominal Element 270
Compound Forms with Nominal/Adverbial Element + Verbal Element 271
Verbal Word Formation 272
Denominative Verbs Formed with *-yω 272
Verbs Formed with *-yω from Nominal Stems Ending in a Vowel 272
Verbs Formed with *-yω from Nominal Stems Ending in a Consonant 274
Compound Verbs 275
Denominative Compound Verbs from Compound Nouns/Adjectives 276
Compound Verbs Formed by Prefixation 276

24 Accentuation 277
Introduction 277
General Rules of Accentuation 278
Possible Positions of the Accent; ‘Long’ and ‘Short’ Syllables 278

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents xv

The Rule of Limitation 279

The σωτῆρᾰ-Rule 280
Contraction 280
Recessive, Persistent, and Mobile Accentuation 281
Finite Verbs: Recessive Accentuation 282
Non-Finite Verb Forms: Participles and Infinitives 284
Nominal Forms: Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Numerals 286
General Rules 286
Mobile Accentuation of Some Third-Declension Nouns 287
Some Rules for the Placement of Base Accents on Nominal Forms 288
Enclitics and Proclitics 289
Introduction 289
Accentuation of Enclitics and Proclitics 291
Elision and Crasis 292

25 Ionic and Other Dialects 293

Introduction 293
Ionic Literary Prose 295
Phonology 295
Morphology: Nominal Forms 297
First Declension 297
Second Declension 297
Third Declension 298
The Article, Adjectives 300
Pronouns 300
Morphology: Verbal Forms 301
Thematic Conjugations 301
Athematic Conjugations 302
Further Points on Verbal Morphology 303
Further Particulars 304
The ‘Doric’ ᾱ in Choral Lyric 304

PART II: SYNTAX 305

26 Introduction to Simple Sentences 307

The Sentence Core 307
Predicate, Subject, Object, Complement 307
‘Omission’ of the Subject and Other Constituents 309
Linking Verb, Predicative Complement 310
Omission of a Linking Verb: Nominal Sentences 312

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xvi Contents

Optional Constituents 313

Adverbial Modifiers and Other Optional Constituents 313
Noun Phrases 315
Elements of the Noun Phrase 315
Types of Modifier 316
Types of Head 317
Pronominal and Adnominal Use of Pronouns, Quantifiers and Cardinal
Numerals 318
Apposition 319
Predicative Modifiers 319
Elements Interrupting or Outside the Syntax of a Sentence 320
Parentheses 320
Elements ‘Outside’ the Syntax of a Sentence 321

27 Agreement 322
Subject – Finite Verb 322
Basic Rule 322
Exceptions 322
Head – Modifier (in Noun Phrases); Predicative Modifiers
and Complements 324
Basic Rule 324
Exceptions 324
Antecedent – Relative Pronoun 325
Basic Rule 325
Exceptions 325
Apposition 326

28 The Article 328

Meaning of the Definite Article 328
Basic Meaning 328
Reasons for Identifiability of a Referent 328
Relative Position of Article, Head and Modifiers in a Noun Phrase 331
Attributive and Predicative Position 331
Attributive Genitives 332
Demonstrative and Possessive Pronouns 333
αὐτός 334
Quantifiers 334
Adjectives Determining Position (μέσος, ἄκρος, ἔσχατος etc.) 334
The Article as Substantivizer 335
Pronominal Uses of the Article 337

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Evert van Emde Boas , Albert Rijksbaron , Luuk Huitink , Mathieu de Bakker
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Contents xvii

29 Pronouns and Quantifiers 339

Personal Pronouns 339
Contrastive and Non-Contrastive Personal Pronouns 339
First and Second Person 339
Third Person 340
αὐτός 341
As Third-Person Personal Pronoun 341
As an Adjective, Expressing Identicalness: The Same 342
As an Adjective, Emphatic Use: Self 343
Summary of the Uses of αὐτός 344
Reflexive Pronouns and Other Reflexive Expressions 345
Introduction; Pronouns Used as Reflexives; Direct and Indirect Reflexives 345
Pronouns Used as Direct and Indirect Reflexives 346
Direct Reflexivity 346
Indirect Reflexivity 347
Further Particulars 348
Possessive Pronouns and Other Expressions of Possession 349
Introduction; Pronouns Used as Possessives 349
Pronouns Used in Different Constructions 349
First and Second Person 349
Third Person 350
Further Particulars 351
Reciprocal Pronouns 351
Demonstrative Pronouns 352
Pronominal and Adnominal Use; Pointing Outside or Inside the Text 352
General Differences between ὅδε, οὗτος and ἐκεῖνος 352
Further Particulars 354
Indefinite Pronouns 356
Interrogative Pronouns 357
Relative Pronouns 357
Quantifiers 358
πᾶς 358
ὅλος 358
μόνος 358
ἄλλος and ἕτερος 359

30 Cases 360
Functions, Meanings and Labels 360
Nominative 361
As Obligatory Constituent with Verbs 361
Other Uses 362

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Accusative 362
As Obligatory Constituent (to Complement Verbs) 362
Internal Object 364
As an Optional Constituent (Adverbial Modifier) 365
Apposition to a Sentence 366
Genitive 367
As Obligatory Constituent (to Complement Verbs/Adjectives) 367
Verbs Taking the Genitive 367
Genitive of Comparison 370
Attributive Genitives as Object, Predicative Complement, or Prepositional
Complement 370
As Modifier in a Noun Phrase: the Attributive Genitive 371
As an Optional Constituent (Adverbial Modifier) 373
Dative 374
As Obligatory Constituent (to Complement Verbs/Adjectives) 374
As Indirect Object 374
With Other Verbs and Adjectives 376
Dative of the Possessor 377
As an Optional Constituent (Adverbial Modifier) 377
Referring to Things or Abstract Entities 377
Referring to Persons 379
With Expressions of Comparison 380
Vocative 380
Cases and the Expression of Time and Space 381

31 Prepositions 383
Introduction 383
Common Uses of the Prepositions 384
Proper Prepositions 384
Improper Prepositions 396

