Ancient Greek accent

In Ancient Greek, accent varies from word to word, but there are rules of accent determining where it can fall and what type it can be. The rules depend on the length of the vowel in the last syllable and in the syllable being accented.

Mora

The mora is a unit of vowel length. Short vowels have one mora, and long vowels and diphthongs have two morae.

• short:
  • ᾰ, ε, ῐ, ο, ῠ (sometimes αι, οι)
• long:
  • simple vowels:
    • ᾱ, η, ῑ, ω, ῡ
  • diphthongs:
    • in ι:
      • ει, υι; ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ (sometimes αι, οι)
    • in υ:
      • αυ, ευ, ου; ᾱυ, ηυ, ωυ

Syllables

Only the three syllables at the end of the word can be accented. They are called the ultima ("last"), penult ("almost last"), and antepenult ("before the almost last").^[1]

Length of accented vowel

The length of a vowel determines what type of accent it can take. The acute is placed on short and long vowels, but the circumflex only on long vowels.

Grave

The grave accent indicates no accent or low pitch. In modern convention, it is used only to replace an acute at the end of a word (except before a pause), but it was once written on all unaccented vowels. Like the acute, it falls on both short and long vowels.

Acute

The acute indicates a vowel accented on its last mora. On a short vowel, it represents one accented mora; on a long vowel or diphthong, it represents one unaccented and one accented mora.

Circumflex

The circumflex can only fall on long vowels or diphthongs, because it is a compound accent. It is formed from one accented and one unaccented mora, in that order.

Length of ultima

The accent in recessively accented words naturally falls back toward the beginning of the word. The length of the vowel in the ultima determines how far it can fall. When the ultima is short, accent can fall back to the antepenult; when the ultima is long, accent can only fall on the penult.

Short ultima

When the vowel in the ultima is short, accent is placed on the antepenult or (if the word is two syllables) the penult. The penult takes a circumflex if its vowel is long, and an acute if it is short.

• with antepenult:
  • ἄνθρωπος
• without antepenult:
  • δῶρον (long penult)
  • πάθος (short penult)

Long ultima

When the vowel in the ultima is long, accent is forced forward to the penult. The type of accent is an acute, never a circumflex, no matter what the length of the penult.

• long penult:
  • ἀνθρώπου
  • δώρου
• short penult:
  • πάθους

Summary

This rule has a simpler summary: the morae between the accented mora and the last mora cannot belong to different syllables.^[2] This is best shown by placing words (here, σῶμα, σώματος, σωμάτων, φῶς) in a table, with consonants and morae of vowels divided into individual cells.

See also

• Ancient Greek phonology
• Pitch accent
• Syllable
  • Ultima (linguistics)

References