Syntax Grammars

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Sat Dec 11 14:35:02 EST 1999


To: Lauren Porter,

<< I have not as yet encountered any classicist who seriously contended for 
the eight-case system.  Are there any classicists who have published on 
this topic?  I am interested in both the earliest appearance of this 
discussion and the most recent manifestation within the classical community. >>

What do you mean by "the eight-case system"? The two major classical 
advanced grammars, which I own, are Smyth-Messing [1956] and Goodwin 
[1894]; I also have a Homeric grammar by Monro [1891].

While Smyth-Messing [1956] doesn't say "there are eight cases," they appear 
to think that there are eight major syntactical functions for the five 
cases. Smyth-Messing writes: "Of the cases belonging to the Indo-European 
language, Greek has lost the free use of three: instrumental, locative, and 
ablative. ... the syntactical 'functions' of the instrumental and locative 
were taken over by the dative; those of the ablative by the genitive. The 
genitive and dative cases are therefore 'composite' or 'mixed' cases" (sec. 
1279); "Since the genitive has absorbed the ablative it includes (1) the 
genitive proper, denoting the class to which a person or thing belongs, and 
(2) the ablative genitive" (sec. 1289); and "The Greek dative does duty for 
three cases: the dative proper, and two lost cases, the instrumental and 
the locative" (sec. 1450). That seems to suggest to me that Smyth-Messing 
accepted the notion that Greek had an eight-case system, or perhaps it 
would be better to say: five cases with eight major syntactical functions.

Monro [1891] writes: "Comparison of the Case-system of Greek with that of 
Sanscrit shows that the Greek Dative does the work of three Sanscrit Cases, 
the Dative, the Instrumental, and the Locative. There is also reason to 
think that distinct forms for these three Cases survived down to a 
comparatively late period in Greek itself. This is made probable (1) by the 
traces in Homeric Greek of Instrumental and Locative Case-forms, and (2) by 
the readiness with which the 'uses' of the Greek Dative (especially in 
Homer) can be re-apportioned between the three Cases -- the original or 
true Dative, and the two others" (sec. 142); and "The Greek Genitive, as 
appears at once by comparison with Latin or Sancrit, stands for the 
original or 'true' Genitive, and also for the Ablative. The use of the Gen. 
may therefore be divided (theoretically at least) between these two Cases. 
The distinction however is more difficult than in the case of the Dative; 
partly, perhaps, because the Case-forms of the Ablative were earlier lost 
than those of the Locative and Instrumental, but also from the peculiar 
syntactical character of the Genitive" (sec. 146). Thus Monro too seems to 
think in terms of five cases with eight major syntactical functions.

Things are different with Goodwin [1894], who writes: "The Greek is 
descended from a language which had 'eight' cases, -- an 'ablative,' a 
'locative,' and an 'instrumental,' besides the five found in Greek. The 
functions of the ablative were absorbed chiefly by the genitive, partly by 
the dative; those of the instrumental and locative chiefly by the dative" 
(sec. 1042).

And similar to Smyth-Messing & Monro, a beginning Homeric grammar by Clyde 
Pharr [1959] writes: "The Greek gentive represents two earlier cases: 1) 
the 'genitive proper,' denoting the class to which a person or things 
belongs. 2) the 'ablative genitive' (formerly the ablative), usually 
expressing 'separation, source, cause'" (314); and "The Greek dative 
represents three earlier cases: 1) the 'dative proper,' denoting 'to' or 
'for' which something is or is done. 2) the 'instrumental' ('dative'), 
denoting 'instrument, means, manner, cause, accompaniment.' 3) the 
'locative' ('dative'), denoting 'place where' and 'time when'" (317).

Thus it seems to me that Smyth-Messing [1956], Monro [1891], and Pharr 
[1959] teach that there are five cases with eight major syntactical 
functions. So what do you mean by an "eight-case" system?

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree), 
what do I know?"




More information about the B-Greek mailing list