32 Comparison 398
Meaning of Comparatives and Superlatives 398
Comparison 399
Constructions of Comparison that Follow a Comparative or Superlative 399
Constructions of Comparison that Express Identicalness, Similarity or Equality:
ὁ αὐτός, ὅμοιος and ἴσος 402

33 The Verb: Tense and Aspect 404

Basic Notions and Terminology 404
Tense 404

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Aspect 405
Grammatical Aspect 405
Lexical Aspect 408
Factors Influencing Interpretation 409
Tense and Aspect Combined: The Indicative in Main Clauses 409
Basic Values of the Indicative; Narrative and Non-Narrative Text 409
The Seven Indicatives of Greek: Basic Values 409
Narrative and Non-Narrative Text 411
Present Indicative 412
Basic Uses 412
Specific Interpretations 412
Imperfect 415
Basic Uses 415
Specific Interpretations 416
Aorist Indicative 417
Basic Uses 417
Specific Interpretations 417
Non-Past Uses of the Aorist 419
Perfect Indicative 420
Basic Uses; Active versus Passive 420
Specific Interpretations 421
Pluperfect 423
Basic Uses 423
Specific Interpretations 425
Future Indicative 425
Future Perfect Indicative 427
The Alternation of Tenses in Narrative Text 427
Aorist versus Imperfect (and Pluperfect) 427
Special Uses of the Imperfect in Narrative 428
Historical Present 430
Aspect Outside the Indicative in Main Clauses 432
Aspect and Relative Tense 432
Further Interpretations; Exceptions 433
Aspectual Interpretation in Temporally Fixed Contexts 435

34 The Verb: Mood 438

Introduction to Moods 438
Indicative in Main Clauses 439
Subjunctive in Main Clauses 439
Hortatory and Prohibitive Subjunctive (in Commands/Requests) 439
Deliberative Subjunctive (in Questions) 440

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Further Particulars 440

Optative in Main Clauses 441
Potential Optative with ἄν (in Statements/Questions) 441
Cupitive Optative (in Wishes) 442
‘Modal’ (Secondary) Indicative in Main Clauses 442
In Statements/Questions 442
In Unrealizable Wishes 444
Imperative 445
Overview of the Uses of Moods in Main Clauses 446

35 The Verb: Voice 447

Introduction 447
Basic Terminology 447
Voice: Active and Middle-Passive Meanings 447
Active, Middle and Passive Forms 448
Verbs with and without an Object; Causative Verbs 449
The Morphology of Voice 450
Voice Distinctions in the Different Tense Stems 450
Verbs with Only One Voice; Verbs Switching Voice between Tense Stems 451
Middle-Passive Meanings 452
Indirect-Reflexive Meaning 452
Direct-Reflexive Meaning 453
Passive Meaning 454
Change-of-State Verbs 456
Change of Physical State or Position 456
(Change of) Mental State 458
Middle-Only Verbs and Passive-Only Verbs 459
Indirect-Reflexive Meaning 459
Reciprocal Meaning 459
Change-of-State; Mental State 460
Other Middle-Only and Passive-Only Verbs 460
Further Particulars 461
Middle Future Forms with Passive Meaning 461
‘Synonymous’ Active and Middle Verbs 462
Overviews 462
Overview of the Middle-Passive Meanings and Forms of Some Important Types of
Verbs 462
(Active) Verbs which Take an Object/Complement 462
Verbs Whose Middle-Passive May Have a Direct-Reflexive Meaning 463
Verbs Whose Middle-Passive May Have a Change-of-State Meaning 463
Overview of the Meanings Expressed by Aorist and Future Conjugations 464

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36 Impersonal Constructions 465

Introduction 465
Quasi-Impersonal Verbs and Constructions 466
Verbs 466
Neuter Adjectives; Nouns 467
Proper Impersonal Verbs and Constructions 468
Weather and Time Expressions 468
Impersonal Passives and the Impersonal Use of Verbal Adjectives in -τέον 469
Proper Impersonal Verbs with a (Dative and) Genitive 470

37 Verbal Adjectives 471

Types of Verbal Adjectives 471
Adjectives in -τέος, -τέα, -τέον 471
As Predicative Complement 471
Impersonal Use 472
Adjectives in -τός, -τή, -τόν 473

38 Questions, Directives, Wishes, Exclamations 474

Introduction: Sentence Types and Communicative Functions 474
Questions 476
Introduction: Basic Terminology 476
Yes/No-Questions and Alternative Questions 476
Specifying Questions 478
The Use of Moods in Questions 479
Further Particulars 479
Is That a Question? – ‘Non-Standard’ Communicative Functions of the
Interrogative Sentence Type 479
Answers 480
Directives 481
Basic Constructions 481
Difference between Present-Stem and Aorist-Stem Imperatives/Subjunctives 483
Other Expressions Used as Directives; Differences between These Expressions 484
Wishes 486
Realizable and Unrealizable Wishes 486
Difference between Present-Stem and Aorist-Stem Forms 487
Exclamations 488
Introduction: Basic Terminology 488
Exclamations of Degree 488
Nominal Exclamations 489
The Exclamatory Infinitive 490

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39 Introduction to Complex Sentences 491

Definitions; Functions of Subordinate Clauses 491
Types of Subordinate Constructions 492

40 Introduction to Finite Subordinate Clauses 494

Subordinators 494
Functions and Types of Finite Subordinate Clauses 494
Moods in Subordinate Clauses 495
Subordinate Clauses Which Use the Same Moods as Independent Sentences 495
Subordinate Clauses with Required Moods 496
Moods and the Use of ἄν in Temporal, Conditional and Relative Clauses 496
Sequence of Moods; the Oblique Optative 499
Attraction of Mood 501

41 Indirect Statements 502

Introduction: Indirect Speech 502
Direct versus Indirect Speech 502
Types of Indirect Speech 503
Indirect Statements 504
Verbs Introducing Indirect Statements 504
Subordinators Introducing Indirect Statements 504
Tense and Mood in ὅτι/ὡς-Clauses 505
In Primary Sequence 505
In Historic Sequence 506
With Verbs of Speaking 506
With Verbs of Perception, Knowledge and Emotion 511
The Continuation of Indirect Speech 512
Subordinate Clauses in Indirect Speech 513

