MATSEC SEC Greek flashcards
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- Genitive absolute
- A participial phrase whose noun and participle are both in the genitive and are grammatically independent of the main clause; translated 'when/since/although X did…'.
- Dative of means
- The dative case used without a preposition to express the instrument or means by which an action is done, translated 'with' or 'by means of'.
- Accusative of extent
- The accusative used without a preposition to express duration of time or extent of space, e.g. τρεῖς ἡμέρας = 'for three days'.
- Articular infinitive
- An infinitive preceded by a neuter article (τὸ λέγειν, τοῦ λέγειν, τῷ λέγειν) that functions as a noun, translated 'speaking' or 'of speaking'.
- Optative of wish
- The optative in a main clause, often introduced by εἴθε or εἰ γάρ, expressing a wish; negative wishes use μή, translated 'may…' or 'would that…'.
- Contrary-to-fact condition
- A conditional sentence with εἰ + past indicative in the protasis and past indicative + ἄν in the apodosis, expressing what did not or would not happen.
- Second aorist
- An aorist formed from the unaugmented present stem with thematic endings (ἔλιπον, ἔλαβον) rather than the σ-aorist; its endings resemble the imperfect.
- Movable nu
- A final -ν added to words ending in -σι or -ε before a vowel or at sentence end (ἐστίν, ἔλεγεν) for euphony; it does not change meaning.
- Middle voice
- A voice whose endings (-μαι, -σαι, -ται) typically mark the subject's own interest, a reflexive action, or a reciprocal action, distinct from passive use.
- Aorist passive marker
- The suffix -θη- (ἐλύθη) or -η- (ἐγράφη) that marks the aorist passive stem; the corresponding future uses -θησο- or -ησο-.
- Optative in indirect speech
- After a past main verb, the optative may replace an original indicative in indirect statement or question (oblique optative), especially in Thucydides.
- Attic contract verbs
- Verbs in -έω, -άω, -όω contract the stem vowel with the ending, e.g. φιλέω → φιλῶ, τιμάω → τιμῶ, δηλόω → δηλῶ.
- Preposition διά
- With the genitive it means 'through' (διά τῆς πόλεως); with the accusative it means 'because of' (διὰ τοῦτο).
- Preposition κατά
- With the genitive it means 'against' or 'down from'; with the accusative it means 'according to' or 'throughout'.
- Verbs of ruling
- Verbs such as ἄρχω, ἡγέομαι, and βασιλεύω take the genitive of the person or thing ruled, e.g. ἄρχειν τῆς πόλεως.
- Verbs of trusting
- Verbs such as πιστεύω, χράομαι, and βοηθέω take the dative of the person or thing trusted, used, or helped.
- Idiom εὖ ἔχειν
- Literally 'to have well', used with an adverb to describe a state or condition, e.g. εὖ ἔχει = 'it is well', κακῶς ἔχει = 'it is bad'.
- Particle combination μὲν οὖν
- A combination of μέν and οὖν that often corrects or intensifies a previous statement, translated 'rather', 'indeed', or 'on the contrary'.
- Particle combination καὶ μήν
- A combination meaning 'and yet' or 'moreover', used to introduce a new point or a slight contrast.
- Accent distinguishes ποῦ and που
- ποῦ with circumflex means 'where?' (interrogative); που with acute means 'somewhere' or 'perhaps' (indefinite). The same pattern applies to πῶς and πως.
- Irregular verb φέρω
- Its principal parts are φέρω, οἴσω, ἤνεγκα, ἐνήνοχα, ἐνήνεγμαι, ἠνέχθην; the future οἴσω is suppletive and must be memorised.
- Idiom ποιεῖσθαι λόγον
- A periphrastic expression meaning 'to make a speech' or 'to deliver an account', using the middle of ποιέω with λόγος in the accusative.
- Dactylic hexameter
- The metre of Homeric epic, consisting of six dactyls (long + two shorts) with the final foot usually a spondee; the fifth foot is normally dactylic.
- Iambic trimeter
- The spoken metre of Attic tragedy and comedy, consisting of three iambic metra (six iambic feet) per line, closest to ordinary speech rhythm.
- Herodotus
- Fifth-century BCE historian from Halicarnassus who wrote the Histories in Ionic prose, covering the Persian Wars and earlier Mediterranean peoples.
- Thucydides
- Athenian historian of the Peloponnesian War, writing in Attic prose with invented speeches and a stated methodological preface in Book 1.
- Aristotle Poetics
- A treatise defining tragedy through mimesis, hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis, and describing catharsis as the purgation of pity and fear.
- Sophists
- Fifth-century BCE itinerant teachers of rhetoric and argument (Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias) associated with relativism and the teaching of civic excellence for a fee.
- Hellenistic poetry
- Learned, allusive Greek poetry of the third to first centuries BCE, including Callimachus' Aetia, Apollonius' Argonautica, and Theocritus' Idylls.
- Delphic oracle
- The sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, where the Pythia delivered often ambiguous responses, usually in hexameter verse, consulted by states and individuals.
- Athenian ekklesia
- The Assembly of Athenian citizens that met on the Pnyx, voted on laws and decrees, and was the sovereign body of the democracy.
- Catharsis
- Aristotle's term in the Poetics for the purgation or purification of pity and fear produced in spectators by tragic drama.
- Historic infinitive
- An infinitive used as a finite verb in narrative prose, common in Herodotus and Thucydides, translated with a past tense.
- Negatives οὐ and μή
- οὐ negates statements and questions; μή negates wishes, conditions, imperatives, and purpose clauses. Compounds οὐδείς and μηδείς follow the same pattern.
- Elision
- The dropping of a short final vowel before a following vowel, marked by an apostrophe, e.g. ἀλλ' ἐγώ for ἀλλὰ ἐγώ; crasis (κἀγώ) fuses the vowels instead.
- Temporal ἐπεί with aorist
- A temporal clause using ἐπεί or ὡς with the aorist indicative means 'after' or 'when', referring to a completed event prior to the main verb.