TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE GRAMMAR

Dionysius Thrax

1. Grammar

Grammar is the practical3 knowledge of the language used, for the most part, by verse and

prose writers. There are six parts to it. First, reading aloud according to prosody.4 Second,

explanation according to existing usage among writers. Third, the useful rendering of words

and their meanings. Fourth, the discovery of etymology. Fifth, account of grammatical

paradigms. Sixth, appraisal of written works, which is the finest of all parts in the system.

2. Reading

Reading is the fluent rendering of poetry and prose. It must be done with expression,

prosody and measure. From the expression we see the worth of the piece, from the prosody

the skill (of the reader), from the measure the mind (of the writer). Thus, our reading of

tragedy is heroic, comedy conversational, elegies light, epic emphatic, lyric harmonious,

dirges subdued and mournful. For non-observance of these destroys the virtues of the poets

and makes the skill of reader ludicrous.

3. Accent

Accent is the harmonious resonance of the voice: rising with the acute, even with the grave

and broken with the circumflex.

4. Punctuation

There are three punctuation marks: full stop, medial stop and comma. The full stop indicates

a completed thought, the medial a pause for breath and the comma a thought that is not yet

3 The Greek term is ™mpeirίa.

4 One of the scholiasts explains this term as: (see later on p. 679) and says that it has four parts:
'accents, times, breathings and emotions'complete or lacking.

5. Difference between a full stop and comma

The difference is time. The distance conveyed by the full stop is great, by the comma quite

small.

6. Rhapsody

Rhapsody is the part of the poem that involves a certain subject.5 It has been called

rhapsody, a sort of 'staff song', from the fact that those who went around with the laurel

staff sang Homeric poems.6

7. Element7

There are twenty-four letters, from alpha to omega. Letters are said to be formed by lines

and scratches.8 The ancients considered writing a form of scratching.9 The same are called

elements because they have a row and an order.

 8. Syllable

A syllable is properly a combination of consonant with vowel(s), such as K￡r, boῦj (ox).

A syllable can also be made improperly from a vowel, such as ἆ, ἦ.

9. Long syllable

A long syllable occurs in eight ways, three by nature, five by position. By nature, either

when it is formed by the long elements, such as ἥrwj (hero); or when one of the two

syllables is lengthened, such as Ἄrhj; or when it is a diphthong, such as Aἴaj. By

position, when it ends in two consonants, such as ἅlj (salt); or when a short or shortened

vowel is followed by two consonants, such as ἀgrόj (fierce); or when it ends in a single

consonant and the following syllable begins with a consonant, such ἔrgon (work); or when

it introduces a double consonant, ἓxw (I will have); or when it ends in double consonant,

such as ἅpax (once).

10. Short syllable

A short syllable occurs in two ways: either when it has a naturally short vowel; or when it

has one of the long-short vowels that is changed into a short vowel, such as Ἄrhj

11. Common syllable11

A common vowel occurs in three ways: either when it ends in a long vowel and is followed

by a vowel, or when a short or shortened vowel is preceded by two consonants, of which the

second is unchanging and the first is voiceless, or when, being short, it concludes a part of speech12 and
is followed by a vowel.

12. Word

A word is the smallest part of the syntactically constructed sentence .

13. Sentence

A sentence is the combination of words in prose and verse that exhibits a complete thought.

There are eight parts of speech: noun, verb, participle, article, pronoun, adverb and

conjunction. The common noun is subsumed under the noun.13

14. Noun

A noun is a declinable part of the sentence indicating a physical entity, such as lίqoj

(stone), or a non-physical entity, such as paideίa (education); it can be general, such as

ἄnqrwpoj (man), ἵppoj (horse), or particular, such 'Socrates', 'Plato'. It has five

properties: gender, type (eἶdoj), form (scῆma), number, declension.

15. Verb

The verb is a word without cases and indicates tense, person and and number, presenting

activity or passivity. It has eight characteristics: moods, dispositions, classes, forms,

numbers, persons, conjugations. There are five moods: indicative, imperative, optative,
 subjunctive and infinitive. There are three voices: active, passive and middle, in the active

such verbs as tUptw (I strike), passive tUptomai (I am struck), the middle sometimes

active and sometimes passive, such as pšpoiqa (I have believed/I believe), dišfqora (I

have destroyed/been destroyed', ἐpois￡mhn (I did for myself) and ἐgray￡mhn (I wrote for

myself).

