[B-Greek] Memorizing Declensions - Mounce

Carl W.Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Oct 17 08:06:05 EDT 2006


On Oct 16, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:

> I am unable to reproduce the chart on page 81 of
> Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek (2nd Edition). But I
> was wondering if this method is how others have
> memorized declensions.
>
> Under 1st/2nd declensions, he has 3 columns of masc
> fem neut. They look something like:
>
> nom sg  S / - / -
> gen sg  U / S / U
> dat sg  i / i / i
> acc sg  N / N / N
>
> To the right of this chart, he gives the 3rd
> declensions under columns masc/fem and neut, thus...
>
> nom sg   S / -
> gen sg  OS / OS
> dat sg   i / i
> acc sg  A,N / -
>
> My question is whether or not others find such charts
> helpful? I have had a tendency to memorize a few
> prototypical nouns from each declension, rather than
> learning 'endings.' Is there a benefit for learning
> endings in this manner?

For my part, I don't think there's any alternative to acquiring the  
capacity for instantaneous recognition of all the case-endings of  
nouns -- as well as of all the morphological inflections of the verb  
-- etc., etc., etc. But I also think that there are a few features of  
the nominal system that are sufficiently intelligible that they can  
render such complexity as the nominal system involves a bit more  
"rational" -- provided one also knows enough about fundamental  
patterns of phonological transformation in ancient Greek. I won't  
attempt to give an exhaustive listing, but here are some items.

Nominative sg.: two common formative modes: (a) -S, either directly  
added to a vowel (masculine O-stems and A-stems as well as U-stems  
and I-stems of the 3rd declension) or added to a consonant or  
consonantal group, the combination then being simplified by phonetic  
change: ASPIS < ASPID-S, ODOUS < ODONT-S); (b) lengthening of the  
vowel of the final syllable of a noun (DAIMWN < DAIMON-, LEWN <  
LEONT-, PEIQW < PEIQO-). Of course feminine nouns of the first  
declension have a nominative that's identical with the stem (GEFURA,  
PHGH).

Accusative sg. was originally -M appended to a vowel and changing to - 
N in historical Greek or changing to an -A after a consonant.

Dative sg.: -I appended to vocalic stems and to consonant-stems alike.

Genitive pl.: always -WN, the -W- always being circumflexed in 1st  
declension nouns because they are conracted from -AWN.

Accusative pl. was originally -NS (a) appended to a vowel, after  
which the -N- evanesced and the vowel lengthened by compensation  
(GEFURAS < GEFURA-NS, AGROUS < AGRO-NS), appended to a consonant, the  
-N- vocalizing as -A- (ELPIDAS < ELPID-NS).

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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