42 Indirect Questions and Indirect Exclamations 517

Indirect Questions 517
Introduction: Direct versus Indirect Questions 517
Verbs Introducing Indirect Questions 517
Subordinators Introducing Indirect Questions 518
Yes/No-Questions and Alternative Questions 518
Specifying Questions 518
The Use of Moods in Indirect Questions 519
Indirect Exclamations 520
Introduction: Direct versus Indirect Exclamations 520
Verbs Introducing Indirect Exclamations 520
Construction of Indirect Exclamations 520

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43 Fear Clauses 522

Introduction; Verbs of Fearing and Apprehension 522
Construction and Meaning of Fear Clauses 523
Fear for Possible Future Actions 523
Fear for (Uncertain) Present or Past Actions 524
Use of Fear Clauses to Express Disappointment 524
Independent Use of μή + Subjunctive 525

44 Effort Clauses 526

Introduction; Verbs of Effort, (Pre)caution and Contriving 526
Construction of Effort Clauses 526
Further Particulars 527
‘Interference’ between Fear and Effort Clauses 527
Independent Use of ὅπως + Future Indicative 528

45 Purpose Clauses 529

Introduction 529
Construction of Purpose Clauses 529

46 Result Clauses 531

Introduction 531
Construction of Result Clauses 531
With the Moods of Independent Sentences 531
ὥστε Introducing a New Sentence 532
With the Infinitive 533

47 Temporal Clauses 536

Introduction 536
Expressions of ‘Time When’ 536
Conjunctions Used in Temporal Clauses 536
Moods and Tenses Used in Temporal Clauses 537
‘Temporal’ Clauses with Causal Force 538
Temporal Clauses Referring to a Single Action in the Past 538
Temporal Clauses Referring to the Future 539
Temporal Clauses Referring to a Repeated or Habitual Action 540
ἕως 542
πρίν 543
Comparative Temporal Clauses (ὡς ὅτε/ὡς ὁπότε) 545

48 Causal Clauses 546

Introduction 546

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Construction of Causal Clauses 546

ὅτι and διότι 546
‘Temporal’ Conjunctions with Causal Force 547
ἐπεί/ὡς Introducing a New Sentence 549

49 Conditional Clauses 550

Introduction 550
Neutral Conditions 551
Neutral Conditions with a Future Indicative in the Protasis 552
Prospective Conditions 552
Potential Conditions 553
Counterfactual Conditions 554
Habitual Conditions 555
Further Particulars 557
Mixed Conditionals 557
Concessive Clauses: εἰ καί and καὶ εἰ 558
Comparative Conditional Clauses: ὡς εἰ, ὥσπερ εἰ and ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ as if 560
εἰ/ἐάν in case, in the hope that 560
ἐφ’ ᾧ(τε) on the condition that 561
Conditional Clauses in Indirect Discourse 561
Overview of Conditional Sentences (Basic Types) 562

50 Relative Clauses 563

Introduction 563
Relative Pronouns, Adjectives and Adverbs; Definite and Indefinite Relatives 563
Correlative Clauses 565
Digressive, Restrictive and Autonomous Relative Clauses 565
Antecedent, Agreement, Attraction and Connection 566
Basic Principles of Agreement 566
Relative Attraction 569
Inverse Relative Attraction 570
Incorporation of the Antecedent in the Relative Clause 570
Relative Connection 571
Moods and Tenses in Relative Clauses 571
In Digressive Clauses 571
In Restrictive Clauses 572
Further Particulars 574
Relative Clauses Expressing Cause, Purpose, or Result 574
Potential and Counterfactual Constructions in Restrictive Clauses 575
(Cor)relative Clauses with Relative Adjectives or Adverbs 576
With Relative Adjectives (οἷος, ὁποῖος, ὅσος, ὁπόσος) 576

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With Relative Adverbs 577

Relative Adverbs of Place (and Time) 577
Relative Adverbs of Manner: Clauses of Comparison 578

51 The Infinitive 580

Introduction 580
Basic Properties 580
Overview of Uses: Dynamic and Declarative Infinitives, Articular Infinitives,
Other Uses 580
Without the Article: Dynamic and Declarative Infinitive 580
With the Article; Other Uses 582
The Dynamic Infinitive 583
Verbs Taking a Dynamic Infinitive 583
Expression of the Subject of Dynamic Infinitives 585
Negatives with Dynamic Infinitives 588
Tense and Aspect of Dynamic Infinitives 588
Further Particulars 589
Dynamic Infinitives Expressing Purpose or Result 589
Dynamic Infinitives Specifying Adjectives and Nouns 590
The Declarative Infinitive 591
Verbs Taking a Declarative Infinitive 591
Expression of the Subject with Declarative Infinitives 592
Negatives with the Declarative Infinitive 593
Tense and Aspect of Declarative Infinitives 593
ἄν with the Declarative Infinitive 595
Verbs Taking Both Constructions 596
The Infinitive with Verbs of Preventing and Denying 599
The Construction of Verbs of Hindering/Preventing with Other Verbs 600
The Articular Infinitive 601
Introduction 601
Expression of Subjects with Articular Infinitives 602
Negative with the Articular Infinitive 603
Tense and Aspect of Articular Infinitives 603
Frequent Uses of the Articular Infinitive 604
Other Uses of the Infinitive 605

52 The Participle 606

Introduction 606
Basic Properties; Main Uses 606
Placement of Participles 607
Tense/Aspect and ‘Mood’ of Participles 607

