MATSEC AM Greek key terms

The standard model verb for 'I loose, release, untie'. Candidates use it to recognise the present, future and aorist systems, and its principal parts are the reference pattern for omega-verbs with a stop stem.

Contract verb in -άω meaning 'I shout, call aloud'. Its contracted forms (αὐτῶ, αὐτοῖς) test whether a candidate can apply recessive accent and contraction rules in translation passages.

The middle-passive counterpart of λύω, meaning 'I loosen for myself' or 'I am loosened'. Distinguishing middle from passive voice in context is a recurring translation decision in prose passages.

Particle marking conditionality or potentiality. With the imperfect or aorist indicative it forms unfulfilled conditions; with the optative it expresses possibility. Its presence changes the whole sense of a clause.

Conjunction introducing conditional clauses, 'if'. Combined with ἄν or with the optative it signals open, remote or unreal conditions, which must be rendered differently in English.

Correlative pair contrasting two ideas, roughly 'on the one hand ... on the other'. Often left untranslated, but recognising it prevents misreading a sentence as a single statement.

Postpositive particle giving a reason or explanation, 'for, since'. It always stands second in its clause, so a candidate must look back to the preceding word to place it correctly in translation.

Postpositive particle meaning 'therefore, then, accordingly'. It marks inference from what precedes and helps a translator see the argumentative structure of a Greek sentence.

Multi-purpose particle: 'as, since, that, in order that', and with participles 'on the grounds that'. Choosing the right sense depends on the mood of the following verb.

Conjunction introducing purpose or, after verbs of effort, object clauses: 'in order that, that'. It normally takes the subjunctive, and occasionally the optative in secondary sequence.

Conjunction meaning 'that' after verbs of saying and thinking, or 'because' when giving a cause. Context and the absence of a purpose mood distinguish the two uses.

Aorist active participle of λύω, 'having loosed'. Its tense shows action completed before the main verb; recognising this helps a candidate render participle phrases idiomatically rather than literally.

Aorist middle participle of γίγνομαι, 'having become, having happened'. A very common participle in narrative and philosophical prose, often best translated by a finite verb in English.

Verb 'I hear, listen to', which takes the genitive of the person heard and the accusative of the thing heard. Its case usage is a frequent comprehension test.

Verb 'I rule, begin'. Used with the genitive it means 'rule over'; in the middle ἄρχομαι with the genitive it means 'begin'. The voice and case together determine the sense.

Noun 'city, city-state', a third-declension word in -ις. Its forms (πόλεως, πόλει, πόλεις) recur constantly in historical and political passages and must be parsed accurately.

Noun 'the people, the common people, the citizen body'. In Athenian democracy it denotes the sovereign assembly, and in historiography it often contrasts with the few who hold power.

The Athenian assembly of citizens with voting rights, which met on the Pnyx and decided war, treaties and laws. The word also means any summoned meeting.

A council, especially the Council of Five Hundred at Athens, which prepared business for the assembly. In other states the word refers to the local governing council.

Noun 'law, custom, convention'. The double sense matters for reading the sophists and Herodotus, where νόμος is often set against φύσις as what is merely agreed rather than natural.

Noun 'nature, natural constitution'. In fifth-century thought it is contrasted with νόμος, and in Aristotle it names the inner principle that makes a thing what it is.

Noun 'excellence, virtue', the quality that makes a thing or person perform its function well. Central to ethical passages in Plato and to the praise vocabulary of epinician poetry.

Noun 'outrage, arrogant violence, insolence'. In tragedy and historiography it names the transgression that invites divine punishment, and it drives the plot of many set texts.

Noun 'righteous indignation, retribution'. It denotes the resentment felt at another's undeserved good fortune and, in some authors, the divine response to excess.

Noun 'portion, fate, destiny'. It expresses the share allotted to a person, and in Homer and tragedy it often stands for the limit beyond which a mortal cannot go.

Noun 'contest, competition, trial'. It covers athletic and musical competitions, the dramatic competition at Athens, and the adversarial debate in court or assembly.

Tragedy, the dramatic genre performed at the City Dionysia. Candidates should know its structural parts (prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, exodos) and the convention of three actors.

The chorus, a group of performers who sing and dance in the orchestra. In tragedy the chorus comments on the action through odes, and its leader may exchange lines with the actors.

Noun 'hero', used of the epic and tragic protagonists and of the cult figures honoured at local shrines. In Homer it is a neutral word for a warrior of the age of heroes.

Noun 'word, utterance', in the plural 'epic verses'. It gives the name to the hexameter epic genre represented by Homer and Hesiod.

A rhapsode, a professional reciter of epic poetry at festivals and competitions. Plato's Ion portrays one such performer and his claims to interpret Homer.

Noun with a wide range: 'word, account, argument, reason, speech'. Translating it correctly depends on context, and the distinction between μῦθος and λόγος is a standard topic.

Noun 'story, tale, myth', as opposed to a reasoned account. In Plato it can denote a traditional narrative used to convey a truth that argument cannot reach.

A public speaker or politician in the assembly, and later a professional teacher of rhetoric. The word marks the figure who persuades by speech rather than by office.

The upper fortified city of a Greek state, at Athens the citadel holding the Parthenon and other sanctuaries. The word combines ἄκρος 'highest' with πόλις 'city'.

The sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in Elis, site of the Olympic games held every four years. Victories there were dated by the four-year Olympiad cycle.

Delphi, the sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Parnassus and home of the Delphic oracle. Its responses were consulted on war, colonisation and private matters.

The Parthenon, the temple of Athena Parthenos on the Athenian Acropolis, built in the fifth century BCE. Its sculpture and proportions are standard examination material on Greek civilisation.