Augment (Indo-European)#Greek

The predominant scholarly view on the prehistory of the augment is that it was originally a separate grammatical particle, although dissenting opinions have occasionally been voiced.Andreas Willi (2018) Origins of the Greek verb, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/origins-of-the-greek-verb/augment/D478DDB2C5D84BAB59176D2EEC08B732/core-reader Chapter 7 - The Augment], pp. 357-416, Online publication date January 2018, Cambridge University Press, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164207.008

In Homer, past-tense (aorist or imperfect) verbs appeared both with and without an augment.

{{fs interlinear|lang=grc|indent=3

|ὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατο

|hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato

|"so he/she said"}}

{{fs interlinear|lang=grc|indent=3

|ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,

|êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,

|"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"}}

In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo "I say" has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa "I said." The initial ε e is the augment. When it comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment" because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel because the initial consonant of the verbal root (usually digamma) was lost:Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. [http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/html/smyth_2Vo_uni.htm#429 par. 429]: syllabic augment.

• *έ-ϝιδον *é-widon → (loss of digamma) *ἔιδον *éidon → (synaeresis) εἶδον eîdon

When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted and the vowel becomes long: ἀκούω akoúō "I hear", ἤκουσα ḗkousa "I heard". It is sometimes called the "temporal augment" because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.Smyth. [http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/html/smyth_2Vo_uni.htm#435 par. 435]: temporal augment.

Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared in some dialects during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables, this feature being inherited by Standard Modern Greek. However, accented syllabic augments have remained in place.Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek (p58). So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν (élūsa, elū́samen) "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).Sophroniou, S.A. Modern Greek. Teach Yourself Books, 1962, Sevenoaks, p79. When the stem begins in a vowel, the augment has not survived in the vernacular and the vowel is left unaltered instead: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα (agapô, ēgápēsa) "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).

{{See also|Sanskrit verbs#Building blocks}}

The augment is used in Sanskrit to form the imperfect, aorist, pluperfect{{efn|Or the past perfect. Rare in Vedic and only one or two forms attested in the later language.Whitney, §817.}} and conditional. When the verb has a prefix, the augment always sits between the prefix and the root.Burrow, p. 303. The following examples of verb forms in the third-person singular illustrate the phenomenon:

When the root starts with any of the vowels i-, u- or ṛ, the vowel is subject not to guṇa but vṛddhi.Burrow, §7.5.Whitney, §585.

• icch·á·ti -> aí·cch·a·t
• urṇó·ti -> aú·rṇo·t
• ṛdh·nó·ti -> ā́r·dh·no·t

• Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
• Classical Armenian had an augment,Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing) in the form of e-.
• Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect (for instance utúlië, perfect tense of túlë, "come") is reminiscent of the Indo-European augment in both form and function, and is referred to by the same name in Tolkien's grammar of the language.

• Sanskrit verbs
• Ancient Greek verbs
• Proto-Indo-European verbs

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{{reflist|15em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=T |title=The Sanskrit Language |year=2001 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-1767-2 |edition=2001}}
• {{cite book |last1=Clackson |first1=James |title=Indo-European Linguistics |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-65313-8}}
• {{cite book |last1=Fortson |first1=Benjamin W |title=Indo-European Language and Culture |year=2010 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-8895-1 |edition=2010}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Olander |editor-first=Thomas |year=2022 |title=The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/indoeuropean-language-family/4B44B5ACF0D3BBA89B9408050F112A52 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108758666 |isbn=978-1-108-49979-8|s2cid=161016819 }}
• {{harvc |last=van Beek |first=Lucien |year=2022 |c=Chapter 11: Greek |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/D7ECB74210D90E01F00D41B9930BC70A/9781108499798c11_173-201.pdf/greek.pdf |in=Olander}}
• {{harvc |last1=Olsen |first1=Birgit Anette |last2=Thorsø |first2=Rasmus |year=2022 |c=Chapter 12: Armenian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/BE08E658A526CBC9A058F25812443F99/9781108499798c12_202-222.pdf/armenian.pdf |in=Olander}}
• {{harvc |last1=Hyllested |first1=Adam |last2=Joseph |first2=Brian D. |year=2022 |c=Chapter 13: Albanian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/235881199CF63D7E9D60E32DA7362DD9/9781108499798c13_223-245.pdf/albanian.pdf |in=Olander}}
• {{harvc |last=Kümmel |first=Martin Joachim |year=2022 |c=Chapter 14: Indo-Iranian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/C01D66B2DA24680E0808EFEC10E389C9/9781108499798c14_246-268.pdf/indoiranian.pdf |in=Olander}}
• {{cite book |last1=Whitney |first1=William Dwight |title=Sanskrit Grammar |date=January 2008 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0620-7 |edition=2000}}

Category:Indo-European linguistics

Category:Linguistic morphology

Category:Greek grammar

Category:Phonology