from space words to transitive markers: the case of ancient greek en ‘in’.pdf

8/13/2019 FROM SPACE WORDS TO TRANSITIVE MARKERS: THE CASE OF ANCIENT GREEK EN IN.pdf

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FROM SPACE WORDS TO TRANSITIVE MARKERS:

THE CASE OF ANCIENT GREEK EN IN1

By CARLOTTA VITIUniversity of Pisa

ABSTRACT

While in many Indo-European languages preverbs become

markers of increased transitivity, in Homeric Greek they

maintain their concrete local or directional function, and

therefore may be compared with prepositions. Here we inves-

tigate how the prepositional use and the preverbal use may be

performed by the same local particle, en in. It appears that

prepositions are used with nouns denoting inanimate objects.

Instead, preverbs mainly select topical complements, which

have human referents or are represented by personal pronouns.These results tally with the use of applicative structures outside

the Indo-European domain. Since topical complements are

interpreted as referring to entire items that are completely

affected by the verbal action, topicality appears to be the

connection between space and transitivity.

1. INTRODUCTION

It is acknowledged that preverbs originally had a concrete meaning

of location or direction in Proto-Indo-European, similarly to

1I am very grateful to the editors, Andrew Linn and Paul Rowlett, and to theanonymous reviewers of Transactions of the Philological Society for their helpfulobservations and corrections. I would like to thank also Dag Haug, RomanoLazzeroni, Maria Napoli, Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, and RossanaStefanelli for discussion on the telic function of preverbs in Ancient Greek.

List of abbreviations: ACC = accusative; AOR = aorist; APP = applicative;

ASP = aspectual; DAT = dative; DO = direct object; DP = demonstrative pro-noun; F = feminine; GEN = genitive; IND = indicative; INJ = injunctive;IO i di bj IPF i f LOC l i M li

Transactions of the Philological Society Volume 106:3 (2008) 375413


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In the following paragraphs, we present data concerning the

distribution of the preposition en (section 2) and of the preverb

en-(section 3). We will focus on the types of complement governedby prepositions and preverbs, denoting the reference of localization.

In a spatial relation, the position of an object X (trajector in

Langacker 1987: 21720) is defined with respect to another object Y

(landmark). For example, in the clause The birds are in the nest,the

birdsare the trajector, and the nestis the landmark. We will see that

the types of landmark found with prepositions are quite different

from the types of landmark expressed by means of preverbs: cases

like (1) and (2), where the same landmark appears with bothconstructions, are the exception rather than the rule in our corpus.

The situation attested in Homer will be compared with the cross-

linguistic variation between oblique coding and applicative coding

in section 4. Finally, we will consider the properties associated with

Homeric preverbs as a possible motivation for the semantic change

from local markers to transitive markers, which occurs in post-

Homeric Greek (section 5).

2. DISTRIBUTION OF EN AS A PREPOSITION

We gathered all occurrences of the prepositionen in the Iliad and in

the Odyssey, in accordance with Gehrings (1891: 27982) lexicon.

Overall, we counted 1,316 occurrences of prepositional en, i.e. ofen

governing an overt dative nominal.2 Numerical findings are

illustrated in Table 1. References to the single passages can be

found in Appendix A.

It appears thatendoes not equally select all types of nominal, but

rather shows a skewed distribution towards the syntactic category

of common nouns (1,128 occurrences, 85 per cent of the cases), and

especially of those common nouns having an inanimate referent

(1,058 occurrences, 80 per cent). This is unsurprising, given that

spatial relations are usually defined with respect to concrete, large

2Horrocks (1981:18) considers instances of prepositions also those passages where

a complement does not appear but can be easily inferred from the context. In Il.1.311en d archo`s ebe polumetis Odysseusand there quick-thinking Odysseus went ash i l d h l h Od i l l h hi ( ) i d f

TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY106, 2008378


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and immobile landmarks: it is more normal to say the girl is nearthe tree than the tree is near the girl. This result becomes,

however, significant as long as preverbs show a different selection of

complements, such as nouns denoting humans, as discussed in

section 3. In the particular case of en, the landmark literally

represents a spaceinwhich something is included, such as a cave in

(4).

(4) numphe po tni e ruke

nymph(F):NOM.SG lady(F):NOM.SG keep:IPF:INJ:3SG

Kalypso, da thea on,

Calypso:NOM splendid:NOM.F.SG goddess(F):GEN.PL

en spe ssi glaphyrosi

in cave(N):DAT.PL vaulted:DAT.N.PL

The lady, the nymph Calypso, splendid among the goddesses,

kept (him) in her vaulted cave. (Od. 1.1415)

Inclusion is also expressed by landmarks such as air or sky (en

aitheri,en ouranoi), ships (en neus n), huts (en klis eisi), house or

rooms (en o koi, en megaroisin), bowl, kettle, baskets, vases (en

depa, en kreteri, en kaneoisi, en amphiphoreusi). Alternatively, en

refers to a surface onwhich something is placed, such as an island

in (5). The whole conceptual space that is expressed by different

prepositions in some languages, such as English in and on or

German in and auf, is covered by the only form en in Ancient

Greek.

Table 1. Complements of the preposition en

Prepositionen Types of complement No. (100%) Total 1,316 (100%)

Proper nouns Humans 36 (3%) 122 (10%)Places 86 (7%)

Personal pronouns First person 0 (0%) 66 (5%)Second person 8 (1%)Third person 58 (4%)

Common nouns Animates 70 (5%) 1,128 (85%)Inanimates 1,058 (80%)

VITI THE CASE OF ANCIENT GREEK EN IN 379


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(5) ho` s de` detha` phlon a po

who:NOM.M.SG PTC long friend(M):GEN.PL away

pemata pa schei nesoitrouble(N):ACC.PL suffer:PR:IND:3SG island(F):DAT.SG

en amphirutei

in flowed.around:DAT.F.SG

Who suffers troubles away from his friends for a long time on

an island flowed around. (Od. 1.50)3

Typical landmarks on the surface of which something is located can

be identified in the sea or pool (en pontoi, en pelagei), beach (enaigialoi), mountains or peaks (en oressi, en korypheis), plain (en

pedoi), land, country, district (en ga ei, en choroi, en demoi),

floor (en dapedoi), wall (en te chei), etc. Something may also be

placed in the middle of sand (en psamathoisin) or dust (en

kon eisi). Sometimes the landmark is temporally conceived (en nykt

in the night,en thereiin the summer,en horeiin the season, etc.)

or is an abstract concept, such as love (en philoteti), war (en

polemoi), return (en nost

oi), dream (en one r

oi). Luraghi (2003:

83) defines social location the case of an en-phrase where the

landmark denotes an event of social life, as en agorei in the

council.

Independently of whether en indicates inclusion or contact or

merely proximity, its complement is typically represented as a

generic object. This can also be seen in the seventy instances of

common nouns denoting animates, which either present plural

number, as in (6), or are expressed by a singular collective noun.

(6) en proma choisi phane nta

in first.fighter(M):DAT.PL appearing:ACC.M.SG

Appearing among the first fighters. (Il. 3.31)

Plural nouns denoting humans can be identified in frequent

prepositional phrases such as en theosin among the gods, en

anthropoisin among the human beings, en andrasin among the



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men,en hetaroisiamong the companions,en mnestersiamong the

suitors. Alternatively, a collective complement noun appears in the

two phrases en hom loi in the crowd and en nekuon agurei in aheap of dead bodies. Clearly, a collective is tantamount to a plural

noun from a referential point of view. In the last example, occurring

in Il. 16.661, plurality emerges in the genitive modifier nekuon.

The same tendency also occurs when the complement is a proper

noun. As can be seen in Table 1, proper nouns are more often found

for places (86 cases, 7 per cent) than for humans (36 cases, 3 per

cent). This is consistent with the overwhelming prevalence of

inanimate referents as complements of the preposition en. More-over, when denoting humans, such proper nouns generically

represent names of peoples, so that the prepositional phrase means

among the Achaeans, Argivians, Trojans, etc. In only one out of

thirty-six cases the complement proper noun of en refers to a

specific individual (to Ajax, in Il. 11.544).

The same generic value may be observed in the rare case of a

pronominal complement. We counted sixty-six passages where the

preposition engoverns a pronoun, which corresponds to 5 per centof cases. No instance has been found of a first person pronoun, and

only eight instances (1 per cent) of a second person pronoun

appear, once in the singular (en so , Il. 9.97) and seven times in the

plural (en humn, Il. 7.73, 9.121, 9.528, 10.445, Od. 2.46, 10.69, and

19.11). In the remaining fifty-eight cases (4 per cent), the comple-

ment pronoun is inflected in the third person, almost equally

divided between a group of twenty-eight instances with a non-

human referent (for example, the antecedent of en autei in it,

DAT.F.SG, in Il. 12.63 is the noun taphrosditch) and a group of

thirty instances with a human referent. Significantly, the latter

present plural number in twenty-four cases, as in en tosi, en

sphinsphisin, en autosiamong them (M), en teis id. (F), en pasin

among all.

