# Feminine nominative ending from -is to  -i(ita)



## bearded

Hello everyone

How can it be explained that the ancient fem. nominative ending -is (like in _polis_) has become -i(ita) in Modern Greek? Why not simply i(iota)? Did the loss of s(sigma) imply some lengthening of the vowel? I searched in my books, but did not find a satisfactory explanation of that evolution.
I know  it's a question more suitable for the 'Etymology..' forum, but I would prefer only Greek grammarians to reply...

Many thanks in advance


----------



## Perseas

The vast majority of the feminine nouns in Modern Greek have endings in -α & -η. I can't find a source right now, but I believe that "πόλις" has become "πόλη" by analogy to the first declension feminine nouns like "κώμη, τιμή, αισχύνη, λύπη, ψυχή" etc. The same applies to the 3rd declension feminine nouns like "ελπίς, Ελλάς, τριάς ..." have become in M.G. "ελπίδα, Ελλάδα, τριάδα...".  However the plural is the same as in Ancient: "οι πόλεις, των πόλεων - οι ελπίδες, των ελπίδων...". Νο, the loss of ς does not imply lengthening of the vowel.
I remember having seen in some older texts of Modern Greek "η πόλι, την πόλι" instead "η πόλη, την πόλη" but today this is uncommon and would be possible only as personal preference of the writer.


----------



## bearded

Perseas said:


> The same applies to the 3rd declension feminine nouns


Oh, I rather thought that in the case of the 3rd declension a form like 'elpida' was shaped after the old accusative case - adopted as a nominative, just like Perseas, vassileas etc. from the old accusatives of Perseus, basileus (Persea, basilea)... I also tried to apply this same consideration to 'poli', but the ancient accusative was 'polin' - with iota, therefore this does not fit.  Your explanation as analogy  to the first declension is much more convincing, thank you very much.


----------



## Perseas

bearded said:


> Oh, I rather thought that in the case of the 3rd declension a form like 'elpida' was shaped after the old accusative case - adopted as a nominative, just like Perseas, vassileas etc. from the old accusatives of Perseus, basileus (Persea, basilea)...


The ancient accusative "(την) ελπίδα" could serve as basis for the M.G. "η ελπίδα", which visually is identical to the first declension feminine nouns in -α.


----------



## bearded

But then you have words like 'andras' (from the accusative 'andra' of ancient anìr) which cannot be explained in the same way, I think.  In Romance languages, the majority of substantives derive from Latin accusatives - and maybe a parallel analogy to Greek is possible in the evolution from ancient to modern...


----------



## Perseas

bearded said:


> But then you have words like 'andras' (from the accusative 'andra' of ancient anìr) which cannot be explained in the same way, I think.


Yes, the modern nominative "άνδρας" comes apparently from the ancient accusative "άνδρα". 
I meant to say that the endings -ας, -ης, -ος, -α, -η are the commonest masculine & feminine noun endings in Modern Greek. Also, those were the endings of the ancient fisrt declension (except -ος).


----------



## apmoy70

I happen to have Geoffrey Horrocks' "Greek: A history of the language and its speakers". 
Horrocks presents the changes occuring in the spoken language, and according to F.T. Gignac (a historical linguist whose field of expertise is the changes in grammar in the Greek of Roman period), the interplay between the 1st & 3rd declensions began as early as the Late Roman period: 
"The consequential parallelism with first -declension accusatives in -α(ν) [-a(n)] led to interference between the two paradigms and ultimately to their merger. Thus new nominatives in -α (fem) and -ας (masc) were built to the accusative in -α(ν) [-a(n)], and genitives in -ας [-as] (fem) and -α [-a] (masc) followed".


----------



## bearded

Sas efcharisto poly gia oles tis ano apantiseis.


----------

