Ancient Greek nouns

In Ancient Greek, all nouns are classified according to grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and are used in a number (singular, dual, or plural). According to their function in a sentence, their form changes to one of the five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, or dative). The set of forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows.

Cases

The five cases of Ancient Greek each have different functions.

Nominative

The Ancient Greek nominative, like the Proto-Indo-European nominative, is used for the subject and for things equal to the subject (predicate nouns or adjectives):

ho Sōcrátēs ên sophós.
"Socrates was wise."

Vocative

The vocative is used for addressing people or things. It is frequently the same as the nominative in the singular and always the same in the plural.

ô Aléksandre, Iâson, élthete
"Alexander, Jason, come."

Accusative

The accusative has meanings derived from the Proto-Indo-European accusative:

éphage tò brôma
"He ate the food."

When it is used with prepositions, it frequently indicates motion towards.

Genitive

The Ancient Greek genitive corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European genitive or ablative. When the genitive corresponds to the PIE genitive, it has meanings that can often be translated with the preposition "of" or the English possessive case:

ho Aléksandros eisêlthe eis tèn toû Parmeníōnos oikían
"Alexander entered the house of Parmenion." (or "Parmenion's house")

When the genitive corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European ablative case (this is the case when it is used with prepositions), it can often be translated by "from":

toû Homérou émathon tèn tôn epôn poíēsin
"From Homer I learned the composition of epic poetry."

Dative

The Ancient Greek dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European dative, instrumental, or locative. When it corresponds to the dative, it expresses the person or thing that is indirectly affected by an action, and can often be translated with the prepositions "to" or "for":

ho Iēsoûs eîpe tōî Paúlōi: elthè met' emoû.
"Jesus said to Paul: Come with me."

When the dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European instrumental, it expresses the thing with which something is done, and can often be translated by the preposition "with" or (rarely) the suffix "-wise":

kóptō pelékei.
"I am cutting with an axe."

When the dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European locative case (this is often the case when it is used with prepositions), it expresses location (sometimes figuratively) or time, and can often be translated by "in", "at", or "on"::

hebdomēkostōî étei ho Sōkrátēs apéthane.
"In his seventieth year Socrates died."

Declension

Accent of strong and weak cases

For first- and second-declension nouns accented on the ultima and third-declension nouns with a single-syllable stem, the strong cases (nominative and accusative) have one type of accent, and the weak cases (genitive and dative) have another.

Specifically, the first- and second-declension nouns have acute in the strong cases, but circumflex in the weak cases:

Third-declension nouns accent the stem in the strong cases, but the ending in the weak cases:

Both of these patterns are summarized by a single rule: pre-ending accent in the strong cases and post-stem accent in the weak cases.[1]

For first- and second-declension nouns, the rule is more complex. The thematic vowel (ο or ) counts as neither stem nor ending, but alternates between the two depending on which accent is considered. For post-stem accent, it counts as part of the ending; for pre-ending accent, it counts as part of the stem.

pre-ending
accent
post-stem
accent
1st
decl.
ἀγοραά- ἀγοραά-ν ἀγορ-άὰς ἀγορ-άαεὶ
ἀγορά-ι̯ ἀγοραά-νς ἀγορ-άαὼν ἀγορ-άαὶς
2nd
decl.
θεό-ς θεό-ν θε-όὸ θε-όεὶ
θεό-ι̯ θεό-νς θε-όὼν θε-όὶς
3rd
decl.
πόδ-ς πόδ-ν ποδ-ός ποδ-ί
πόδ-ες πόδ-νς ποδ-όον ποδ-σί

First declension

The first declension or alpha declension is considered thematic, with long alpha () at the end of the stem, though it is derived from original athematic Indo-European forms. In Attic Greek, this changes to η everywhere except after ε, ι or ρ. The first declension includes mostly feminine nouns, but also a few masculine nouns, including agent nouns in -της, patronyms in -ίδης, and demonyms.

The first-declension genitive plural always takes a circumflex on the last syllable. In Homeric Greek the ending was -άων () or -έων (from quantitative metathesis of *-ηων). -έων was contracted to -ῶν in Attic.[2]

Feminine long a-stem

feminine:
η
χώρᾱ-
"country"
θεᾱ´-
"goddess"
οἰκίᾱ-
"house"
φωνή-
"voice"
sg. pl. sg. pl. sg. pl. sg. pl.
nominative χώρᾱ χῶραι θεά θεαί οἰκίᾱ οἰκίαι φωνή φωναί
vocative
accusative χώρᾱν χώρᾱς θεάν θεάς οἰκίᾱν οἰκίᾱς φωνήν φωνάς
genitive χώρᾱς χωρῶν θεᾶς θεῶν οἰκίᾱς οἰκιῶν φωνῆς φωνῶν
dative χώρᾳ χώραις θεᾷ θεαῖς οἰκίᾳ οἰκίαις φωνῇ φωναῖς

Feminine short a-stem

Some nouns have short in the nominative, accusative, and vocative singular,[3] but are otherwise identical to other feminine first-declension nouns. They are recessively accented.

