Augment (linguistics)

In linguistics, the augment is a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian, and the Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, to form the past tenses.

Indo-European languages

Historical linguists are uncertain whether the augment is a feature that was added to these branches of Indo-European, or whether the augment was present in the parent language and lost by all other branches (see also Proto-Greek).

Greek

Ancient Greek

In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo “I say” has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa “I said”. The initial ε e is the augment. When this 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:^[1]

• *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: akoúō "I hear", ḗkousa "I heard". This is sometimes called the "temporal augment", because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.^[2]

Homeric Greek

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

• ὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατο
  hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato
  "so he/she said"
• ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
  êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,
  "And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"

Modern Greek

Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables. However, accented syllabic augments remained in place.^[3] So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).^[4] Temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).

Sanskrit

Sanskrit had the augment अ- / a-, prefixed to past-tense verbs (aorist and imperfect). ^[5]

stem	present	aorist	imperfect	English
ध / dhã	दधति / dadhãti	अधत् / adhãt	अदधत् / adadhãt	put
गम् / gam	गच्छति / gacchati	अगमत् / agamat	अगच्छत् / agacchat	go

Other

• Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
• Classical Armenian had an augment,^[6] in the form of e-.
• Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.

Non-Indo-European languages

The term has also been extended to describe similar features in non-Indo-European languages.

In Nahuatl, the perfect ō- prefix is called an augment.

In certain Bantu languages such as Zulu, the term "augment" refers to the initial vowel of a noun class prefix, such as (in Zulu) umu-, ama-. This vowel can be present or absent according to grammatical rules.

In High Elvish, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect (for instance utúlië, perfect tense of túlë, "come") is also called an augment.

References

1. Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 429: syllabic augment.
2. Smyth. par. 435: temporal augment.
3. Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek (p58).
4. Sophroniou, S.A. Modern Greek. Teach Yourself Books, 1962, Sevenoaks, p79.
5. Coulson, Michael. Teach yourself Sanskrit. p. 244. Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, Sevenoaks.
6. Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing)