Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[*] 56. Irregularities.—A short vowel preceding α or any long vowel or diphthong, in contracts of the first and second declensions, is apparently absorbed (235, 290): χρύ_σεα ῀ χρυ_σᾶ (not χρυ_σῆ), ἁπλόα ῀ ἁπλᾶ (not ἁπλῶ), by analogy to the α which marks the neuter plural, χρυ_σέαις ῀ χρυ_σαῖς. (So ἡμέας ῀ ἡμᾶς to show the -ας of the accus. pl.) Only in the singular of the first declension does εα_ become η (or α_ after a vowel or ρ): χρυ_σέα_ς ῀ χρυ_σῆς, ἀργυρέᾳ ῀ ἀργυρᾷ. In the third declension εεα becomes εα_ (265); ιεα or υεα becomes ια_ (υα_) or ιη (υη). See 292 d.

Various special cases will be considered under their appropriate sections.