το άνευ κλίσι Ελληνικό:
Nouns, Adjectives & Definite Article

Ancient Greek forms are shown with the polytonic markings normally given on ancient texts since Byzantine times. You will recall from the Introduction that ΤΑΚΕ is psilotic (i.e. has no aspirates) and has simple word stress instead of the ancient pitch accents.

All the ΤΑΚΕ nouns and adjectives and the definite article are, of course, invariable; they have no inflexions and, therefore, have no grammatical gender, and do not change to show either case or number. Comparison of adjectives is also, of course, analytic and will be considered when we deal syntax.
 

[Nouns] [Adjectives] [Definite Article] [Word Order]

Nouns

Joseph Peanou originally experimented with first the accusative (if the accusative ended in -ν, the final consonant was dropped) and then using the dative singular; but he was not happy with the results. Finally he decided to adopt the form which the noun would be expected to have as the first part of a compound. This, he termed, the "compositional base", and I will adopt that term also. He chose this because it is unmarked as to case (occasionally compounds were formed in ancient Greek where the first noun is marked as to case; then the actual case form is used, not the compositional base), and thus is appropriate for ΤΑΚΕ in which there will be no overt case marking.

This compositional base usually ends in -ο, but there are quite a few exceptions. These, however, are the 'rules' that were adopted by Joseph Peanou:

1st Declension

1. feminines (nom. -η, gen. -ης; nom. -α, gen. -ας; nom. -α, gen. -ης) change the final vowel of the nominative to -ο; e.g.
   τιμή (gen.τιμῆς) → τιμό (honor)
   χὠρα (gen. χώρας) → χὠρο (land)
   θἀλασσα (gen. θαλάσσης) → θάλασσο (sea).
   Exceptions are:
   (a) γῆ (gen. γῆς) which becomes γέω (earth), similarly other nouns with circumflex on final eta, e.g.
   συκῆ (gen. συκῆς) → συκέω (fig-tree)
   (b) χοή (gen. χοῆς) which retains the nominative χοή (libation).
   
2. masculines (nom. -ης, gen. ου; nom. -ας, gen. -ου) change the -ου of the genitive to -ο; e.g.
   ταμίας (gen. ταμίου) → ταμίο (steward)
   πολίτης (gen. πολίτου) → πολίτο (citizen)
   Note:
   (a) The uncontracted βορέας is to be used, not the irregularly contracted βορρᾶς, thus:
   βορέας (gen. βορέου) → βορέο (north wind, north)
   (b) The god, Hermes (Ἑρμῆς), is probably from a earlier contracted form, but its ΤΑΚΕ form is from the standard classical word, thus:
   Ἑρμῆς (gen. Ἑρμοῦ) → Ερμό

2nd Declension

1. Whether masc. or fem. (nom. -ος, gen. -ου) or neuter (nom. -ον, gen. -ου) drop the final consonant of the nominative; e.g.
   ἄνθρωπος (gen. ἀνθρώπου) → άνθρωπο (person, human [being])
   νῆσος (gen. νήσου) → νήσο (island)
   δῶρον (gen. δώρου) → δώρο (gift).
2. Those nouns where the Attic dialect contracted both -εο- and -οο- to -ου-, the above rule is applied to the uncontracted forms, thus:
   νοῦς / νόος (gen. νοῦ/ νόου) → νόο (mind, intellect cf. noology, noogenesis)
   ὀστοῦν/ ὀστέον (gen. ὀστοῦ/ ὀστέου) → οστέο (bone, cf. osteopathy, osteoporosis)
3. Those words of the so-called 'Attic declension' with nominatives in -ως and genitive in -ω, are treated thus:
   (a) if they terminate in -εως in Attic, but in -αος in Koine, use the Koine form and follow the normal rule for 2nd declension; e.g.
   λαός (gen. λαοῦ) → λαό (people)
   ναός (gen. ναοῦ) → ναό (temple);
   (b) otherwise the ΤΑΚΕ form is identical to the genitive (nom. without final -ς), e.g.
   λαγώς (gen. λαγώ) → λαγώ (hare)