3. DISTRIBUTION OF EN AS A PREVERB

Complement-taking preverbs are much rarer than prepositions. In

our corpus we counted 1 316 instances of DAT + preposition en



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protos first, and matches the syntactic prominence of the whole

phrase, which is fronted at the beginning of the clause and of the

verse. It is well known that the initial position of an utteranceplays a crucial role for cognitive strategies of attention and

memory: the hearer tends to memorise and to pay attention

especially to the initial words of a string (Gernsbacher 1990).

Dislocation represents a further clue to the prominence of the

phrase Hektori protstoi. The preverbed verb eneken he inspired

takes two complements: the accusative phrase analkida thumon

coward heart, governed by the verb base heken he sent forth, is

verb-adjacent, while the dative phrase Hektori prot st

oi depends

on the preverb proper and is dislocated. This is consistent with the

typological findings of Lazard (1984), who detected different

transitive constructions in many languages according to whether

the object forms a conceptual unit with the verb. If verb and

object are notionally close, as in drinking water, eating bread,

wearing a dress, etc., the object (called depolarised object) is

also syntactically close to the verb, and often incorporated to it.

Instead, when the object is polarised, i.e. non-predictable fromthe verbal meaning, as in drinking a glass of expensive Chianti, it

has more chances to be separated from the verb by means of other

constituents. In (7), the expression to inspire a heart is clearly

more conventional than the expression to inspire Hector, so that

the latter is syntactically discontinuous.

Personal pronouns represent the domain where the difference

between preverbs and prepositions is most striking. While only 5

per cent of personal pronouns are governed by prepositions

(Table 1), preverbs work as heads of personal pronouns in 40 per

cent of cases (Table 2). Examples (8) and (9) represent first person

and second person pronominal complements, referring to the

speaker and to the hearer.

(8) cha lkeon de moi etor

bronze:NOM.N.SG PTC me:DAT heart(N):NOM.SG

enee

in.be:PR:OP:3SG

(Not even if) I had a bronze heart



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(9) oude nu so per entre petai

NEG PTC you:DAT PTC in.turn:PR:IND:3SG.MID

phlon etor, Olumpiedear:NOM.N.SG heart(N):NOM.SG Olympius:VOC

And still your heart is not touched, O Zeus.

(Lit. And still heart does not turn in you. Od. 1.60)

Preverbed verbs often express mental, emotional or verbal pro-

cesses, which entail human complements, as can be seen in en-eken

he inspired (7),en-e eit is inside (8) oren-trepetaiit turns about,

it gives heed, it is touched (9). A typical example of this appears inthe opening of the Odyssey Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polutropon,

etc. Tell me, Muse, (the story of) the resourceful man, or in

formulas such as moi nemerte`s en spes tell me the truth (Il. 14.470,

Od. 3.101, 4.314, 4.331, 4.642, 12.112, 22.166, 23.35), based on the

verb en-epoI tell (Lat. insece, O.Ir.insce). The selection of human

targets represents a semantic shift from the literal concept of a

concrete space to the metaphorical nuance of a psychological

dimension. This will bring about the lexicalization of preverbedverbs, which are gradually perceived as semantically separated from

their basic verb and endowed with a non-compositional meaning.

In some cases, the basic verb is not even attested: engual zoI hand

over, I give, for example, which implies a human recipient, is a

clear denominal verb from gualon palm, but *gual zo has

disappeared.

The fact that nouns or pronouns denoting specific individuals are

usual targets ofen-compound verbs tallies with the preferred type ofinanimate common noun selected by this preverb. One of the most

homogeneous groups of common nouns governed by the preverben

denotes human body parts, such as chers n hands (2), ophthalmoi

eye, metaphrenoi back, kran oi skull, osteoi bone, and thumoi

heart (cf. Appendix B). Body parts represent typical instances of

inalienable possession, and are not used for indicating an anatom-

ical part of the body, but rather for describing an inherent property

of a human being. An action that affects a body part also affects its

human possessor. This is especially evident in Ancient Greek, where

nouns denoting body parts as well as kinship terms typically



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a sign of emotional connection between the possessor and the

possessee.4 Nouns denoting body parts, however, often also occur

as complements of the preposition en (cf. Appendix A). In this case,they convey an instrumental meaning: Luraghi (2003: 67, 889)

shows that the expression en ophthalmosi horasthai, lit. to see in

ones eyes, means to see with ones eyes, so that the body part is

conceptualised as a container. Thus, body parts represent the main

area of overlap between prepositions and preverbs, as anticipated in

the pair of examplesen chers` baleisi(1) andem-bale chers n(2). For

their double relevance as concrete inanimate items and as natural

properties of human beings, nouns denoting body parts may beconsidered the starting point of the syntactic change from prepo-

sitions, usual for marginal participants of the denoted situation, to

preverbs, for participants that play a core role in the event

structure.

Topicality also characterises those preverb complements that

denote inanimate items but do not express inalienable possession. If

we look at the contexts where such nouns appear, we notice that

they are definite and persisting pieces of information. They havealready been introduced in the previous discourse and recur in the

following one, and may therefore be considered salient material.

Clearly, salience, importance or topicality represent abstract

notions that cannot be directly observed in a text. Considering a

referent as salient or not, or as more or less salient than another

referent, implies a certain degree of subjectivity. This potential bias,

however, can be overcome if we count the occurrences of a noun

either as a repetition of the same lexeme or as a resumption by

means of anaphoric pronouns. If a referent is denoted several times,

it may legitimately be considered as being quite important, or at

least more important than a referent that immediately decays (for

the relationship between repeated mention and importance, cf.

Myhill 1992). Consider the example in (10), where the complement

of the preverb en- is the dative noun pureipyre.

4In the simple language of Homer and early poets, phlos is used of ones ownlimbs, life, etc. [] and it became a regular epithet of many such words, even when

ff i b i li d i i i Ili d 9 555 i i id f M l `



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(10) psuras d eriauchenas hppous

four PTC high.necked:ACC.M.PL horse(M):ACC.PL

essume nos ene balle pureiimpetuously in.throw:IPF:IND:3SG pyre(F):DAT.SG

mega la stenachzon

aloud groaning:NOM.M.SG

And impetuously he threw four high-necked horses on to the

pyre, groaning aloud. (Il. 23.171172)

In book XXIII of the Iliad, devoted to Patroclus funeral, the noun

pureoccurs fourteen times. They made a pyre a hundred feet long allways (pure` hekatompedon entha ka`eentha). On the top of the pyre

(en de`purei hupatei) they laid the body with sorrowful hearts. They

skinned and prepared many fat sheep and shambling cattle with

crocked horns at the foot of the pyre (prosthe pures). Great-hearted

Achilles, taking fat from all of them, covered Patroclus body with

it from head to foot and then piled up the flayed carcasses round the

body. Then, he added two handled jars filled with honey and oil,

propping them up against the bier; and impetuously he threw fourhigh-necked horses on to the pyre, groaning aloud. Lord Patroclus

had kept nine dogs as pets. Achilles slit the throats of two of these

andthrewthemon the pyre (eneballe purei) as well, etc. Although it

is inanimate, the pyre remains on the scene for a long text portion,

and therefore represents a discourse topic, not only in book XXIII

but also in book XXIV, where Hectors funeral is often described

with the same formulas. This emphasises the parallels between the

death of Patroclus and of Hector (cf. Di Benedetto 1994: 289ff.)Accordingly, the funeral procedure around Patroclus pyre in book

XXIII acquires a special significance as anticipation of the final

scene of the poem.5

5Since inanimate referents represent the unmarked target of prepositions, it ispredictable that en governs the noun of the pyre both as a preverb (Il. 23.172,23.174) and as a preposition (Il. 23.165, 23.216, and 23.241) in the same context.What is of interest here is that nouns denoting inanimates appear as complements of

preverbs only under limited circumstances, i.e. when the inanimate referent plays aprominent role in its context. It is perhaps not a chance that 18 out of 26 (69%)

l f b d b h l d h i d i f



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4. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HOMERIC PREVERBS AND APPLICATIVES

The different properties exhibited by complements of prepositions

and complements of preverbed verbs in Homer are reminiscent of

the contrast between oblique constructions and applicative con-

structions found typologically. Peterson (2007: 1) defines applica-

tive constructions as a means some languages have for structuring

clauses which allow the coding of a thematically peripheral

argument or adjunct as a core-object argument. Such constructions

are signalled by overt verbal morphology. He provides a pair of

examples drawn from Ainu (an isolated language spoken in the

most northerly Japanese island of Hokkaido), here reported as (11)

and (12).

(11) poro cise ta horari

big house in live

He lives in a big house.

(12) poro cise e-horari

big house APP-liveHe lives in a big house.