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ἄν with Participles 610

The Supplementary Participle 610
Introduction; Verbs Taking a Supplementary Participle 610
Verbs Taking a Supplementary Participle which Expresses an Action which is
Realized 612
Verbs Taking a Supplementary Participle which Expresses Propositional
Content 613
Verbs Taking a Supplementary Participle which Expresses a Way of Being 614
The Case Form of Supplementary Participles and their Subjects 615
Supplementary Participles and Other Complement Constructions 617
Verbs of Perception Taking More Than One Type of Supplementary
Participle 617
Verbs Taking a Participle or an Infinitive: Verbs of Knowledge 619
Verbs Taking a Participle or an Infinitive: Other Verbs 621
Verbs Taking Both Participles and ὅτι/ὡς-Clauses 622
The Circumstantial Participle 623
Introduction 623
The Case Form of Circumstantial Participles and Their Subjects 623
Connected Participles 624
Genitive Absolute 624
Accusative Absolute 626
Interpretation of Circumstantial Participles 626
Time, Circumstance 626
Cause, Motivation 627
Condition 628
Purpose 629
Manner, Means 629
Comparison 630
Concession 630
Dominant Use of Circumstantial Participles 630
The Participle in Noun Phrases 631
Attributive Use (as Modifier) and Substantival Use (as Head) 631
Generic Use 632
Tense/Aspect of Attributive and Substantival Participles 633
Participles in Apposition 633
Periphrastic Uses of the Participle 634
εἰμί + Participle 634
ἔχω + Participle 635

53 Overview of Subordinate Constructions 636

Complements 636

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Further Particulars 637

Adverbial and Adjectival Subordinate Clauses 638
Further Particulars 639

54 Overview of Moods 640

Indicative 640
Modal (Secondary) Indicative 641
Subjunctive 642
Optative 643
Imperative 644
Moods of Independent Sentences in Subordinate Clauses 645

55 Overview of the Uses of ἄν 646

In Independent Sentences 646
In Finite Subordinate Clauses 646
With Infinitives and Participles 647

56 Overview of Negatives 648

General Points 648
οὐ versus μή 648
Multiple Negatives 648
In Independent Sentences 649
In Subordinate Clauses 650
With Infinitives 650
With Participles 651

57 Overview of the Uses of ὡς 652

As a Conjunction 652
As an Adverb 653
As a Preposition 654

PART III: TEXTUAL COHERENCE 655

58 Introduction to Textual Coherence 657

Coherence 657
Sentences versus Texts 657
Relations between Text Segments; Hierarchy; Interactional Relations 658
Devices Indicating Coherence 659
Text Types 660

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59 Particles 663
Introduction 663
Meanings and Functions; Types of Particle 663
Particle Combinations 664
The Position of Particles 665
Connective Particles 665
Introduction 665
List of Connective Particles 667
ἀλλά 667
ἀτάρ 668
αὖ and αὖτε 668
γάρ 668
δέ 671
ἤ 673
καί 673
καίτοι 675
μέν 676
μέντοι 677
νυν 679
οὐδέ/μηδέ and οὔτε/μήτε 679
οὐκοῦν and οὔκουν 680
οὖν 681
τε 683
τοιγάρ, τοιγαροῦν, and τοιγάρτοι 683
τοίνυν 684
Attitudinal Particles 685
Introduction 685
List of Attitudinal Particles 685
ἄρα 685
ἆρα 686
δαί 686
δή 686
δήπου 688
δῆτα 689
ἦ 689
μήν 689
που 690
τοι 691
Particles of Scope 692
Introduction 692
List of Scope Particles 692

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γε 692
γοῦν 692
περ 693
‘Adverbial’ καί 693
Particle Combinations 694
List of Particle Combinations 694
ἀλλὰ γάρ and ἀλλὰ . . . γάρ 694
ἀλλὰ ( . . . ) δή 695
ἀλλὰ μήν 695
ἀλλ᾿ οὖν 695
γὰρ δή 695
γὰρ οὖν 696
δ᾿ οὖν 696
ἦ μήν 696
καὶ γάρ 697
καὶ . . . δέ 697
καὶ δή 698
καὶ δὴ καί 698
καὶ μήν 699
μὲν οὖν (attitudinal μήν + οὖν) 699
μὲν οὖν ( . . . δέ) and μὲν τοίνυν ( . . . δέ) 700
οὐ μὴν ἀλλά and οὐ μέντοι ἀλλά 700
οὐ μὴν οὐδέ and οὐδὲ μήν 701

60 Word Order 702

Introduction 702
Words with a Fixed Position: Postpositives and Prepositives 703
Mobile, Postpositive and Prepositive Words 703
The Placement of Postpositives 704
The Placement of Prepositives 706
The Ordering of Words in Noun Phrases 707
Head-Modifier versus Modifier-Head 707
Multiple Modifiers 708
Hyperbaton 709
The Ordering of Constituents Within the Clause 709
Asserted and Presupposed Information 709
Consequences for Greek Constituent Order: Focus and Topic 711
Focus Constructions: Broad and Narrow Focus 712
Topics 713
Given Topics (Postverbal) 714
Contrastive and New Topics (Clause-initial) 714

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The Periphery of the Clause: Settings, Themes and Tails 717

Settings 717
Themes 718
Tails 719
Overview of Clauses with a Periphery 720
Prolepsis 720

61 Four Sample Passages 722

Narrative: Lysias 12.5–12 722
Introduction and Text 722
Commentary 724
Description: Xenophon, Anabasis 1.5.1–4 729
Introduction and Text 729
Commentary 730
Argument: Plato, Gorgias 484c–485a 735
Introduction and Text 735
Commentary 736
Dialogue: Sophocles, Ajax 1120–41 741
Introduction and Text 741
Commentary 742

Bibliography 749
Introduction 749
List of Books, Articles and Online Sources 749
I Encyclopedias, Companions (with Full Bibliographies) 749
II Online Sources 749
III General Works on Language and Linguistics 750
IV Historical Linguistics (Indo-European, Greek Historical Grammar, Etymology)
and Greek Dialectology 751
V Greek: Full Reference Grammars 752
VI Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Accentuation, Word Formation 752
VII Greek: Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse 753
Index of Examples 757
Index of Subjects 776
Index of Greek Words 794

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Preface
On Cs and Gs: History and Aims of the Book