These were formed with the suffix -ι̯ᾰ or ιᾰ.[4] The ι̯ (written as *y or *i̯ in Proto-Indo-European notation, representing the semivowel [j]) undergoes one of several sound changes with the consonant at the end of the stem:

feminine:
η
ἀληθείᾱ- (ᾰ-)
"truth"
γλώσση- (ᾰ-)
"tongue"
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nominative ἀλήθει ἀλήθειαι γλῶσσ γλῶσσαι
vocative
accusative ἀλήθειᾰν ἀληθείᾱς γλῶσσᾰν γλώσσᾱς
genitive ἀληθείᾱς ἀληθειῶν γλώσσης γλωσσῶν
dative ἀληθείᾳ ἀληθείαις γλώσσῃ γλώσσαις

Masculine a-stem

Masculine first-declension nouns end in -ᾱς or -ης in Attic. Homer retains the older masculine ending -ᾱ and uses ναύτᾱ "sailor" instead of ναύτης: compare Latin nauta.

The masculine genitive singular ending comes from the second declension.[8] Homeric Greek uses -ᾱο or -εω.[2]

masculine:
ᾱς ης
νεᾱνίᾱ-
"young man"
ποιητή-
"creative artist"
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nominative νεᾱνίᾱς νεᾱνίαι ποιητής ποιηταί
vocative νεᾱνί ποιητά ()
accusative νεᾱνίᾱν νεᾱνίᾱς ποιητήν ποιητάς
genitive νεᾱνίου νεᾱνιῶν ποιητοῦ ποιητῶν
dative νεᾱνίᾳ νεᾱνίαις ποιητῇ ποιηταῖς

Second declension

The second or omicron declension is thematic, with an -ο or at the end of the stem. It includes one class of masculine and feminine nouns and one class of neuter nouns.

When a second-declension noun is accented on the ultima, the accent switches between acute for the nominative, accusative, and vocative, and circumflex for the genitive and dative. The only exceptions are Attic-declension and contracted nouns.

Masculine and feminine o-stems

Masculine and feminine both end in -ος, and can only be distinguished by an article or adjective.

masculine: feminine:
ἄνθρωπο-
"person"
ὁδό-
"way"
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nominative ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωποι ὁδός ὁδοί
vocative ἄνθρωπε ὁδέ
accusative ἄνθρωπον ἀνθρώπους ὁδόν ὁδούς
genitive ἀνθρώπου ἀνθρώπων ὁδοῦ ὁδῶν
dative ἀνθρώπῳ ἀνθρώποις ὁδῷ ὁδοῖς

Neuter o-stems

In the neuter, the nominative, accusative, and vocative are the same, with a singular in -ον and plural in -ᾰ. Other forms are identical to the masculine and feminine second declension.

neuter: τό
δῶρο-
"gift"
singular plural
nominative δῶρον δῶρ
vocative
accusative
genitive δώρου δώρων
dative δώρῳ δώροις

Attic declension

In the Attic dialect, some second-declension nouns and adjectives have endings with lengthened vowels. When a noun or adjective ends in -ηος or -ηον, quantitative metathesis (switching of vowel lengths) changes it to -εως or -εων.

The placement of the accent does not change, even when the ultima is long, and all forms take an acute instead of a circumflex.

In these nouns, the vocative singular is the same as the nominative singular.

masculine
λεω-
"people"
sg. pl.
nominative λεώς λεῴ
vocative
accusative λεών λεώς
genitive λεώ λεών
dative λεῴ λεῴς
neuter
ἔμπλεω-
"quite full"
sg. pl.
nominative ἔμπλεων ἔμπλεω
vocative
accusative
genitive ἔμπλεω ἔμπλεων
dative ἔμπλεῳ ἔμπλεῳς

Contracted second declension

In Attic, nouns and adjectives ending in -εος or -οος and -εον or -οον are contracted so that they end in -ους and -ουν.

