ATTIC DECLENSION
[*] 237. Some substantives ending in
-εως are placed under the Second Declension because they are derived from earlier
ο stems preceded by a long vowel (
-εως from
-ηος,
34). A few others have a consonant before
-ως. The vocative has no special form.
N.—This declension is called “Attic” because the words in question generally show
-ως in Attic and
-ος in the Koinè dialect (p. 3, F).
[*] 238. o( new/s temple
a. So
ὁ λεώς people,
ὁ Μενέλεως Menelaus,
ὁ λαγώς hare. Observe that
ω is found in every form, and that it takes
ι subscript in the dative of all numbers where an ordinary
ο stem has
ι.
b. There are no neuter substantives belonging to the Attic declension in standard classical literature; but neuter adjectives (
289) end in
-ων.
c. νεώς and most words of this declension owe their forms to transfer of quantity (
34) or to shortening (
39). Thus,
νεώς is from
νηός ( = Doric
να_ός),
νεών from
νηόν; νεῴ is from
νηῷ. λαγώς is contracted from
λαγωός.
d. In the accusative singular some words end in
-ω or
-ων, as
λαγώ or
λαγών hare. So
ὁ Ἄθως, ἡ Κέως, ἡ Τέως, ἡ Κῶς, ὁ Μί_νως. ἡ ἕως dawn always has
ἕω.
[*] 238 D. Hom. has
νηός temple,
λα_ός people,
κάλος cable,
λαγωός hare,
γάλοως sister-in-law,
Ἀθόως, Κόως; Hdt. has
λεώς, λαγός, Κέος. Hom. and Hdt. have
ἠώς, gen.
ἠοῦς,
dawn, whence Att.
ἕως by 39. Hom. has
Πετεῶ-ο, the original form of the genitive, from
Πετεώς. νεώ is from
νεωο out of
νηοο.
[*] 239.
Accent.—
a. The accent of the nominative is kept in all cases.
Μενέ0εως (163 a) retains the accent of the earlier
Μενέλα_ος.
b. The genitive and dative are oxytone when the final syllable is accented.
N.—The accentuation of the words of this declension is doubtful. Some of the ancients accented
λαγώς, λαγών, others
λαγῶς, λαγῶν, etc.