The same situation is denoted by the oblique coding in (11), where

the locative semantic role of the noun cisehouse is expressed by its

governing postpositiontain, and by the applicative coding in (12),

where cise is a bare noun and its locative function appears as a

verbal prefix. Different languages manifest different morphosyn-

tactic strategies for applicative constructions, according to whetherthe applicative object is a bare noun or has a case marker, or

whether it triggers verbal agreement, extraction, reciprocal

co-reference, control in purposive clauses, etc. Overall, however,

the hallmarks of applicatives are identified in the absence of

adpositions and in the presence of verbal derivation, as was

observed in the case of Homeric preverbs.6

It must be observed that promotion to argument position does

not imply promotion to the function of direct object. In AncientGreek, direct objects are typically represented by accusative noun



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phrases that have the semantic role of patient. It may happen that a

preverb introduces an authentic direct object that the simple verb

would not otherwise take: Horrocks (1981:41) mentions the case ofthe preverb pros, which may be added to the verb epon I said in

the sense of I address someone, with an accusative nominal

complement, as in (13).

(13) to` n d au te pros-e eipe

him:ACC PTC then toward-say:AOR:IND:3SG

thea` glaukopis Athene

goddess(F):NOM.SG grey.eyed:NOM.F.SG Athena:NOMThen the goddess grey-eyed Athena addressed him.

(Il. 1.206)

Horrocks observes that the verb epon alone cannot take a direct

object other than the cognate epos word (or its synonymous

muthon) and the indefinite pronoun ti something. In this case, the

low transitivity ofepon, which is typical of verba dicendi in many

other languages (cf. Munro 1982), is increased by the preverb pros.However, such promotion to direct object is not usual for preverbs,

and is never performed by the preverb en in particular. Dative

nominals, which by definition we considered as being the only

possible complements of the preverb en-, do not show evidence of

being direct objects or patients. Moreover, in phrases such as

malako`n dendune chitona he put his soft tunic on reported in (3),

the accusative case is determined by the verb base rather than by the

preverb, and would be maintained even if the preverb were

removed.

For the preverben, as well as for most other preverbs, promotion

must be broadly meant as an operation that distinguishes argu-

ments from adjuncts. Adjuncts represent nominal constituents that

can be omitted without making the clause ungrammatical: the

clause John dreams in the night is grammatically as correct as its

reduced form John dreams. Instead, arguments are required by the

verbal valence. If they are omitted, either the clause is ungram-

matical or the verb acquires a different meaning, as in John lives in

London versus *John lives: if the latter is considered acceptable it



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example, require a prepositional phrase expressing a locative

semantic role. Horrocks (1981: 23ff.) points out that, while

prepositions work both as adjuncts and as arguments in HomericGreek, preverbed verbs may be formed only when the dependent

noun has the function of an argument. Consider the passage in (14).

(14) ochtesan d ana` doma Dio` s

be.angry:AOR:3PL PTC on palace:ACC Zeus:GEN

theo` Ouranones

god(M):NOM.PL celestial:NOM.M.PL

The celestial gods in Zeus palace were angry. (Il. 1.570)

Horrocks remarks that the prepositional phrase ana`domais clearly

an adjunct, and that is why no example can be found of

corresponding preverbed structures such as an-ochtesan doma.

More recently, Haug (2006) has demonstrated that in the early IE

languages verb and adjunct do not univerbate because they are

syntactically separated by a phrase boundary. By contrast, no

phrase boundary exists between verb and argument, which there-fore triggers univerbation. It is in the sense of arguments, rather

than of direct objects stricto sensu, that complements of preverbed

verbs in Homeric Greek may be considered as being syntactically

similar to complements of applicative constructions.

Preverb complements and applicative complements also share

semantic and pragmatic properties. The privileged association of

Homeric preverbs with object nouns denoting animate and topical

referents, often represented by personal pronouns, matches the

functions commonly ascribed to applicatives across languages.

Applicatives are favoured for the semantic roles of the recipient and

of the beneficiarymaleficiary, which have human referents, while

they are rarer for locatives and instrumentals, and even rarer for

cause and purpose, which denote inanimate abstract entities

(Peterson 2007: 202ff.). In Petersons sample, the benefactivemale-

factive type is found in over 80 per cent of the languages that have

applicative constructions. Moreover, when the same semantic role

may be expressed by means of an applicative or oblique construc-

tion according to the context applicatives are used for comple-



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distance from the previous mention and a higher persistence in the

following discourse, so that they are typically more active and more

topical than their oblique counterparts (Craig & Hale 1988;Donohue 2001).

The fact that applicatives take topical complements determines

their use as markers of inherently topicalizing constructions, such as

passive or relative clauses. The passive promotes a non-agent

argument, usually the patient, to the most topical position of the

clause, that of the subject. To make a peripheral argument, such as

a locative or an instrumental, accessible to the passive voice, many

languages employ the applicative strategy. The example in (15)represents the passive of a locative in Bemba, a language belonging

to the Bantu family, where applicatives are especially common (cf.

Givo n 1975; 1979: 197).

(15) isanduku li-a-pon-wa-mo icitabo

box it-PAST-put-PS-APP book

In the box was put a book.

(Lit. The box was put-into a book.)

The locative semantic role of isanduku box is not signalled on

this noun, but rather on the verb by means of the suffix -mo.

Such suffix, related to the preposition mu in, recovers the

information that has been lost after the transformation from

active to passive. The applicative licenses a higher accessibility

also to relativisation, which is considered a topicalising construc-

tion insofar as it allows identification of a certain referent from a

class of items. In the Bemba example (16), the locative applicative

-mo expresses the semantic role played by the head noun in the

relative clause.

(16) na` a` -mweene ingaanda iyo umunaandi a` a` -keele-mo

I-saw house that friend:my he-lived-APP

I saw the house that my friend lived in.

Similar strategies may also appear in the use of Homeric Greek

preverbs when a peripheral argument is topicalised to the position



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(17) karpalmos d e mplento broton

quickly PTC in.fill:AOR:3PL:MIDPS people(M):GEN.PL

agora te ka` he draisquare(F):NOM.PL PTC and seat(F):NOM.PL

Squares and seats were quickly refilled by the people.

(Od. 8.16)

The inanimate subject (agora hedraisquares seats), inflected

in the nominative case, suggests a passive, rather than middle,

reading of the verb emplento they were refilled: the action of

refilling is performed on squares and seats by the people. This isconfirmed by word order, which places the noun of the agent broton

people before the noun of the patient agora hedrai. Although

Homeric Greek displays high word-order flexibility, subjects tend to

precede objects in this language, as in most languages of the world.

It must be pointed out, however, that the addition of the preverben

to a passive verb is by no means an obligatory rule of passivization.

In the similar passage plento d ar a thousate ka`herkea ka`domoi

andron the galleries, the courts, and the apartments were filled bythe people (Od. 8.57), the subjects express a locative semantic role

like in (17), but the passive verb plentodoes not take any preverb.

Accordingly, we may consider the presence of preverbs in passive

verbs as an option that is semantically and not syntactically

determined, to clarify the thematic role of the subject. Similar

considerations hold true for relative clauses formed by the preverb

en (18).

(18) heisi subotes esthlo` s

RP:DAT.F.PL swineherd(M):NOM.SG loyal:NOM.M.SG

eon enaue

being:NOM.M.SG in.sleep:IPF:3SG

(Pigs) among which the swineherd, loyal heart, used to sleep

(Od. 15.5567)

The dative case of the relative pronoun heisi is vague, and may

convey a number of different semantic roles, such as recipient,

beneficiary goal in Homeric Greek where a dramatic syncretism



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subsequent verse. This does not imply that alternatively Homeric

Greek cannot relativise a locative position. We cannot know

whether the relative construction *en heisi aue would beacceptable. First, syntactic tests must be considered with caution

when applied to a dead language, available only through a limited

corpus, such as Homeric Greek, where absence cannot be taken as

ungrammaticality. Second, some instances of relative pronouns

dependent on adpositions may occasionally be found in Homer: the

structure hoi eni(RP:DAT.MN.SG) in which, with the variant

particle en, has three occurrences (Il. 14.220, Od. 4.603 and 6.15).

However, the association between prepositions and relativepronouns is marked in distribution (locative expressions such as

hoi eni, hoi epi on which, and hoi peri around which are only

found as postpositions) and in frequency. We counted forty-nine

instances of local particles governing a proper relative pronoun, i.e.

a pronoun that plays a syntactic function in the relative clause and

that has a nominal antecedent in the main clause. In thirty-six

passages (73.5 per cent), the relative pronoun depends on a preverb,

and in thirteen passages (26.5 per cent) it depends on a preposition.

7

Thus, a relative construction such as *en heisi aue may be

considered as being less likely to appear than its correspondent

structure with preverbal head heisi enaue. Instead, a preposition

is regularly found when the dependent is an adverbial conjunction,

such as ex ou whence (Il. 1.6, Lat. ex quo). Although Ancient

Greek relative pronouns and adverbial conjunctions are equally

built on the relative stem *yo-(Skr.ya-), they clearly have different

functions: adverbial conjunctions present neither a lexical anteced-

ent in the main clause nor a syntactic function in the subordinate.

We counted sixty-seven occurrences of composite conjunctions such

7The cases where a relative pronoun depends on a preverb are attested in Il. 1.86,2.25, 2.62, 2.233, 2.286, 3.109, 3.177, 5.320, 5.504, 5.818, 6.292, 7.90, 10.146, 11.186,11.840, 15.664, 17.134, 20.84, 23.854, 24.529, 24.758, Od. 3.267, 4.207, 4.357, 6.193,7.243, 10.483, 11.149, 14.66, 14.511, 15.372, 15.402, 15.556, 17.410, 19.171, 21.391.

Instead, a relative pronoun depends on a preposition in Il. 1.162, 5.739, 6.357,14.220, 23.210, 10.244, Od. 3.408, 4.603, 6.15, 6.262, 8.403, 15.385, 23.224. We did

h h h l i b i ll



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as ex ou and eis ho until (lit. to which).8 It is recognised that

temporal roles, albeit definite, are usually non-topical, since they do

not represent the issue of a discourse, but rather embody theattendant circumstances of the main action (Givo n 2001: 474). The

fact that they select prepositions rather than preverbs in Homeric

Greek is consistent with the observed relationship between prep-

ositions and non-topical locative roles.

Our remark that the locative position is not amenable to a

productive strategy of relativization in Homer is not only based on

the constraints of prepositional phrases with the relative pronoun.

More importantly, we can observe that, when the function of arelativised locative is to be expressed, the alternative structure of the

demonstrative pronoun *so-to- (Skr. sa-ta-) is used. While *en

heisi in which (RP:DAT.F.PL) is absent, en teisi in them

(DP:DAT.F.PL) occurs, for example, in Od. 21.52, where it refers

to some boxes (further occurrences of demonstrative pronouns

dependent of the preposition en can be found in Appendix A).

(19) e ntha de` ch

elo`

e stasan,Here PTC box(F):NOM.PL stay:AOR:IND:3PL

en d a ra teisi thuodea

en PTC PTC DP:DAT.F.PL scented:NOM.N.PL

hemat e keito

cloth(N):NOM.PL lay:IPF:IND:3SG

Here stood the boxes, and among them scented clothes were

set. (Od. 21.512)

The use of demonstrative pronouns with an anaphoric function for

non-accessible positions of Keenan and Comries (1977) Accessi-

bility Hierarchy of relativization (SU > DO > IO > OBL >

8The conjunctionex ouis attested in 1.6, 8.295, 13.778, 21.196, 24.638, 24.766, Od.2.27, 2.90, 8.539, 11.168, 14.379, 16.142, 17.103, 18.181, 19.223, 19.596, 23.18, 24.310.The conjunction eis ho is attested in 3.490, 5.466, 7.30, 7.71, 7.291, 7.376, 7.377,7.395, 7.396, 9.46, 9.48, 9.609, 10.62, 10.89, 11.193, 11.208, 11.666, 12.150, 14.6,

14.77, 15.70, 16.455, 17.454, 21.128, 21.133, 21.231, 21.531, 23.244, Od. 2.97, 5.378,6.295, 8.318, 9.138, 10.462, 11.122, 11.351, 13.59, 15.26, 15.51, 15.75, 15.543, 17.56,19 142 22 58 22 72 22 443 23 269 23 358 24 132 S h (1950 640) k



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GEN > OCOMP) is cross-linguistically common. Although *so-

to- may be exploited in Homeric Greek to introduce a relative

clause in addition to the proper relative pronoun yo-, such apronoun is an authentic demonstrative in the expression en teisiin

them of (19). It is acknowledged that *to- cannot be interpreted as

a relative pronoun when conjunctions or particles such as deappear

as linker with respect to the previous clause, where the antecedent

noun is contained (Monteil 1963: 25).9

Strictly speaking, neither a preverbed verb as in (18) nor a

preposition is necessary to relativise a locative noun phrase. The

same function could be expressed by means of a structure such as*heisi aue, where the dative relative pronoun depends on a

simple verb. Cases alone suffice to express spatial relations, and

local particles were originally used to reinforce or specify these

functions (Chantraine 1953: 84). When we speak of preverbs used in

strategies of relativization or passivization, we do not mean

syntactic rules, but rather options that are available in Homeric

Greek and unavailable in other IE languages. Only in this sense of

tendencies may Homeric preverbs be compared with applicativeconstructions. If we seek in Homeric preverbs the same regularity of

promotional strategies as those of applicatives, we will probably

conclude that we are dealing with quite different phenomena. In this

way, however, we would miss the many similarities that preverb

complements share with applicative complements. Moreover, even

authentic applicative strategies are far from being uniform in their

distribution. Peterson (2007: 220ff.) documents various cases where

languages endowed with applicatives resort to strategies other than

applicatives in relativization or passivization.

5. RELATIONSHIP AMONG TOPICALITY, PERFECTIVITY AND TELICITY

5.1. Aspectual and actional interpretations of Ancient Greek preverbs

The fact that complements of Homeric preverbs represent clause

arguments implies that such constructions are more transitive than

9Monteil (1963) exemplifies the fact that coordinating particles impinge upon al i i i f h i h h Il 5 514 A d



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prepositional phrases, which may also function as clause adjuncts.

Diachronically, this increased transitivity may be related to the

semantic change of preverbs from local or directional particles tomarkers of perfective aspect or, more properly, of telic actionality

in Ancient Greek. Since the seminal work of Hopper and

Thompson (1980), it is acknowledged that prototypical transitivity

implies a high degree of perfectivity and telicity.

The aspectual value of perfectivity has been ascribed to Ancient

Greek preverbs by Brugmann (1885: 268), Meillet (1937: 352)

Humbert (1960: 586), Leroy (1958: 135), Roussel (1958), Friedrich

(1974: 5), Perne e (1983: 298), Giannakis (1997: 55ff.). Allegedly, theopposition between a simple verb and its correspondent preverbed

verb reflects the contrast between imperfective and perfective

aspect; and preverbs are assigned a function similar to that of

reduplication and of the aorist tense, traditionally contrasted with

the imperfective value of the imperfect tense.

Nevertheless, most of these scholars wrote in a period where

aspect (Russian vid) was often confounded with actionality (Ger-

man Aktionsart). They considered perfectivity as the entailment ofthe end or result of an event. Meillet (1948: 209), for example,

states: le fait dajouter un pre verbe a` un verbe marque que lacte

indique par ce verbe arrive a` son terme (the addition of a preverb

to a verb indicates that the event denoted by the verb reaches its

termination). As anticipated in section 1, however, the resultative

meaning is nowadays accepted as a property of actionality. Comrie

(1978: 18ff.) observes that it is misleading to define perfectivity as a

completed action, since this term puts too much emphasis on the

final stage. The term complete would be more appropriate, since it

does not specify the beginning, middle or end of the event. The

perfective aspect implies that a situation is viewed as a single whole,

as in English He readversus the progressive He was reading or the

habitual He used to read. The same predicate may present

imperfective or perfective aspectual values, according to the

perspective adopted in a particular context, with or without

reference to the internal structure or to the various component

phases of the event. Instead, actionality is more dependent on the

lexical meaning of the verb which may denote stative or dynamic



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23/40

becomes telic, provided that the referent of the object is well

individuated, i.e. neither a singular mass noun nor a plural

indefinite noun (21). If the object referent is generic, the sentenceis incompatible with adverbial expressions denoting the completive

expression in X time, but is compatible with the durative

expression for X time (22).

(20) He sang for an hour*in an hour.

(21) He sang three songs in an hour*for an hour.

(22) He sang songs *in an hourfor an hour.

Since complements of preverbed verbs are typically specific, they

are compatible with a telic interpretation of the whole verbal

phrase. This emerges not only in case-assigning preverbs (section 3)

but also in those preverbs that act as adverbial modifier, as we will

see in the following section.

5.2. Adverbial preverbs versus tmesis

In Homer already some local particles such as apo from, ek out

of, from, and kata down start developing a resultative meaning

(e.g. Il. 1.19ek-persai Priamoio polinto destroy completely Priams

city). The idea of departure from a place can be metaphorically

conceived as the end of an event. The particle en, as most other

local particles, does not have this value in Homer. Still, some of its

adverbial usages (i.e. when the complement is inflected in a

grammatical case other than the dative cf. section 1) may

illustrate the beginning of this later development. The adverbial

function is not limited to univerbation between preverb and verb, as

in the phrase malako`n dendune chitonahe put his soft tunic on in

(3) or in the example in (23), but may also appear in local particles

that are separated from the verb, in the context of tmesis, as in

(24). It is well known that the term tmesis (from tamno I cut)

coined by ancient grammarians is a misnomer, since what appears a

posteriori as a severance of the compound verb actually represents a



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relic of an early stage where adverbial particles were still indepen-

dent with respect to the verb.10

(23) ou ga` r o o hredos

NEG in.fact think:PR:IND:1SG easily

to de to xon euxoon

this:ACC.N.SG bow(N):ACC.SG polished:ACC.N.SG

en-tanuesthai

in-string:IF

I dont think this polished bow will prove easy to string.