When the ultima is accented, it takes a circumflex in all forms, including the nominative, accusative, and vocative.

masculine
νοῦ- (νόο-)
"mind"
sg. pl.
nominative νοῦς νοῖ
vocative νοῦ
accusative νοῦν νοῦς
genitive νοῦ νῶν
dative νῷ νοῖς

Third declension

The third declension group includes masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. It is an athematic declension that lacks the standard thematic vowels of the two thematic declensions above. This results in varied and often complex phonemic interactions between stem and ending, especially so between adjacent consonants, that often make these nouns appear to be highly irregular compared to their straightforward thematic counterparts.

These nouns in the nominative singular end with the vowels α, ι, υ, ω or with the consonants ν, ρ, ς (ξ, ψ). They form the genitive case with -ος, ως or -ους.

Third-declension nouns have one, two, or three stems, unlike first- and second-declension nouns, which always have only one stem. Each stem is used in different case-and-number forms. In nouns with two stems, the stem with the long vowel is called the strong stem, while the stem with the short vowel is called the weak stem. The strong stem is found at the nominative singular, and the weak stem in the genitive singular.

Endings

The masculine and feminine nominative singular ordinarily ends in , but has no ending in some nouns whose stems end in -ν- and -ντ-, and all nouns in -ρ: ἡγεμών, ἀκτίς (from *ἀκτίν-ς), γέρων (from *γέρωντ), γίγας (from *γίγαντ-ς), ῥήτωρ. The neuter nominative, accusative, and vocative singular always has no ending.

The of the accusative singular and plural was originally a syllabic ν. The accusative singular ending -ᾱ appears after Proto-Greek consonants, and is much more common than , because almost all third-declension stems end in a consonant. When a Proto-Greek consonant was lost (ϝ, ι̯, σ), -ᾱ appears after a vowel, and may be lengthened to : βασιλέᾱ. The ending ν appears after the vowels υ and ι: ἰσχύν, πόλιν. The ending -νς always changes to -ᾱς, except in the accusative plural of ἰχθύς, where it lengthens the preceding υ by compensatory lengthening, yielding ἰχθῦς.

singular
masc.,
fem.
neut.
nominative -ς, —
vocative —,
accusative -ᾰ, -ν
genitive -ος
dative
dual
masc.,
fem.
neut.
nominative
accusative
vocative
genitive -οιν
dative
plural
masc.,
fem.
neut.
nominative -ες -ᾰ
vocative
accusative -ᾰς, -νς
genitive -ων
dative -σι(ν)

Consonant-stems

These nouns end in -ν, -ρ, -ς (-ξ, -ψ). Based on the last letter of the stem, they are divided into two categories:

The mute-stem nouns have stems ending in -κ-, -γ-, -χ- (velar-stem nouns), -π-, -β-, -φ- (labial-stem nouns), -τ-, -δ-, -θ- (dental-stem nouns).

The semi mute-stem nouns have stems ending in -ν- (nasal-stem nouns), -λ-, -ρ- (liquid-stem nouns), -σ- (sibilant-stem nouns).

Nominative singular and dative plural -σι cause pronunciation or spelling changes, depending on the consonant at the end of the stem.

consonant
at end of
stem
nominative
singular,
dative
plural
no consonant -ς, -σι
dental τ, δ, θ -ς, -σι
velar κ, γ, χ -ξ, -ξι
labial π, β, φ -ψ, -ψι
Velar- and labial-stems

In the nominative singular and dative plural, the velars κ, γ, χ combined with σ are written as ξ, and the labials π, β, φ combined with σ are written as ψ.

masc.
κορακ-
"raven"
γῡπ-
"vulture"
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nominative κόραξ κόρακες γύψ γῦπες
vocative
accusative κόρακα κόρακας γῦπα γῦπας
genitive κόρακος κοράκων γυπός γυπῶν
dative κόρακι κόραξι γυπί γυψί
Dental- and nasal-stems
Stems in t

In the nominative singular and dative plural, a dental τ, δ, θ before σ is lost: τάπης, not τάπητς.

masc.
ταπητ-
"floor"
sg. pl.
nominative τάπης τάπητες
vocative
accusative τάπητα τάπητας
genitive τάπητος ταπήτων
dative τάπητι τάπησι

If a noun is not accented on the last syllable and ends in -ις, -ης, or -υς, it often has an accusative singular in and a vocative with no ending.