3rd Declension

1. If the genitive ends in -ος and has no contracted alternative (e.g. is not like γένος whose genitive may be γένεος or γένους, nor like γέρας whose genitive may be γέραος or γέρως), then just drop the final -ς of the genitive, taking the accentuation of the genitive form if different from the nominative; e.g.
   ὄρνις gen. ὄρνιθος) → όρνιθο (bird)
   λέων (gen. λέοντος) → λέοντο (lion)
   θρίξ (gen. τριχός) → τριχό (hair [singular])
   μητήρ (gen, μητρός) → μητρό (mother)
   Ζεύς (gen. Διός) → Διό (Zeus)
   ἥρως (gen. ἥρωος) → ήρωο (hero)
   σῶμα (gen. σώματος) → σώματο (body)
   ἧπαρ (gen. ἥπατος) → ήπατο (liver).
   This, in fact, covers the vast majority of nouns, whether masculine, feminine or neuter.
   Exception are :
   (a) Nouns whose stems originally ended in ϝ /w/, use the nominative without final -ς; e.g.
   βοῦς (gen. βοός) → βου (ox)
   γραῦς (gen. γραός) → γραυ (old woman)
   ναῦς (gen. ναός/ νηός/ νεώς) → ναυ (ship)
   βασιλεύς (gen. βασιλῆος/ βασιλέως) → βασιλεὐ (king)
   (b) ὕδωρ (gen. ὕδατος = water) should give ΤΑΚΕ ύδατο, and indeed ὑδατ(ο)- is used for some compounds in ancient Greek and in English: "hydathode, hydatid, hydatoid". But by far the most common form in ancient Greek compounds is ὑδρ(ο)-, just as by far the more common form in English hydr(o)-. Τhe ΤΑΚΕ noun, therefore, assumes a genitive *ὕδρος , thus:
   ὕδωρ (gen. *ὕδρος) → ύδρο.
   Note also: The noun οἶς (gen. οἰός) is not use, being replaced by πρόβατο ← regularly from the more common ancient word πρόβατον (sheep)
2. If the genitive ends in -ως (but see ναῦς βασιλεῦς above), then:
   (a) Those nouns whose nominatives end in a consonant followed by -ις , -υς or, if neuter, υ, use the nominative, without the final -ς in the case of masculines or feminines, e.g.
   πόλις (gen. πόλεως) → πολι (city)
   πήχυς (gen. πήχεως) → πήχυ (forearm, cubit)
   ἄστυ (gen. ἄστεως) → άστυ (town)
   But note: those with genitives in -ος obey the general rule in (i) above, so e.g.
   ἰχθὐς (gen. ἰχθὐος) → ιχθύο (fish)
   μῦς (gen. μυός) → μυό (mouse).
   (b) Neuters whose nominatives end in -ας with genitive in -ως, simply drop the final -ς of the genitive; e.g.
   κρέας (gen. κρέως) → κρέω (meat)
   γέρας (gen. γέρως) → γέρω (prize).
   But note: those words like κέρας (horn) which has both a regularly formed gen. κέρατος and a contracted κέρως form their ΤΑΚΕ noun from the regularly formed genitive, i.e. κέρατο.
3. If the genitive ends in -ους, then change the -ους of the genitive to -ο; e.g.
   Σωκράτης (gen. Σωκράτους) → Σωκράτο (Socrates)
   Περικλῆς (gen. Περικλέους) → Περικλέο (Pericles)
   τριήρης (gen. τριήρους) → τριήρο (trireme)
   γἐνος (gen. γένους) → γένο (stock, kin, breed, type, sort)
   τεῖχος (gen. τείχους) → τείχο (city-wall, fortified wall)
   αἰδώς (gen. αἰδοῦς) → αιδό (shame)
   πειθώ (gen. πειθοῦς) → πειθό (persuasion).

 

Adjectives

Having adopted the compositional base for nouns, Joseph Peanou did the same for adjectives. This was somewhat more straightforward than it was for nouns. These are the 'rules' he adopted:

1st & 2nd Declension

1. Most ancient adjectives of this type have nominative endings in -ος (masc.), -η (fem.), -ον (neut.); if however a vowel or -ρ- preceded the ending, then the feminine ends in -α. These adjectives form by far the largest group of nouns in ancient Greek. The rule is exactly the same as for the nouns of the 1st & 2nd declensions, i.e. remove endings and add -ο (or, if you prefer, remove the final -ν of the neuter since, if the accent shifted in feminine nominative, the accent of the masculine & feminine nominatives is retained in ΤΑΚΕ), e.g:
   ἅγιος, ἁγία, ἅγιον → άγιο (holy)
   μικρὀς, μικρά μικρον → μικρό (small)
   σοφός σοφή σοφόν → σοφό (wise).
2. Contracted forms:
   Adjectives whose stems ended in -ε- or -ο- had contracted endings in classical Attic. These are treated exactly the same way as the contracted 2nd declension nouns such as ὀστοῦν ( ← ὀστέον) and νοῦς ( ← νόος), e.g:
   χρυσοῦς (χρύσεος), χρυσῆ (χρυσέα), χρυσοῦν (χρύσεον) → χρύσεο (golden)
   ἁπλοῦς (ἁπλόος), ἁπλῆ (ἁπλόη), ἁπλοῦν (ἁπλόον) → απλόο (single)
3. 'Attic declension':
   (a)Where common Greek has an alternative, that should be used and the normal rule applies, this rather than Attic ἵλεως "gracious", we use the common Greek ἵλαος thus to give ίλαο (gracious).
   (b) Instead of πλέως (full) and σῶς (safe), the the far more common words πλήρης and ἀσφαλής are used; indeed these words survive till today in modern Greek. These adjectives will be considered under the 3rd declension below.