Conception and Development

Readers picking up this hefty tome may be surprised to learn that the first C of
CGCG (as we like to call it) once stood for Concise. The syntax part of that Concise
Grammar of Classical Greek began, as so many grammar books no doubt have, as
lecture handouts – to be precise, as EvEB’s handouts used in first-year Greek
syntax classes at the University of Oxford. The work grew from a dissatisfaction
with existing teaching materials in English: the main concern was that those
materials did not reflect decades’ worth of advances in the linguistic description
of Ancient Greek, inspired by the incorporation of insights from various areas of
general linguistics. The last good full-scale reference grammar in English, Smyth’s
Greek Grammar, for all its excellence, stemmed from a time long before such
advances had even been possible, and more recent grammar books had done
nothing to bridge the gap. The truth was that no book existed that represented
the current state of knowledge on the Greek language. There were other problems,
too: Smyth was often perceived by undergraduates as daunting and dense, but
alternatives were typically too limited in their coverage; examples used in existing
grammars were not always representative, and based on antiquated text editions;
terminology was confusing and outmoded; and so forth.
The lecture handouts began to look more like a book when EvEB was joined by
AR in revising the material and producing additional chapters. LH, who had also
been teaching at Oxford and who had run into similar difficulties with existing
materials, then joined, and he and EvEB wrote the first version of the section on
textual coherence – a particular desideratum in view of the advances in linguistics
mentioned above.
Late in 2009, at the instigation of Juliane Kerkhecker, Grocyn Lecturer at
Oxford, the material was sent, in the state that it had now attained (still without
a morphology), to Cambridge University Press – not so much as a full-fledged
book proposal (in the minds of the authors, at least: without the morphology the
work could not yet lay full claim to its first G), but as an opening gambit. To our
delight, the Press took the submission very seriously, and engaged a large number
of readers to judge the work. This led to a contract, and a change of title to
Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek.
A very great deal of labour, however, was still to be done at this point. Over the
next few years – with many delays as the result of other obligations – we drafted the
phonology and morphology chapters, and overhauled the existing parts to take

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xxxii Preface

into account the readers’ reports (which had been gratifyingly favourable and
detailed). It is in this period that MdB, former Grocyn Lecturer at Oxford, who
had himself been planning a similar effort, joined the writing team.
The revised work, which had grown considerably due to addition of the pho-
nology/morphology and further additions requested by our readers, was resub-
mitted to the Press in the final months of 2013, and another full set of readers’
reports on the complete text followed in the subsequent year. These reports were
once again very helpful and detailed, eliciting not only a final round of revision, but
also a complete overhaul of the numbering system used for our sections. These
changes were completed early in 2015; this was followed by a lengthy and complex
production process (in our Bibliography, we have not systematically added refer-
ences to works from 2016 or later).
The end product is in every way the result of a joint effort: although individual
authors wrote first drafts of particular chapters, or took the initiative in revising
chapters or sections, we discussed every page of the book as a group, and all four of
us have reflected extensively on the entire work. Each of us is happy to share
responsibility for the whole.

Target Audience and Scope

Our particular hope is that university students (at all levels) and teachers will profit
from CGCG. Professional scholars whose main area of expertise is not Greek linguis-
tics may also benefit from our presentation, particularly where it concerns areas which
are less often covered in traditional grammars (word order is a prime example), but
also more generally because of the manner in which we have tried to reflect current
thinking in the field (on such issues as verbal aspect, the use of tenses, voice, the
representation of reported discourse, complement constructions, particles, etc.).
CGCG’s coverage is such, we suggest, that it could be used in the context of
undergraduate and graduate language courses, and that a commentary on a
classical text geared primarily to a student audience could refer to it for most
grammatical features, except those so rare that they deserve fuller discussion
anyway. Still, there are many subjects about which we might have said much
more, and some about which we have said almost nothing at all (syllable structure,
the interjections, and forms of address spring to mind here). Other expansions,
such as a section on metre and/or prose rhythm, or the kind of stylistic glossary
often found in grammars, were never seriously considered: to our mind, readers
are much better served on these issues by specialized resources.
On the point of coverage, a few words must also be said about the second C and
G of our title. There was a temptation (and a desire among a minority of our
readers) to increase the diachronic and dialectological scope of the work to cover
Homer, archaic lyric, the Koine, etc.; we also would have loved to say more about

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On Cs and Gs: History and Aims of the Book xxxiii

the Greek of inscriptions. However, as any such move would have drastically
increased the size and complexity of the book (and accordingly decreased its
accessibility), we decided to limit our purview to classical Greek. Again, such
omissions seemed all the more feasible given the availability of specialized
resources on the dialects, Homeric grammar, etc. Since Herodotus and the dra-
matists fall clearly under the heading of classical Greek, we did include a chapter on
Ionic prose and some dialectal features of drama (particularly the ‘Doric’ alpha).

Some Principles of Presentation

Although we abandoned Concise for our first C early on, we have still strived for
concision and accessibility in our presentation. Implicated in this is our decision
not to clutter the book’s pages with bibliographical references or extensive discus-
sion of diverging views. We do provide a brief, thematically organized bibliogra-
phy at the end of the book, and trust that the resources listed there will allow
interested readers to follow up particular subjects. We are well aware, of course,
that at some points our presentation is open to genuine debate or uncertainty.
Where we have elided such discussions, it is not from dogmatism but from a desire
for consistency and clarity.
Another way in which we have attempted to keep the book accessible is by making
it ‘theory-light’ and by taking a considered approach towards our terminological
apparatus. Whether or not we have succeeded in this must be judged by our users:
we provide some further discussion of our choices in terminology at pp. xl–xlii.
Keeping the book approachable also meant forgoing radical departures from
‘normal’ ways of organizing a grammar. Our syntax chapters, for instance, follow
a traditional pattern, moving from the constructions of simple sentences (including
basic nominal syntax and verbal categories such as tense, aspect and mood), to
various kinds of subordinate constructions, gathered under such headings as ‘causal
clauses’, ‘purpose clauses’, ‘the participle’, etc., which are strongly correlated to form.
Another approach – one more attuned to the fact that language is not merely a
system of forms, but a medium used by speakers and writers to accomplish certain
goals and effects – might have been to give much more prominence to function, for
instance by discussing all ways of expressing ‘cause’ or ‘purpose’ under one heading.
This is not, in the end, the course we took, but gestures towards such an approach
may be found throughout the book, and some chapters (e.g. the chapter on wishes,
directives, etc.) more expressly align with such organizing principles.
We have put considerable effort into the selection of our Greek examples: some,
of course, were found in our predecessors and recommissioned, but most were
newly culled from a wide range of texts. Our aim has been to find, in varied sources,
examples that are clear and actually representative of the phenomenon they are
meant to exemplify. Digital search corpora such as the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae

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xxxiv Preface

and Perseus under PhiloLogic were of great help in finding suitable material. We
also decided to dispense almost entirely with fabricated sentences, from a convic-
tion that working with real Greek examples is the best way of learning how to deal
with real Greek texts (and from what we consider a healthy mistrust of our own
ability to produce Greek that would have sounded true to an ancient hearer).
In the phonology/morphology part, too, our presentation of forms is often based
on a fresh examination of the corpus. Some exceptional forms that are often listed in
grammars but do not actually occur in classical Greek have been left out. This is
particularly relevant in the case of our list of principal parts, where we have generally
avoided giving forms which are non-existent (or nearly so) in classical Greek.
While on the topic of the phonology/morphology: we have in those chapters
provided rather more historical information than is now usual in university-level
grammars. Much of what is ‘irregular’ in Greek forms and paradigms can be
explained with a little historical background, and it is our experience that students
benefit greatly from being provided with such information. It should be stressed
that our aim in this was expressly didactic, not to provide a proper historical
grammar. This is the only excuse we can offer to experts wondering about our
principles of selection (no labiovelars?), or our manner of presentation (e.g. the use
of the Greek alphabet for reconstructed forms, yielding, for instance, such infeli-
citous reconstructions as *σεχ- instead of *segh-). Students interested in finding out
more about the historical background of the language are strongly encouraged to
refer to the works on this topic listed in the bibliography.
In the phonology/morphology part we have given indications of vowel quantity
(ᾰ/ᾱ, ῐ/ῑ, ῠ/ῡ) where we deemed such indications helpful for the analysis of forms, or
for students’ memorization of prevalent patterns (e.g. vowel quantities in endings).
We often give full indications only once within a section, or only when a form or
ending first appears. We have not strived for complete consistency, nor attempted to
replicate the information about individual lexical items available in dictionaries.
Finally, one other point of principle in the morphology has been to analyse forms
explicitly: we find in our teaching that there is a crucial difference between telling a
student that the acc. pl. masc. aor. ppl. act. of παιδεύω is παιδεύσαντας, and
explaining that the form is built up from a sigmatic aorist stem παιδευσ(α)- (itself
the product of regular processes of formation), the participle-suffix -ντ-, and a third-
declension accusative ending -ας. Our aim throughout has been to stimulate the
second, analytical approach to Greek morphology.

Using CGCG: A Few Points of Guidance

The chapters of the book were written so as to be suitable for continuous reading,
yet we recognize that most users of a reference grammar will come to it looking for

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Acknowledgements xxxv

discussion of a particular topic. A detailed table of contents and extensive indexes

should allow for easy navigation to the right place.
We have also included many cross-references throughout the book, so that
related topics or terms may be followed up quickly. In some cases the ‘target’ of
these references is a (more) complete treatment of a topic which is not (fully)
discussed at the ‘source’; in others, a cross-reference is inserted when a gramma-
tical term or concept is used which users may not know, or which they may wish to
see treated in more detail; we also use cross-references in the discussion of
examples, helping readers with difficult points of grammar. Some readers will
want to follow up more of these cross-references than others: we trust that
individual users will soon develop their own preferences and practices in this
respect.
A difference in type-size represents the difference between sections discussing
features of the language that are more frequent, central, or significant (to our
mind), and those that are less so. Notes are added to sections for further discussion,
exceptions, etc. The general idea is that text in larger type presents the main
features of a particular grammatical topic – those which an undergraduate student
might be expected to know – whereas the notes and smaller-type sections offer
additional information, or features with which students will be confronted when
reading texts, but which they may not be expected to know by heart. Naturally,
when CGCG is used as a teaching resource, instructors will determine for them-
selves which material they wish to emphasize.
In the morphology, tables of forms are presented before a paradigm is discussed
in detail. Those looking for nothing but the tables, gathered together in one place,
may find them online, at the book’s page on the Cambridge University Press
website.

Acknowledgements
CGCG has been a long time in the making, and over the years many have
contributed to its improvement. Where it falls short the responsibility is of course
ours. It is a genuine pleasure to record here some of the debts we have incurred.
A first word of thanks must go out to the community of scholars working on
Greek linguistics at large. Many of them will see their ideas reflected in these pages,
and although, outside of our bibliography, we do not cite individuals by name (for
reasons outlined above), their contribution in shaping our thinking is no less
significant.
The Cambridge University Press-assigned readers offered generously of their
time (twice!) to comment on a large manuscript in detail. Their general endorse-
ment has been gratifying, their criticism has sharpened our presentation in many