Single-stems in nt

In the nominative singular and dative plural, ντ before σ is lost, and the previous vowel is lengthened by compensatory lengthening. In the vocative singular, final is lost, as Ancient Greek words cannot end in stops.

masc.
γιγαντ-
"giant"
Singular Plural
nominative γίγας γίγαντες
vocative γίγαν
accusative γίγαντα γίγαντας
genitive γίγαντος γιγάντων
dative γίγαντι γίγᾱσι

When a noun is accented on the last syllable, the vocative singular is identical to the nominative:

Double-stems in nt

These nouns have a weak stem in -οντ- and a strong stem in -ωντ-. The strong stem is used only in the nominative singular. The vocative singular is the weak stem without an ending. In both the nominative and vocative singular, the final τ disappears. In the dative plural, the σ in the ending causes the ντ to disappear, and the ο is lengthened to ου by compensatory lengthening.

masc.
γερων(τ)-, γεροντ-
"old man"
sg. pl.
nominative γέρων γέροντες
vocative γέρον
accusative γέροντα γέροντας
genitive γέροντος γερόντων
dative γέροντι γέρουσι
Stems in at

In these nouns, the stem originally ended in ̥τ- (with syllabic n), which changed to -ατ- in Greek. In the nominative singular, the final disappeared.

neut.
κτηματ-
"property"
sg. pl.
nominative κτῆμα κτήματα
vocative
accusative
genitive κτήματος κτημάτων
dative κτήματι κτήμασι
Single-stems in an, en, in, on

Some nouns have stems ending in -ν-. The nominative singular may end in , causing compensatory lengthening, or have no ending.

fem.
ἀκτιν-
beam
sg. pl.
nominative ἀκτίς ἀκτῖνες
vocative
accusative ἀκτῖνα ἀκτῖνας
genitive ἀκτῖνος ἀκτίνων
dative ἀκτῖνι ἀκτῖσι
Double-stems in en, on

Some nouns have a strong stem in -ην-, -ων- and a weak stem in -εν-, -ον-. The nominative singular is the only form with the strong stem. Nouns of this class that are not accented on the last syllable use the weak stem without an ending for the vocative singular.

masc. fem.
ἡγεμων-, ηγεμον-
"leader "
ἀδην-, αδεν-
"gland "
Singular Plural Singular Plural
nominative ἡγεμών ἡγεμόνες ἀδήν ἀδένες
vocative
accusative ἡγεμόνα ἡγεμόνας ἀδένα ἀδένας
genitive ἡγεμόνος ἡγεμόνων ἀδένος ἀδένων
dative ἡγεμόνι ἡγεμόσι ἀδένι ἀδέσι
Liquid-stems

Liquid-stems have stems ending in -λ- or -ρ-. Unlike mute-stems, these nouns do not change in spelling or pronunciation when the dative plural ending -σι is added.

Single-stems in er, or

Some nouns end in -ηρ, -ωρ and take the endings without any sound changes.

masc.
κλητηρ-
"usher"
sg. pl.
nominative κλητήρ κλητῆρες
vocative
accusative κλητῆρα κλητῆρας
genitive κλητῆρος κλητήρων
dative κλητῆρι κλητῆρσι
Double-stems in er, or

Some nouns have a nominative singular in -ηρ, -ωρ. The stem for the rest of the forms ends in -ερ-, -ορ-. Nouns in this class that are not accented on the last syllable use the weak stem without an ending for the vocative singular.

masc.
ῥητωρ-, ῥητορ-
"orator"
sg. pl.
nominative ῥήτωρ ῥήτορες
vocative ῥῆτορ
accusative ῥήτορα ῥήτορας
genitive ῥήτορος ῥητόρων
dative ῥήτορι ῥήτορσι
Triple-stems in er

Some nouns have a strong stem in -ηρ in the nominative singular, a middle stem in -ερ- in other forms, and a weak stem in -ρ(α)- in yet other forms. The in the dative plural was added for ease of pronunciation; the original form ended in -ρσι.

These include ὁ πατήρ "father", ἡ μήτηρ "mother", ἡ θυγάτηρ "daughter", ἡ γαστήρ "stomach", ἡ Δημήτηρ "Demeter", ὁ ἀνήρ "man".

The first three and γαστήρ use the weak stem in the genitive and dative singular and in the dative plural. The rest use the weak stem in the genitive, dative, and accusative singular and in the plural.

The vocative singular is usually the middle stem without an ending and accent on the first syllable. The exception is γαστήρ:

masc.
πατηρ-, πατερ-,
πατρ(α)
-
father
sg. pl.
nominative πατήρ πατέρες
vocative πάτερ
accusative πατέρα πατέρας
genitive πατρός πατέρων
dative πατρί πατράσι
S-stems

Nouns in all three genders have stems ending in -εσ- or -οσ-. But in most cases, the σ was lost after being debuccalized to /h/, so for the most part the stems appear to actually end in -ε- -ο-. In Attic, but not Ionic, the ε or ο is contracted with the vowel of the ending. When σ combines with the -σι of the dative plural, the double σσ is simplified to single σ.