(Od. 21.92)

(24) en d o psa tthei,

in PTC meat:ACC put:IPF:INJ:3SG

en d onon e cheuen

in PTC wine:ACC pour:IPF:IND:3SG

She put meat in, and she poured wine in. (Od. 6.77)

It appears that verbs univerbated with adverbial preverbs such as(23) have a relatively high number of pronominal complements with

respect to preverbed verbs without univerbation such as (24). Out

of forty-five preverbed verbs governing a genitive or accusative

complement, eight instances of complement pronouns occur,

corresponding to 18 per cent of cases (cf. Appendix C). Although

this is clearly a small percentage, it is higher than that found among

preverbed verbs in tmesis, where only one pronoun out of forty-

seven passages has been identified, which is equivalent to 2 per cent

of cases (cf. Appendix D). Moreover, complements of univerbated

verbal phrases usually denote body parts and clothes, which belong

to the domain of inalienable possession (cf. Chappel & McGregor

1996). The phrase malako`n dendune chitona (3) is an example of

this. Other nouns denoting inanimate items that depend on

univerbated verbal phrases represent salient information. The

polished bow in (23), for example, is assigned a prominent

10A caveat is necessary for the definition of tmesis: since Homeric poems werei d i i d h l h h f h i l i i h i



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position for a large text span: in book XIX of the Odyssey,

Penelope announces the trial of the bow, whereby she will marry

whoever can string Odysseus bow and shoot an arrow throughtwelve axes; in book XX, the impending doom of the suitors in the

bows trial is predicted; in book XXI, the suitors fail to string the

bow, while Odysseus is able to do it. Book XXI, from which

example (23) is taken, attests forty-nine occurrences of the name of

the bow (toxon), and this number would be even higher if we count

the instances of anaphoric resumption by means of demonstrative

pronouns (e.g.oudemin entanuse he did not string it, Od. 21.150).

The bow is also present in the subsequent narration: in book XXII,Odysseus, his son and his companions kill the suitors by means of

bow and arrow. The bow is at the same time an instrument of

recognition and an instrument of vengeance in this context.

In tmesis, by contrast, forty-six out of forty-seven instances (98

per cent) of complements have concrete and inanimate referents: in

addition to meat and wine in (24), there is a set of semantically

heterogeneous nouns denoting poison, richness, keys, hog-pieces,

sheep-backs, etc. (cf. Appendix D), which represent genericsubstances and do not have a topical position in the discourse. In

more than half these cases (twenty-five occurrences) the comple-

ment is a simple noun that is neither modified nor specified. If we

take into consideration the remaining cases, we may observe that

they present modification, rather than specification, and adjectival

modification more frequently than genitival modification, e.g.

many appetizing (pieces of) meat (opsa menoeikea polla, Od.

5.267), many and noble offerings (agalmata polla` ka`esthla, Od.

12.347), horrible confusion (kudoimon kakon, Il. 11.52). These

adjectives often have the function of intensifiers, and do not add

referentiality to the noun phrase. The same holds true for the rare

cases of modification by means of a genitive, which usually conveys

the relation of content or material, e.g. a skin of dark wine ( askon

melanos o noio, Od. 5.265), a strap of leather (himanta boos, Od.

23.201) jars of honey and oil (melitos ka`ale phatos amphiphoreas,

Il. 23.170). Relations of material and content represent typical non-

referential relations, since they do not serve to identify the referent

of the head noun but rather describe permanent or habitual



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possession may be found with adverbial univerbation, e.g. putting

on the tunic of Zeus who marshals the clouds (chiton endusa Dio`s

nepheleregetao, Il. 5.736). In adverbial univerbation, a complementmay also be specified by a demonstrative pronoun, as in the phrase

this (tode) polished bow in (23).

Thus, preverbed verbs in tmesis have complements semantically

and pragmatically similar to prepositions, as discussed in section 2.

This is corroborated by the fact that tmesis and prepositions often

occur in the same context, with a resulting doubling of local

particles. For example, the clause en d onon echeuen she poured

wine in (24) is followed by the prepositional phraseaskoi en aige oi

into a goatskin bottle. Instead, complements of preverbed verbs

with univerbation share the same function as complements of case-

assigning preverbs, analyzed in section 3. Univerbation, which

represents a derived strategy for both case-assigning preverbs and

adverbial preverbs, appears functionally homogeneous.

It may be argued that the generic denotation of the complements

in constructions of tmesis is related to the older age of tmesis with

respect to univerbation of adverbial particles. The heavy constraintson modification and specification suggest that tmesis is not

productive any more. The fact that Mycenaean does not attest

tmesis indicates that this strategy was already extinct in the spoken

language of the composers of the Homeric poems, where it was

probably preserved by the conservative character of poetic diction.

Thus, when we compare tmesis with univerbated adverbial parti-

cles, we must be aware that we are dealing with constructions going

back to different epochs. This, however, does not impinge upon the

possibility that univerbation and separation of adverbial particles

are used in different contexts at the synchronic stage of the Homeric

poems. As Horrocks (1981: 11ff.) put it, some of these features

obviously entered the tradition before others, but the fact remains

that, once established, they were all equally available on any

particular occasion.

As in the case of prepositions versus case-assigning preverbs, for

univerbated versus non-univerbated adverbial structures the poets

had two options at their disposal, and chose one or the other

according to some criteria that must be explicated Theoretically



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metrics indubitably had a role in the choice of a certain structure, it

is improbable that it is completely responsible for such a pervasive

competition between case-assigning preverbs and prepositions onthe one hand and between adverbial preverbs and tmesis on the

other. Our frequency counts manifest decided tendencies concern-

ing words that have completely different prosodic structures.

Moreover, Homeric Greek had a large repertoire of particles, as

well as of lexical synonyms, that could be used on occasion to adjust

or complete the metrical organization of a verse, without the need

to resort to a cumbersome syntactic alternative for every spatial

relation that is morphologically encoded.Cross-linguistic parallels, albeit only partially overlapping with the

Homeric situation, also support the functional competition between

the different adverbial constructions. A typical example of tmesis, as

in (24), where the object is syntactically close to the verb base, is

functionally similar to depolarised objects observed by Lazard

(1984) and to incorporation. Hopper and Thompson (1980) show

that an incorporated noun is non-referential, incapable of being

focused and of carrying contrastive stress. As suggested by examples(20)(22), it is understandable that a telic interpretation is less

compatible with the generic object of verbal phrases in tmesis than

with the specific object of verbs univerbated with adverbial preverbs.

This may have contributed to the decline of constructions in tmesis. In

Classical Greek, telic preverbs and verbs are an indissoluble unit.

6. CONCLUSIONS

The function of location inside a space can be expressed in Homeric

Greek either by the preposition en in or by its correspondent

verbal prefix,en-. Such constructions, however, take different types

of complement. Preverbed verbs are preferred when their comple-

ments are pronouns or proper nouns with specific human referents,

while prepositions are selected when their complements are com-

mon nouns with inanimate referents. Exceptions to this tendency

may be pragmatically accounted for. When the complements of

prepositions have human referents, they are presented as generic

and play a marginal role in the discourse When the complements of



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The fact that the verbal coding of spatial meanings is selected

when the complement is a topical participant is consistent with

the distribution of applicatives across languages. Applicativesencode in the verb the semantic role of recipient, beneficiary,

instrument, companion, direction or location of a complement,

which can alternatively be expressed by an oblique structure. The

applicative is preferred to the oblique when the cross-referred

participant has a prominent role in terms of animacy and

topicality.

When a nominal constituent is established as a discourse topic, it

tends to be interpreted as a whole topic, i.e. as a unitary conceptfully affected by the verbal action. Similarly, the situation denoted

by the verb may easily be understood as concluded, since we talk

more often about real events than about unreal events. This implies

a high degree of transitivity of clauses with preverbed verbs, and

may clarify the telic function that Ancient Greek preverbs tend to

acquire with time.

APPENDIX A. COMPLEMENTS OF EN AS A PREPOSITION (+DATNOMINAL)

Personal pronouns

Second person, SG: en so Il. 9.97; PL: en humn Il. 7.73, 9.121,

9.528, 10.445, Od. 2.46, 10.69, and 19.11. Third person, humans,

SG: en oiIl. 19.16, 19.366, 21.571, Od. 10.247; en autoi Il. 24.421;

en hekastoi Il. 2.451; PL: en tosiIl. 5.395, 13.156, 13.689, 13.829,

16.166, 17.728, 17.753, 18.494, 18.556, 19.6, 24.62, Od. 5.3, 22.217;en sphinsphisin Il. 10.435, 11.638, Od. 23.144; en autosi Il. 7.438,

20.55; en teis Il. 18.419; en amphoteroisin Il. 19.159; en pasin Il.

