Synizesis

Synizesis (/ˌsɪnəˈziːsɪs/) is a sound change (metaplasm) in which two originally syllabic vowels are pronounced as a single syllable without change in writing.[1] In Latin and Greek, the reason was often to preserve meter, but similar changes can occur naturally.

A tie may be used to represent this pronunciation: dē͡hinc (i.e., deinc).

Examples

Greek

Homer (Iliad 1.1):

	μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδε͡ω Ἀχιλῆος

	Mênin áeide theā̀ Pēlēïáde͡ō Akhilêos

Latin

Vergil's Aeneid:

1.41	ūnĭus ob noxam et furiās Aiācis Oīlē͡ī?
1.131	Eurum ad sē Zephyrumque vocat, dē͡hinc tālia fātur
6.412	dēturbat laxatque forōs; simul accipit alve͡ō

Etymology

Synizesis comes from the Greek συνίζησις "a sitting together" from σύν "with" and ἵζω "I sit".

gollark: It's enough time to launch a reasonably small potatOS feature.

gollark: It may not be a massive amount, but it's *there*, and if possible I don't want to spend it on useless stuff, so I don't.

gollark: 1/20th of my available time awake.

gollark: It's a 20th of my available waking time. It's something, and quite a lot.

gollark: I mean, actually, there might be sound decision-theoretic reasons for a hell, but I don't think those are generally brought up and may not really work well.

References

Greenough, J. B. (2001) [1903], Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar (Focus ed.), Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, p. 392 (§603 c. n.), ISBN 1-58510-042-0; Smyth, Herbert Weir (1984) [1920], Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 19–20 (§60–61), ISBN 0-674-36250-0

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Greenough, J. B. (2001) [1903], Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar (Focus ed.), Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, p. 392 (§603 c. n.), ISBN 1-58510-042-0; Smyth, Herbert Weir (1984) [1920], Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 19–20 (§60–61), ISBN 0-674-36250-0