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xxxvi Preface

places, and their corrections have saved us from a large number of mistakes. We
are pleased to be able to mention some of the readers by name: Patrick Finglass
wrote acute comments and was the ideal person to comment on our Ajax-passage;
Helma Dik provided superior input and has continued doing so even after her task
was done; Coulter George deserves a special deal of gratitude for the breadth and
detail of his report.
Benjamin Allgaier, Maurits de Leeuw, Karel Stegeman and David Cohen
checked the text and citation of all of our examples, working with precision and
speed. Mirte Liebregts took on the mammoth task of drafting our Index Locorum
and parts of the other indexes: we are grateful for her diligent efforts.
Juliane Kerkhecker provided early encouragement and was instrumental in
making contact with the Press. Gerry Wakker was intimately involved in early
discussions, and commented on the first draft of the section on textual coherence.
Rutger Allan offered insightful comments on several chapters, and more generally
we have profited from his published work in many places.
At the Press, we would like to thank Michael Sharp as well as our successive
Content Managers, Liz Hanlon, Christina Sarigiannidou, Ross Stewart, and espe-
cially Sarah Lambert. Malcolm Todd, our swift and precise copyeditor, was a
trusted ally during the production phase.
The book uses a specially modified version of the Press’s house font for Greek,
Neohellenic. Additional characters were designed by EvEB and by George
Matthiopoulos of the Greek Font Society. For his elegant designs, produced at
very short notice, George has our sincere thanks.
Friends and colleagues at our various institutions offered moral support, and
patience when we were once again preoccupied with work on the grammar. EvEB
wishes to thank, in Oxford, the Faculty of Classics, Corpus Christi College, and
Magdalen College (particularly his colleagues at the Calleva Centre); and in the
Netherlands, the members of the departments of Classics at the University of
Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, the University of Groningen, and the
University of Leiden. Each of these institutions provided a welcoming home and a
base of operations on one or more occasions during the years that CGCG was
written. AR is indebted to the Amsterdam Center for Language and
Communication of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam,
which continued to provide material support of various kinds after his retirement.
LH wishes to record a debt of gratitude to the Provost and Fellows of Worcester
College, Oxford, where the work was begun, to the Warden and Fellows of Merton
College, Oxford, where most of it was done, and to the Seminar für klassische
Philologie of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, where it was finally seen
through; at the last institution Jonas Grethlein in particular has shown great
patience and support. MdB wishes to thank his colleagues from the Classics

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Acknowledgements xxxvii

team at the University of Amsterdam, and Irene de Jong in particular for her
support and encouragement.
Even more patience was shown by our families, who relentlessly supported the
enterprise and cheerfully indulged our nocturnal email exchanges. The four of us
spent many hours in each other’s (often digital) company, including evenings and
weekends. We are all too aware that those hours might also have been spent
elsewhere.
Students in Oxford (especially at Merton College), Amsterdam, Groningen and
Leiden have been using pages from the book or earlier versions of the whole for
some time, and have offered their views. To all our students, we owe a great debt. It
is with them in mind that we wrote this book.

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Abbreviations, Symbols, Editions

Abbreviations Used in This Book

1 first person ind. indicative
2 second person inf. infinitive
2x acc. double accusative intr. intransitive
3 third person Ion. Ionic
acc. accusative Ital. Italian
act. active Lat. Latin
adj. adjective lit. (more) literally
adv. adverb masc./m. masculine
Afrik. Afrikaans mid. middle
aor. aorist mp. middle-passive
athem. athematic n. note
Att. Attic neut./n. neuter
augm. augment(ed) nom. nominative
cf. compare (confer) opt. optative
class. classical pass. passive
dat. dative pf. perfect
decl. inf. declarative infinitive pl. plural
du. dual plpf. pluperfect (=secondary
perfect indicative)
dyn. inf. dynamic infinitive ppl. participle
Engl. English pres. present
fem./f. feminine redupl. reduplication/
reduplicated
Fr. French refl. reflexive
fut. future sec. secondary
fut. pf. future perfect sg. singular
gen. genitive sigm. sigmatic
Germ. German subj. subjunctive
Gk. Greek them. thematic
imp. imperative voc. vocative
impf. imperfect (=secondary
present indicative)
Abbreviations of authors and works used in the examples follow those of the
Oxford Classical Dictionary, except that the orators are cited, where possible, by
speech number, and that Euripides’ Heracles is abbreviated (Her.). Fragments are

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Texts and Translations of Examples xxxix

cited (fr.) with the edition from which they (and their numbering) are taken. When
scholarly consensus holds a work to be spurious, this is indicated by square
brackets (e.g. ‘[Andoc.] 4’). For a complete list see the Index of Examples at the
end of the book.

Other Symbols
The symbol → (‘see’) indicates a cross-reference to another chapter (e.g. →1),
section (e.g. →1.2) or range of sections (e.g. →1.2–4). In some cases a cross-
reference points to a specific note (e.g. →1.2 n.1).
Greek examples are numbered (1), (2), (3), etc. (the numbering restarts each
chapter), and referred to using that format. Three dots ( . . . ) in Greek examples
indicate that a part of the text has been left out for the sake of brevity or clarity. A
vertical bar ( | ) indicates a line division in the Greek text. A double semicolon ( :: )
is used to indicate a change of speaker. Explanatory notes in and following the
translations of Greek examples are given in italics.
For the signs > and <, the asterisk * and the symbol †, →1.48.
For the representation of (reconstructed) sounds using the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), →1.14.

Texts and Translations of Examples

Our examples were typically taken from electronic sources – we have made
extensive usage of the online edition of Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, as well as
the excellent search functionality of Perseus under PhiloLogic. All examples were
subsequently checked against printed editions, normally the most recent Oxford
Classical Text, in a few cases a Budé or Teubner edition. We have indicated any
material left out, but have freely added full stops (or question marks) to sentences
which are syntactically complete in our example but run on in the original. We
have also indicated line divisions and speaker changes (see above, ‘Other
Symbols’).
All translations are our own, although we have often borrowed phrasing from
published translations (particularly those in the Loeb Classical Library series).