16.291, Od. 2.194, 16.378, 21.93. Third person, non-humans, SG:

en oi (sword) Il. 11.29, (shield) 11. 34, (lion) Od. 6.131; en autoi

(house) Il. 6.243, (shield) Il. 18.481, (axe) Od. 5.235, (a part of the

raft) 5.254, (harbor) 10.93, (palace) 17.269; en toi (crag) Od.

12.103, (urn) 24.76, (hut) 24.209; en hekastoi (stable) Od. 14.14; en

autei (ditch) Il. 12.63, (fallow) 18.542, (ship) Od. 2.389, (raft)5.260, (Ithaca) 9.21, 21.251, (harbor) 16.473; en tei(city portrayed



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Proper nouns

Humans, SG: Il. 11.544; PL: Acheans Il. 22.377, Argivians Il. 2.274,

9.647, 9.680, 16.729, 19.175, 23.271, 23.456, 23.535, 23.620, 23.657,

23.706, 23.752, 23.786, 23.801, 23.830, Cretans Od. 14.382, Dana-

ans Il. 1.109, 9.34, 11.538, 17.22, Od. 4.725, 4.815, Phaeacians Od.

7.62, Spartans Il. 3.244, Trojans Il. 3.209, 5.9, 8.335, 10.314, 13.362,

16.258, 16.276, 16.750, 18.218, 20.381.

Places: Il. 1.30, 1.155, 1.252, 1.593, 2.162, 2.178, 2.549, 2.722,

2.766, 4.175, 5.173, 5.397, 5.689, 5.708, 5.877, 6.13, 6.210, 6.210,

6.223, 6.225, 7.199, 8.207, 8.230, 8.451, 8.485, 10.462, 11.222,

11.229, 11.673, 11.686, 11.698, 12.312, 13.453, 13.696, 14.116,

14.287, 15.335, 15.372, 15.548, 16.461, 16.572, 17.307, 18.429,

22.478, 23.299, 24.67, 24.86, 24.256, 24.494, 24.615, Od. 1.62, 1.355,

1.386, 1.395, 1.401, 1.293, 3.169, 3.180, 3.379, 4.6, 4.99, 4.599,

4.562, 4.605, 5.123, 6.4, 6.456, 8.80, 11.256, 11.257, 11.275, 11.284,

11.459, 11.459, 11.313, 11.325, 11.566, 13.256, 13.260, 14.275,

15.247, 19.188, 21.15, 22.96, 24.37, 24.332.

Common nouns, animates

Humans, SG: en homloi in the crowd Il. 8.94, 8.269, 17.471,

20.173, Od. 4.791, 8.216, 11.514; en agurei nekuon in a heap of

dead bodies Il. 16.661; PL: en anthropoisin among human beings

Od. 1.95, 1.391, 3.78, 4.710, 17.419, 19.75; en andrasin among

men Il. 24.684, Od. 14.176, 17.354, 18.138, 19.110, 22.234; en

athanatoisin among the immortals Il. 24.107; en theosin among

the gods Il. 1.398, 1.520, 1.575, 7.102, 15.107, 21.385, 21.476, Od.8.343, 13.298; en hetaroisi among the companions Od. 14.268,

17.437; en mnestersi among the suitors Od. 1.114, 20.287; en

nekuessi among the dead Il. 5.397, 10.349, Od. 12.383; en

pollosin among the many ones Il. 2.483, Od. 17.265; en

promachoisi among the first fighters; Il. 3.31, 11.188, 11.203,

15.342; en protoisin among the first ones Il. 8.337, 8.536, 11.61,

11.296, 11.675, 12.306, 14.363, 15.643, 19.424, Od. 8.180, 24.526;

en pumatoisi among the last ones Il. 11.65; en teleessin amongdivisions, squadrons Il. 7.380, 11.730, 18.298; en phylakessi



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among the oxen Il. 5.161, 16.488, 18.579; en ketesin among sea-

monsters Od. 4.452.

Common nouns, inanimates

Body parts:en metopoiin ones forehead Il. 4.460, 6.10, 23.454; en

ophthalmosinin ones eyes Il. 1.587, 3.306, 14.499, 18.135, 18.190,

24.294, 24.312, Od. 8.459, 9.333, 9.387, 10.385, 14.343; en

blepharoisi on ones eye-browns Od. 19.212; en lobosi in ones

lobes of ears Il. 14.182; en hrinosi in the noses (of oxen) Od.

1.108; en chelesi on ones lips Od. 1.381, 18.410, 20.268; engampheleis in ones jaws Il. 19.393; en stomati in the mouth (of

cliffs) Od. 10.90; en prochoeisid. (of a river) Od. 11.242; en aucheni

in ones neck Il. 13.289; en suneochmoi in the union of neck and

head Il. 14.465; en omoisin on ones shoulders Il. 17.569, Od.

19.246; en krad ei in ones heart Il. 13.442, 20.169, 21.547, Od.

17.489; en thumoi in ones soul Il. 3.9, 6.524, 7.2, 14.50, 15.566,

24.491, 24.523; en phras in the soul, in the mind Il. 8.202, 9.462,

13.121, 13.280, 16.83, 17.111, 19.121, 20.116, 21.145, 22.357, Od.1.89, 14.88, 14.227, 15.445, 16.291, 22.347, 23.172; en sthethessi id.

Il. 1.83, 1.188, 4.430, 5.125, 5.513, 6.65, 9.256, 9.554, 9.610, 9.629,

10.9, 10.90, 13.618, 13.732, 15.322, 15.650, 16.162, 16.503, 17.470,

18.110, 20.20, 22.451, Od. 2.125, 2.304, 5.222, 10.329, 16.275, 17.47,

20.9, 20.22, 20.366; en sternoisi in ones breast, heart Il. 13.282,

Od. 22.411;en pneumoniin ones chest Il. 4.528;en metaphrenoiin

ones back Il. 5.40, 8.95, 8.258, 11.447, 22.283; en chers in ones

hands Il. 1.14, 1.373, 1.441, 1.446, 1.585, 3.316, 5.574, 6.81, 6.318,

6.482, 8.116, 8.221, 8.289, 8.493, 10.328, 10.529, 12.422, 13.653,

14.232, 14.385, 15.229, 15.311, 15.443, 15.741, 16.117, 16.630,

16.801, 17.40, 17.604, 18.384, 18.423, 18.505, 18.545, 18.551, 19.7,

19.18, 19.251, 20.182, 21.82, 21.104, 21.531, 22.426, 23.114, 23.152,

23.565, 23.567, 23.597, 23.624, 23.797, 24.101, 24.284, Od. 1.153,

1.238, 2.302, 3.51, 3.433, 3.443, 3.463, 4.66, 4.490, 8.291, 8.406,

8.482, 10.280, 10.389, 10.397, 11.247, 12.229, 13.57, 14.312, 14.368,

14.448, 15.120, 15.124, 15.130, 15.148, 15.530, 16.444, 18.152, 21.59,

21.235, 21.379, 22.332, 23.268, 24.410; en palameisi id. Il. 1.238,

5 558 5 594 7 105 8 111 15 411 15 677 16 74 18 600 21 469



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nedu oisiid. Il. 17.523, 20.486; en hepatiin ones liver Od. 22.83; en

gounasi on ones knees Il. 5.370, 17.451, 17.514, 17.569, 20.435,

Od. 1.267, 1.400, 16.129; en podessi on ones feet Od. 15.526,19.228;en chro on ones skin Il. 8.298, 15.315;en ha matiin ones

blood Od. 22.383; en kair oiin ones vital spot Il. 4.185.

Relational positions: en messoi in the middle (M.SG) Il. 3.69,

3.90, 10.474, 17.375, 18.264, Od. 9.429, 12.20; en messoisin id.

(M.PL) Il. 4.212, 7.384, 7.417, 11.35, 11.418, 12.209, 18.507, 18.569,

19.77, 19.364, 20.15, 23.134, 24.162, Od. 4.281, 4.413, 24.441; en

messeiid. (F.SG) Od. 5.326, 5.487; en messeisinid. (F.PL) Il. 13.312,

15.635;en messatoiid. Il. 8.223, 11.6.

Natural landmarks: en pur in the fire Il. 2.340, 7.429, 7.432,

9.220, 18.346, 18.474, 21.338, 23.165, 23.216, 24.38, 24.787, Od.

3.341, 3.446, 6.305, 8.435, 9.328, 9.378, 12.237, 14.429, 18.44; en

puros augeiin the flame of the fire Il. 9.206, Od. 23.89; en selaiin

the flame Il. 17.739; en phaeiin the light Il. 17.647, Od. 21.429; en

nepheessi in the clouds Il. 11.28; en aitheri in the air Il. 15.20,

15.192, Od. 16.264; en ouranoi in the sky Il. 8.555, 22.318; en

peratei in the horizon Od. 23.243; en ga

ei in the land Il. 3.244,8.359, 10.374, 11.378, 11.574, 12.260, 15.317, 22.276, 22.404, Od.