16. Conjugation

Conjugation is the sequential inflection of verbs. There are six conjugations of barytone25

verbs. The first is introduced by b or f or p or pt, such as leίbw, grάfw, tέrpw, kόptw

(pour, write, please, cut). The second is introduced by g or k or c or kt, such as lέgw,

plέkw, trέcw, tίktw (say, plait, run, bear). The third is introduced by d or q or t, such as

°dw, pl≫qw, ￠nUtw (sing, be full, finish). The fourth is introduced z or double s, such as

frάzw, nUssw, NrUssw (say, pierce, dig). The fifth is introduced by the four unchanging

ones, l, m. n, r, such as pάllw, nέmw, krίnw, speίrw (swing, tend, judge, sow) and the sixth by a vowel,
such as ἱppeUw, basileUw, ￠koUw (ride, reign, hear). Some add a

seventh conjugation, introduced by x or y, such as ￠lέxw and ἕyw (protect, boil).

17. Circumflex verbs

There are three conjugations of circumflex verbs. The first is expressed in the second and

third person by the diphthong ei, such as noῶ (apprehend), noeῖj, noeῖ; the second by the

diphthong ᾳ, such as boῶ (shout), boᾷj, boᾷ; the third by the diphthong oi, such as

crusῶ (gild), crusoῖj, crusoῖ.

18. Verbs ending in mi

Of the verbs ending in mi there are four conjugations. The first is derived from the first of

the circumflex verbs, tίqhmi (put) from tiqῶ; the second from the second circumflex,

ἵsthmi (stand) from ἵstῶ; the third from the third circumflex, dίdwmi (give) from didῶ, the

fourth from the sixth of the barytone type, p ≫gnumi (fix) from phgnUw.

19. Participle

A participle is word that partakes of the property of nouns and verbs. Its endings are those

verbs and nouns, both persons and declensions,

20. Article

The article is a declinable part of the sense, prefixed and suffixed to the declension of nouns.

21. Pronoun

A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun and indicates defined persons. It has six

properties: person, gender, number, declension, form and type.

22. Primary pronouns

The primary pronouns are ἐge, sU, ἴ, with their derivatives ἐmόj, sόj and ὅj. The classes
of these pronouns are not distinguished through the word itself, but through what they refer

to, such as ἐge and the derivatives ὁ ἐmόj, ἡ ἐmh, to ἐmόn. The numbers of the primary

pronouns are: singular, ἐge, sU, ἴ; dual, nῶi, sfῶi; plural, ἡmeῖj, ὑmeῖj, sfeῖj;

derivatives, ἐmόj, sόj, ὅj; dual, ἐme, se, ὥ; plural, ἐmo…, so…, oOE.

23. Preposition

A preposition27 is a word placed before all parts of the sentence in composition and syntax.

There are eighteen propositions in total, six monosyllabic, ἔn (in), eἴj (to), ἔx (from), prό

(before), prόj (to), sUn (with), which are not written with anastrophe,28 and twelve

disyllabic, ἀnά (up), katά (down), diά (through), metά (with), parά (beside), ἀntί (in

place of), ἐpί (upon), ἀmfί (around), ἀpo (from), ὑpό (under), ὑpέr (over).

24. Adverb

An adverb is an indeclinable part of the sentence said of a verb or added to a verb. Some of

them are simple, such as pάlai, and some complex,such as prόpalai. Some indicate

time, such as nan, tOte, aὖqij. To these have to be added the words expressive of periods

of time,29 such as sήmeron (today), aὔrion (tomorrow), tόfra (meanwhile), tέwj

(meawhile), phnίka (when); those expressive of state,30 such as sofῶj (wisely), kakῶj

(badly), dunatῶj (ably); those expressive of quality, such as pUx (with the fist), lάx (with

the foot), botrudόn (like a bunch of grapes), ￠gelhdόn (like sheep); those expressive of

quantity, such as poll￡kij (often), Nlig￡kij (seldom).

25. Conjunction

A conjunction is a word that connects thought with order and fills out the empty spaces of

the expression. The conjunctions are as follows: connective, disjunctive, conditional,

paraconditional, causal, dubitative, consequential, expletive