Augment (was Re: German ge- ptcpl cognates?)

[Vidhyanath Rao]

"petegray" <petegray at btinternet.com> wrote:

> I also seem to remember that the Greek pattern of accentuation in
> verbs is a development within Greek - RV keeps the accent further
> back.

I don't unerstand this. Augmented forms are accented on the augment in
RV. In case of unaugmented forms, the accent is generally on the root in
the s/is aorist, and shifts between the root and ending in the root
aorist.

> (b) where is the evidence on the correlation mentioned between
> asigmatic aorists and absence of augment?

Blumenthal, Some Homeric evidence for the history of the augment , IF
79(1974) 67--77: The data given here is from Iliad 11, but only forms
which are metrically secure are counted. Imperfect has 28 augmented and
73 unaugmented, strong aorist has 27 and 76 respectively and weak aorist
37 and 50. I calculated chi-square p-value to be 0.027 from this data
for lack of difference between the two aorists.

Blumenthal also adds that the ratio of augmented to unaugmented forms is
1:2 in speeches and 1:3 in narrative, and also that in dual (all forms),
pluperfect and aorist passives, the figures are 1&6, 8&4 and 5&1. His
conclusion is that the augment is young is so is more frequent in newer
formations than older ones.