8.461, 9.36, 13.188, 13.294, 14.143, 17.157, 23.276; en demoiin the

district Il. 3.201, 9.634, 16.437, 16.514, 16.673, 16.683, 20.385, Od.

3.103, 4.691, 8.211, 13.97, 13.322, 15.534, 16.419, 17.526, 18.115,

19.271; choroi in the country Il. 13.473, 17.54; en pedoi in

the plain Il. 2.473, 2.812, 3.133, 7.66, 7.265, 8.562, 11.836, 15.9,

15.739, 16.749, 18.256, 18.263, 20.217, 21.343, 21.404, 23.359,

23.461, Od. 3.260, 9.66, 11.513, 13.81, 22.304; epe roi in the

continent Od. 14.100; en agu ei in the road, path Od. 15.441; en

hodoi id. Il. 7.143, 23.416; en xunocheisi id. Il. 23.330, Od. 16.384;

en aigialoi on the beach Il. 4.422; en th ni id. Il. 23.693; en

psamathoisinon the sand Il. 21.202, Od. 4.426, 4.438, 4.539, 9.546,

12.5;en kon eisiin the dust Il. 2.418, 3.55, 4.522, 4.536, 4.544, 5.75,

5.583, 5.586, 5.588, 6.453, 8.156, 11.425, 11.743, 12.23, 13.205,

13.508, 13.520, 13.548, 13.617, 14.418, 14.452, 15.423, 15.434,

15.538, 16.289, 16.469, 16.471, 16.741, 17.315, 17.428, 18.26,

22.330, 22.402, 23.26, 23.437, 23.506, 24.18, Od. 7.153, 7.160,

11 191 17 98 18 398 19 454; en strophaliggi kones in the whirls of



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sea Od. 4.785, 8.55; en porthmoi in the narrow sea Od. 4.671,

15.29; en benthessin in the abysses Il. 1.358, 18.36; en potamoi in

the river Il. 2.861, 18.521, 21.282, 23.351, Od. 5.466, 6.210, 7.296,17.427; en kumasin in the waves Od. 8.232; en prochoeis in the

streams Od. 20.65; en d neisi in the swirling pools Il. 21.132,

21.239;en bothroisiin the washing pools Od. 6.92; en l mneiin a

swamp Od. 11.583; en heiamenei heleos in a marshy meadow Il.

4.483, 15.631; en taphroi in the ditch Il. 16.370; en skopeloi on a

crag Od. 12.80; en petreisinon the stones Il. 24.614; en speessiin

the caves Il. 18.402, Od. 1.15, 1.73, 2.20, 5.155, 9.30, 9.114, 9.400,

9.476, 10.404, 10.424, 16.232, 23.335; en nes

oi in the island Il.

2.721, 3.445, Od. 1.50, 1.198, 4.556, 5.13, 12.283, 12.351, 17.142;en

limeni in the cove Il. 23.745, Od. 1.186, 12.305, 19.189; en oressi

on the mountains Il. 1.235, 4.455, 11.479, 12.146, 14.290, 16.353,

17.282, 24.614, Od. 11.574, 19.205; en skopieion a peak Il. 5.771;

en korypheis on the peaks Il. 2.456, 8.51, 11.183, 14.332, 15.5,

22.171;en knemosi id. Il. 2.821, 11.105, 21.449; en prumnore ei at

the foot of the mountain Il. 14.307; en xulochoi in a thicket Od.

4.335, 17.126;en thamnoisiin the bushes Od. 5.471, 7.285; en alseiin the wood Od. 9.200; en lochmeiid. Od. 19.439; en axuloiid. Il.

11.155;en nemeiid. Il. 11.480; en huleiin the forest Il. 17.134; en

tarphesin hulesin the thick places of a forest Il. 15.606;en phulloisi

on the leaves Od. 7.287; en petaloisi id. Od. 19.520; en

periphainomenoi in a clearing Od. 5.476; en katharoi id. Il. 8.491,

10.199, 23.61; en periopei in a place commanding a wide view Il.

23.451; en besseisi in the valleys Il. 3.34, 11.87, 14.397, 16.634,

16.766, 18.588, Od. 10.210, 10.252; en leimoni in a meadow Il.

2.461, 2.467, Od. 12.45;en aroureiin a field Il. 12.312;en neioiin a

fallow field Il. 13.703, Od. 8.124;en koproion the dug Od. 17.297;

en aloieiin a vineyard Il. 20.496, 21.77, Od. 24.226; en staphuleisi

among the bunches of grape Il. 18.561; en po eion the grass Od.

18.368; en stenei in a narrow space Il. 15.426, Od. 22.460; en

prodocheisi in lurking places Il. 4.107; en agoni in the arena Il.

15.428, 16.239, 16.500, 18. 42, 23.273, 23.448, 23.495, 23.507,

23.531, 23.654, Od. 8.200, 8.238, 24.86.

Temporal landmarks: en nukt in the night Il. 18.251; en nukto`s

amolgoi in the darkness of the night Il 11 173; en horei in the



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Od. 4.302, 15.5, 20.1;en adutoiin the inner shrine Il. 5.448;en aulei

in the courtyard Il. 4.433, 10.183; aules en chortoisiin the feeding

place of the courtyard Il. 24.640, Od. 2.300, 18.237; en dapedoionthe floor, on the levelled ground Il. 4.2, Od. 11.577, 22.188, Od.

4.627, 17.169;en te cheion the wall Il. 13.764, 22.299;en to choiid.

Od. 22.259, 22.276; en thokoion the chair Od. 2.14; en klismoiid.

Il. 9.200, 24.597, Od. 4.136;en thronoiid. Od. 5.86, 8.422, 20.150; en

eleosinon the tables Od. 14.432; en dait at the banquet Il. 4.259,

10.217, Od. 3.336, 8.76; en thal eis in festivities Od. 11.603; en

lektroi in bed Il. 22.503, Od. 1.437, 8.337, 20.58, 20.141; en eunei

id. Od. 4.333, 17.124; en thalamoi in the nuptial bed Il. 3.382,

3.391, 4.143, 6.321, 6.336;en lecheessiin the beds Il. 3.448, 18.233,

18.352, 22.87, 24.600, 24.702, 24.720, Od. 3.399, 7.345, 10.12,

10.497, 23.189, 24.44, 24.295; en hregessi in the blankets Od.

20.141; en koesin on leather mats, fleeces Od. 3.38, 20.142; en

esthetiin a cloth Od. 24.67; en chla neiid. Il. 24.163;en zosterion

the belt Il. 4.134; en entesin in the weapons Il. 11.731, 17.197,

19.384; en teuchessin id. Il. 23.131, Od. 24.496; en sakei on the

shield Il. 11.572, 13.565, 20.259, 21.241; en rhinoion the skin of ashield Il. 7.248; en asp di on a round shield Il. 14.377; en asp dos

antugion the rim of a round shield Il. 15.645; en belessin through

the arrows Il. 13.555; en toxoi in the bow Il. 13.594, 15.463; en

kauloi on the spear-shaft Il. 13.162, 17.607; en koruthi in the

helmeth Il. 16.413, 16.579; en kuneeiid. Il. 3.316, 7.176, 23.861; en

d phroisiin the chariots Il. 23.132; 23.370, 24.701; en rhumoiin the

shaft of a chariot Il. 6.40, 16.371; en rhutersiin the reins Il. 16.475;

en nusseiin the post of a horse Il. 23.338, 23.344; en akmothetoion

a block Il. 18.476, Od. 8.274; en p naki on a tablet Il. 6.169; en

phertroi on a bier Il. 23.236; en purei on the pyre Il. 23.165,

23.216, 23.241;en choanoisinin the melting-pot Il. 18.470; en depa

in the bowl Il. 24.285, Od. 3.40, 15.149, 20.261; en phialei id. Il.

23.243; en lebeti in the kettle Od. 3.440, 19.469; en lekuthoi in a

oil-flask Od. 6.79, 6.215; en aggesi in a vessel Od. 9.248; en

keramoiin a vase Il. 5.387, Od. 10.206; en kreteriin the cauldron

Od. 2.330, 10. 357, 20.252; en kissub oi in a rustic cup Od. 14.78,

16.52; en o noiin wine Od. 10.234, 24.73; en s toiin the food Od.

10 290; en kstei in a basket Od 6 76; en kaneoisi in the baskets Il



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Od. 2.291; en dorosinid. Od. 2.354, 2.380; en amphiphoreusiin the

jars Od. 2.290, 2.349, 2.379, 9.164, 9.204; en troposi in ropes,

slings Od. 4.782, 7.53; en elledanosiid. Il. 18.553; en pareor eisiinthe side-traces of horses Il. 16.152; en desmosi in chains Od.