3rd Declension

The genitive singular of these adjectives is the same for all three genders, and the form is derived from the genitive by changing the ending -ος or, if the adjective is contracting, -ους to -o; e.g.
εὐδαίμων [m. & f.], εὔδαιμον [n.] (gen. εὐδαίμονος) → ευδαίμονο (happy)
εὔελπις [m. & f.], εὔελπι [n.] (gen. εὔελπιδος) → εύελπιδο (hopeful)
πλήρης [m. & f.], πλῆρες [n.] (gen. πλήρους) → πλήρο (full)
ἀσφαλής [m. & f.], ἀσφαλές [n.] (gen. ἀσφαλοῦς) → ασφαλό (safe)

1st & 3rd Declension

These adjectives have masculine & neuter with 3rd declension endings, and feminines with 1st declension endings.

1. Those adjectives in -υς [masc.], -εια (← *ευια) [fem.], -υ [neut.] simply use the neuter nom. & acc. form, e.g.
   γλυκύς [m.], γλυκεῖα [f.], γλυκύ [n.] → γλυκύ (sweet)
   θῆλυς [m.]. θἠλεια [f.], θῆλυ [n.] → θήλυ (female)
2. For all other adjectives of this type, take the genitive singular of the masc. & neut. and remove final -ς, e.g.
   μέλας [m.], μέλαινα [f.], μέλαν [n.] (gen. m&n: μέλανος) → μέλανο (black)
   χαρίεις [m.], χαρέεσσα [f.], χαρίεν [n.] (gen. m&n: χαρίεντος) → χαρίεντο (graceful)
   πᾶς [m.], πᾶσα [f.], πάν [n.](gen. m&n: παντός) → παντό (all)

Irregular

1. πρᾷος [m.], πραεῖα [f.], πρᾷον [n.] has 1st & 2nd. declension endings, but the feminine uses a modified stem. The ΤΑΚΕ adjective is derived from the masc. & neuter according to the normal rules, thus:
   → πράο (mild)
2. The two very common irregulars, μέγας (great) and πολύς (much, many), in the plural and in the genitive and dative singular behave like regular 1st & 2nd declensions adjectives; but in their nominative & accusative single they behave like 3rd and 1st declension adjectives. The ΤΑΚΕ words are derived as though these two adjectives belong to the 3rd & 1st declension adjectives, thus:
   πολύς [m.], πολλή [f.], πολύ [n.] → πολύ (much, many)
   μέγας [m.], μεγάλη [f.], μέγα [n.](gen. m&n: μεγάλου) → μεγάλο (great)*
   *Subsituting -ο for the genitive ending which, in this case is 2nd decl. -ου, not 3rd decl. -ος.

 

Definite Article

The ancient Greek definite article was declined for the most part as though it were a 1st and 2nd decl. adjective *τός, *τή, *τόν except that:

• the nominative masculine & feminine both in the singular and in the plural drop the initial τ- and replace it with /h/ in the non-psilotic dialects;
• the masculine nominative singular drops the final -ς;
• the neuter singular nominative & accusative drop the final -ν.

The ΤΑΚΕ definite article is derived as though the ancient article was declined regularly, thus: το = the

Ancient Greek had no indefinite article; ΤΑΚΕ therefore also has no indefinite article.

 

Word Order

The normal word order is the same as in Greek (both ancient and modern), English, German and many other languages, namely: the adjective precedes the noun and, if there is a definite article, it comes first in the phrase, for example:
σοφό ανδρό = a wise man
το σοφό ανδρό = the wise man

However, unlike English, ancient Greek and ΤΑΚΕ also allow the adjective to be put after a definite noun, as long as the definite article were repeated; this places more emphasis on the noun, for example:
το ανδρό το σοφό = the wise man/ the man who is wise.

Furthermore, both the ancient language and ΤΑΚΕ require that adverbs and prepositional phrases used adjectivally must also follow these word orders, e.g.
το νυν λαό or το λαό το νυν = (the now people) people of the present day;
το εν το ναυ λαό or το λαό το εν το ναυ = (the in the boat people) the people in the boat
το εκ το ανδρό ναυ or το ναυ το εκ το ανδρό = (the of the man boat) the man's boat.

But note:

• If there is no adjective the only possible word order is: το ανδρό (the man); clearly *το ανδρό το is ungrammatical.
• If the noun is indefinite, the adjective must precede, thus ανδρό σοφό is as ungrammatical in ΤΑΚΕ as *'man wise' is in English.

 

Created November 2009. Last revision: Copyright © Ray Brown