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On Terminology

Problems and Principles

Greek grammar is something of a terminological morass. All kinds of phenomena
are known by different overlapping – or not quite overlapping – labels, variously
popular in different periods or different regions. Conversely, for some features of
the language no good term has ever been firmly established. Matters are not helped
by the fact that, outside of Greece, the traditional terminology for Greek grammar
is largely based on Latin grammar, even though there are some fundamental
differences between the two languages (particularly in the verbal system).
The challenges for the grammar writer are many, ranging from the trivial to the
serious: should we call εἰ + optative a ‘hypothetical’ condition, a ‘remote’ condition,
a ‘should-would’ condition, a ‘potential’ condition, or perhaps a ‘future less vivid’?
Should we refer to μήν as a ‘modal’, ‘attitudinal’ or ‘interactional’ particle, or
perhaps as a particle which ‘expresses a mode of thought in isolation’ (all the
while well aware that the term ‘particle’ itself has fallen out of favour with linguists
today)? Being no real fans of the ‘declarative’ and ‘dynamic’ infinitive, should we
yet abandon those terms – now fairly well established in Greek linguistics, if not in
Classics at large – for an older apparatus which blurs the crucial distinctions? Are
‘imperfective’ and ‘perfective’, the fully standardized terms in the linguistic litera-
ture on verbal aspect, too confusing to use when there are also imperfects and (not
at all perfective) perfects to contend with?
Any answer to such problems is inevitably a compromise, and one which will
leave a number of people unhappy to see no preference accorded to their preferred
terms. What remains is to briefly state our general principles in selecting and using
terminology in this book:

– We aim to use, whenever possible, terms which have some currency in general
linguistics, not merely in Greek grammar.
– We wish to reflect, through our selection of terms, some of the significant
advances made in Greek linguistics in recent decades.
– We aim to use terminology which is accurate and discrete (i.e. terms cover the
phenomena they are meant to cover, and no more or less).
– Taking the above principles into account, we aim to use terminology which is
intuitive (ideally, self-explanatory) and, where possible, familiar.
– Finally, and most importantly, we have strived for ‘terminological inclusiveness’
throughout: our notes and our Index of Subjects provide many alternative terms
for the phenomena we treat (sometimes we also indicate why those alternative
terms were not chosen).

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Verbal Terminology xli

Verbal Terminology
Separate attention in this context is demanded by the verb. A satisfying description
of the Greek verbal system is made especially difficult by the confusion plaguing
traditional grammatical terminology. This confusion is not easily resolved, other
than by completely abandoning that traditional terminology (a course we decided
not to take). Although we aim to be precise in our use of verbal terminology, some
overlaps and forms of shorthand will remain, and it is good to be clear about these
at the outset (reference to the table that opens chapter 11 may be helpful here; fuller
discussion of the relevant terms may be found in that chapter).

Tenses, Aspects and Moods

– The term tense is found used as (i) a morphological concept identifying certain
indicatives (‘the imperfect tense’, ‘the aorist tense’, ‘narrative tenses’, etc.), (ii) as
the equivalent of what we will call tense-aspect stems (‘a participle of the aorist
tense’, ‘a present-tense optative’, ‘the tenses outside the indicative’, etc.) and (iii)
as a grammatical concept referring to the expression of temporal relationships
(‘past tenses’, ‘present tenses’, etc.; ‘anteriority’, ‘simultaneity’, etc.). In this
grammar ‘tense’ is primarily used in the third sense, occasionally in the first.
The second use will (and should) be avoided, since the term ‘tense’ is much less
relevant to the description of (e.g.) participles and optatives.
– Similarly, the terms present, aorist, future and perfect are used both (i) to refer
to tense-aspect stems (‘a perfect infinitive’, ‘the aorist optative does not have an
augment’) and (ii) to refer to the indicatives of these tense-aspect stems (‘aorists
and imperfects’, ‘the aorist has an augment’) . It may be noted that in the latter
use, ‘aorist’ is a direct equivalent of ‘imperfect’, but not in the former (there is, in
Greek, no ‘imperfect subjunctive’ parallel to the ‘aorist subjunctive’). In this
book we write ‘aorist’ for ‘aorist indicative’ (etc.) only when there can be no
doubt about the intended meaning.

Note 1: Thus, most often, ‘aorist’ in this book stands for a stem which expresses a kind of
aspect (perfective aspect), ‘present’ for a stem which expresses another kind (imperfective
aspect), etc.: for these distinctions, →33.4–7. We observe that in some recent treatments in
general linguistics, the stems are in fact referred to by these names (yielding such
terminology as ‘primary imperfective indicative’ for Greek forms which we will call ‘present
indicative’, and ‘perfective infinitive’ for what we call ‘aorist infinitive’). Such a system has
considerable advantages, but strays, perhaps, too far from territory familiar to most students
and scholars of Greek.

– We prefer simple imperfect and pluperfect over ‘imperfect indicative’ and

‘pluperfect indicative’, since the latter formulations are tautologous (Greek
imperfects and pluperfects are by definition indicatives), and may suggest that

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xlii On Terminology

other variables could go into the indicative ‘slot’ (which they cannot: there is no
‘imperfect subjunctive’). For the definition of the imperfect as ‘secondary pre-
sent indicative’ and the pluperfect as ‘secondary perfect indicative’, →11.7.
– We identify only indicatives, subjunctives, optatives and imperatives as moods:
the infinitive and participle should not be classed as such.

On ‘First’ and ‘Second’ Aorists and Perfects

Finally, there is a persistent tradition in handbooks to distinguish between ‘first’
(or ‘weak’) and ‘second’ (or ‘strong’) forms in the aorist, aorist passive and perfect
stems:

– An aorist stem is called first (or ‘weak’) when σ is added to the verb stem (e.g.
παιδευσ(α)-), an aorist passive stem when θ is added (e.g. παιδευθη-), a perfect
stem when κ is added (e.g. πεπαιδευκ-).
– Otherwise, forms are second (or ‘strong’).

We have not followed this use: ‘first’ and ‘second’ are, in our view, unhelpful terms
which provide insufficient morphological information (note, for instance, that the
‘second’ thematic aorist ἐ-λίπ-ο-μεν has a thematic vowel, whereas ‘second’ root
aorist ἔ-γνω-μεν does not; these should not be classed together), and which mis-
leadingly suggest that phenomena which are in fact highly regular (e.g. perfect
active stems ending in χ or φ) are irregular. Instead, we distinguish between three
types of aorist stem (sigmatic, thematic, root; →13), between two types of aorist
passive stem (θη- and η-; →14), and between three types of perfect active stem (κ-,
aspirated, stem; →18).

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