8.336, 12.54, 12.161, 12.196, 15.232, 15.444.

Abstract concepts: en nostoiin return Od. 4.497, 5.108, 11.384,

24.96; en nousoiin illness Od. 5.395;en ergoisinin works, matters,

things Il. 23.671, Od. 7.51, 13.301, 20.48; en algesin in pain,

sufferance Il. 24.568, Od. 7.212, 21.88;en philotetiin love Il. 2.232,

7.202, 14.237, 14.314, 14.331, 14.360, 24.130, Od. 8.313; en

euphrosunei in joy Od. 10.465; en polem

oi in war Il. 2.202,

5.117, 5.861, 8.234, 12.214, 12.271, 14.149, 15.698, 16.591, 18.106,

20.131, 21.610, Od. 10.553, 11.537, 14.222; en da id. Il. 13.286,

14.387, 24.739;en auteiin the war-cry Il. 17.167; en deiotetiin the

battle Il. 3.20, 7.40, 7.51, 13.207, 13.603, 15.512, 16.815, 17.2,

22.64, Od. 11.516, 12.257, 22.229; en phonoi in the slaughter Il.

24.610; en phoneisin id. Il. 10.521; en husmnei in the fight Il.

11.297, 13.314, 15.340, 20.245, 20.395; en autostad ei in the close

fight Il. 13.325;en stad

eiid. Il. 13.514, 15.283; en doloisiin tricksOd. 13.292; en ponoisi in adventures, efforts Il. 10.245, 10.279; en

geraiin old age Od. 15.357; en kakotetiin disgrace Od. 19.360; en

one roiin dream Il. 22.199, Od. 19.541, 19.581, 21.79; en pe seiin

endurance Od. 20.23; en morei in justice Il. 19.186, Od. 22.54; en

prothumeisi in courage Il. 2.588; en ainotatoi in danger Il. 8.476;

en doieiin doubt Il. 9.230; en timeiin respect Il. 9.319;en a seiin

honour, in destiny Il. 9.378, 22.61, 24.428, 24.750; en choroi in

dance Il. 16.183; en aethloi in race Il. 16.590; en homadoi in the

noise Il. 19.81; en patagoi id. Il. 21.9.

APPENDIX B. COMPLEMENTS OF EN AS A PREVERB (+DAT

NOMINAL)

Personal pronouns. First person, SG: moi Il. 1.353, 2.490, 2.761,

8.408, 8.422, 10.447, 14.470, 19.88, 23.278, 24.388, Od. 1.1, 2.79,

3.101, 4.314, 4.317, 4.331, 4.642, 11.492, 12.112, 12.266, 14.185,

19.117, 19.138, 22.166, 23.35; Second person, SG soitoi: Il. 9.98,

11 207 15 554 16 206 17 206 Od 1 60 2 271 5 98 9 37 11 102



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10.482, Od. 10.164. PL: sphin Il. 4.444, 6.438, 8.412, 13.82, 17.118;

tosin Il. 16.449; teisin Il. 6.499; autosi Il. 15.366; hoteoisin Il.

15.491. Third person, non-humans, SG: toi (tree) Il. 23.334; PL:autos (clothes) Il. 22.513; teisin(cities) Od. 15.413; heisi(pigs) Od.

15.557; local adverb: tei there Il. 11.149; hoti where Il. 2.572,

4.217; h na id. Od. 4.272; entha id. 9.187.

Proper nouns, humans, SG: Achilles Il. 11.839; Peleides Il. 19.83;

Hector Il. 11.186, 15.644, 16.656; Tydeides Il. 10.366; PL: Achaeans

Il. 11.11, 14.151, 15.62; Pylians Il. 11.753; Trojans Il. 16.783,

17.156, 17.613; Cyclops Od. 9.126.

Common nouns, humans, SG: poimeni laon shepherd of peopleIl. 15.262, 20.110; kourei daughter Od. 17.561; omloi crowd Il.

15.623; phalagxi phalange Il. 13.145; PL: athanatoisi immortals

Il. 7.447; theoisi gods Il. 1.599, Od. 8.326; phloisi friends Od.

8.101, 8.251. Common nouns, animals, PL: h ppoisin horses Il.

5.199, 17.456, 23.390; a gesin e` o essigoats or sheep Il. 10.486.

Common nouns, inanimates. Body parts: kran oihead Il. 8.84;

ophthalmoi eye Od. 9.383, 11.452; thumoi soul, mind Il. 3.139,

6.326, 9.436, 14.207, 14. 306, 17. 625, 23.313, Od. 1.361, 21.355,24.248; chers n hands Il. 21.47, Od. 1.438; metaphrenoi back Il.

17.502; isch oi hip Il. 5.306, Od. 17.233; osteoi bone Il. 5.662.

Relational positions:messoimiddle Il. 21.233. Natural landmarks:

pontoi sea Il. 14.258, 24.79, Od. 2.295, 4.508, 5.50, 5.318, 5.431,

12.293, 12.401;kumasinwaves Od. 12.419, 14.309;d neiwhirl Od.

6.161; taphroiditch Il. 12.72, 15.344; petreistone Il. 4.108; ga ei

ground Il. 21.168; oudeiground, path Il. 16.612, 17.437, 17.528;

spodiei ashes Od. 5.488. Artificial landmarks: puleisin gates Il.

17.405;herkei fence Od. 22.469; ne neessiships 12.441, 13.320,

15.598, 16.113, 16.122, Od. 4.656, 12.415, 14.305, 15.218; antloi

ship-hold Od. 15.479; hist oi sail Il. 15.627; kopeis oars Od.

9.489, 10.129;o koihouse Od. 2.45, 15.375;aithouseisinrooms Il.

20.11; euneibed Il. 18.85; lecheessibeds Il. 21.124, 22.353; askoi

container Od. 10.45;depasbowl Od. 9.10;asp dishield Il. 7.272;

himasin belts Il. 5.728, 10.263; pureipyre Il. 23.172, 23.174; pur

fire Il. 8.182, 8.217, 8.235, 12.198, 14.47, 15.417, 22.374. Abstract

concepts: atei ruin Il. 2.111, 9.18; ponoisi efforts Il. 10.89;

homophrosuneisin harmony Od 15 198; timei honour Il 4 410;



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APPENDIX C. COMPLEMENTS OF PREVERBED VERBS GOVERNED BY

THE VERB BASE RATHER THAN BY THE PREVERB (I.E. NOMINALS

INFLECTED IN GRAMMATICAL CASES OTHER THAN THE DATIVE, WHICHWOULD BE REQUIRED BY EN), AS IN (3)

Personal pronouns. Third person, SG: tou Od. 9.212, min Od.

21.150, 21.247, 21.338, toutoOd. 21.403, allenOd. 12.65; PL: autas

Il. 9.242, allous Il. 14.131.

Common nouns. Animates: andron men Od. 8.495. Inanimates:

thumon soul Il. 9.639; ker heart Il. 22.504; nedun stomach Od.

9.296; kolpon breast Il. 20.471; gounon knees Il. 1.513; kn ses te

ka` ha matos fat and blood Od. 18.45; chitona tunic Il. 2.42,

5.736, 8.387, 10.21, 10.131; toxon bow Od. 21.92, 21.286, 21.306,

21.315, 21.326; neuren bow-string Od. 19.587, 21.97, 21.127,

24.171;tharsos courage Od. 9.381; menos strength Il. 15.60, Od.

24.520; aethlous (embroidery of) battle-prizes Il. 3.126; esthlon

noble objects Od. 10.523, 11.31; depas bow Od. 9.209; amphi-

phoreusi (implied by the numeral twelve) Od. 2.353; hreethra

streams Il. 21.311; neas ships Il. 13.319, 15.507, 15.702, 16.82;

hist onsail Od. 2.427;astucitadel Il. 9.589;epaulousstables Od.23.358.

APPENDIX D. COMPLEMENTS OF VERBS MODIFIED BY THE ADVERB EN

IN TMESIS

Personal pronouns. Third person, SG: min Il. 24.787.

Common nouns. Inanimates:stoma te hrnas temouth and nose

Il. 23.777;opsafood Od. 5.267, 6.77; ononwine Od. 6.77, 20.253,20.260;ston ka` ononbread and wine Od. 3.479; askon melanos

o noio jar of black wine Od. 5.265; amphiphoreas jars Il. 23.170;

hudor water Il. 18.347, Od. 8.436; pharos chitona cloak and

tunic Od. 8.425, 8.441;himantabelts Od. 23.201;lepadnareins Il.

5.730; melacattle Od. 11.4; noton oios ka`p onos aigosback of

a sheep and of a goat Il. 9.207; sialoio hrachinhog-piece Il. 9.208;

domatahouses Od. 1.51;kledakey Od. 21.47;stathmousstables

Od. 21.45; o on te ka`aigon dermataskins of sheep and goats Od.

14.519; agalmata richness Od. 12.347; throna poik la colorful



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