Masculines in es

There are several masculine proper names with nominative singulars in -ης and stems in -εσ-. The vocative singular is the bare stem without an ending.

Σωκρατε(σ)-
Socrates
sg.
nominative Σωκράτης
vocative Σώκρατες
accusative Σωκράτη
genitive Σωκράτους
dative Σωκράτει
Feminines in os

There are a few feminines with nominative singulars in -ως and stems in -οσ-.

fem.
αἰδωσ-, αἰδο(σ)-
shame
sg.
nominative αἰδώς
vocative
accusative αἰδῶ
genitive αἰδοῦς
dative αἰδοῖ
Neuters in es

Some neuter nouns have nominative, accusative, and vocative singulars in -ος, and stems in -εσ-.

βελοσ-, βελε(σ)-
"missile"
sg. pl.
nominative βέλος βέλη
vocative
accusative
genitive βέλους βελῶν
dative βέλει βέλεσι

Vowel-stems

These nouns end with ι, υ, ευ, αυ, ου, ω.

Stems in long o

These take the endings without sound changes.

Single-stems in u

Because these nouns have a stem ending in -υ-, the accusative singular appears as -υν rather than -υα, and the accusative plural changes by compensatory lengthening from -υνς to -ῡς.

masc./fem.
ἰχθυ-
"fish"
sg. pl.
nominative ἰχθύς ἰχθύες
vocative ἰχθύ
accusative ἰχθύν ἰχθῦς
genitive ἰχθύος ἰχθύων
dative ἰχθύϊ ἰχθύσι
Triple-stems in i or u

There are many feminine nouns in -ις, and a few masculine nouns in -υς, and one neuter noun: ἄστυ "town".

One stem is in -ι- or -υ-, another is in -ει- or -ευ-, and a third is in -ηι- or -ηυ-. But these stems underwent sound changes, so that they are no longer obvious. Before a vowel, the ι or υ in the second and third stem became the semivowel ι̯ or ϝ, and was lost. The long-vowel stem in the genitive singular was shortened, and the vowel in the ending lengthened (quantitative metathesis). Therefore, there appear to be two stems, ending in ι/υ and ε.

feminine
πολι-, πολε(ι̯)-,
πόλη(ι̯)-

"city"
sg. pl.
nominative πόλις πόλεις
vocative πόλι
accusative πόλιν
genitive πόλεως πόλεων
dative πόλει πόλεσι
Stems in eu, au, ou

The nouns in -ευς have two stems: one with short ε, another with long η. Both originally ended with digamma, which by the time of Classical Greek had either vanished or changed to υ. Thus the stems end in -ε(υ)-, from *-εϝ-, and -η-, from *-ηϝ-. In Attic Greek the η of the stem underwent quantitative metathesis with the vowel of the ending—the switching of their lengths. This is the origin of the -ως, -ᾱ, and ᾱς of the forms based on the stem in -η-.

masculine
βασιληυ-
"king"
sg. pl.
nominative βασιλεύς βασιλεῖς
vocative βασιλεῦ
accusative βασιλέᾱ βασιλέᾱς
genitive βασιλέως βασιλέων
dative βασιλεῖ βασιλεῦσι

The nouns with a vowel before the -εύς often contract the final ε of the stem (either original or from quantitative metathesis of η), which disappears into the following ω and of the genitive and accusative singular and plural. As is the rule, the vowel resulting from contraction takes a circumflex:

Stems in oi

Stems in -οι- end in in the nominative singular. The ι becomes the semivowel ι̯ and is lost, except in the vocative singular. There are no plural forms; when the plural does appear, it follows the second declension. The rest of the cases are formed by contraction.

feminine
ἠχω-, ἠχο(ι̯)-
"echo"
sg.
nominative ἠχώ
accusative
vocative ἠχοῖ
genitive ἠχοῦς
dative ἠχοῖ

Derivation

Diminutive suffixes

New nouns may be formed by suffix addition. Sometimes suffixes are added on top of each other:

References

  1. The Inflectional Accent in Indo-European. Paul Kiparsky. Language. Vol. 49, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 794-849. Linguistic Society of America.
  2. 1 2 Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar, par. 214 D: dialectal first-declension forms
  3. Smyth, par. 219: short-a first declension
  4. Smyth, par. 221: suffix ̯ in short-a first declension
  5. Smyth, par. 112: κι̯, χι̯ to ττ (σσ)
  6. Smyth, par. 111: "epenthesis" of ι̯ suffixed to an, on, ar, or
  7. Smyth, par. 37: compensatory lengthening
  8. Smyth, par. 225: genitive singular of masculine first declension
  9. βιβλάριον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
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