# αφ'



## anastasia0000

Hi everyone,

I have come across αφ' and I am not sure if it means αφου or if it comes from another word?

Ο Τζωρτζ Χόρτον επέρριψε τις ευθύνες στους Συμμάχους για τη διπλοπροσωπία τους και απέδωσε τις σπαγές των χριστιανών και τη καταστροφή της Σμύρνης *αφ' *ενός στο ειδύλλιο που ανέπτυξαν οι Σύμμαχοι με τον Μουσταφά Κεμάλ, την εποχή που οι δυνάμεις του Κεμάλ έμπαιναν στην πόλη, και *αφ'* ετέρου στην αντιπαρεμβατική πολιτική των Συμμάχων, η οποία σήμαινε τη σιωπηρή έγκριση των σφαγών των χριστιανών.

Thanks very much!!

Anna


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## shawnee

While the whole text is admittedly a little above my capabilities, my reading of αφ ' ενός and  αφ' ετέρου here is that it acts as, " on the one hand" and "on the other hand."


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## vatrahos

Let me try to help explain. Let's start with the basic issue:

1) *αφ' ενός* is a combination of *από* and *ένας*; conversely, *αφ' ετέρου* is a combination of *από* and *έτερος*. They mean "on the one [hand]" and "on the other [hand]."  

2) The word *αφού*, which you also mentioned, is a combination of *από* and *ου*. The two words literally mean "from which [fact] / [point in time]." The word *ου* (or *οὗ*) is the Classical Greek relative pronoun (in the genitive case). So when you say "Αφού γύρισα από τη δουλειά έφαγα" ("After I came back from work, I ate"), you are literally saying "From the point in time at which I returned from work, I ate."

The next question is, 

If these words come from *από*, then why is it "*αφ*" and not "*απ*"? 


Here's an explanation:

In Classical Greek, there was no letter for "h" -- but that doesn't mean the sound didn't exist. Greeks in that period said "h" just as often as other languages, but they wrote it a little differently: 

Words that began with a vowel had a little ᾽ or ῾ mark above them (the first is called a "smooth diacritic" and the second a "rough diacritic"). The first (᾽) meant that the word was pronounced smoothly, without an "h" sound, while the second (῾)  meant that the word had an "h" sound in front of the vowel. For example:

*ἠ*μέρα: no "h" sound =  "emera"

*ἥ*λιος: "h" sound = "helios" (think of the word "heliolatry")

ὑπέρ: "h" sound = "hyper" (think of the word "hyperactive")

αἵμα: "h" sound = "haima" (think of the word "hemoglobin" or "hemophiliac")


When a word with a "rough diacritic" was placed right next to a plosive consonant (p, t, k), they combined. For example:

1) "p" + "h"  became "ph" or *φ* (In Ancient Greek, pronounced like the "ph" in  "u*ph*ill").

2) "t" + "h" became "th" or *θ* (In Ancient Greek, pronounced something like the "t h" in "a*t h*im")

3) "k" + "h" became "ch" or *χ* (In Ancient Greek, pronounced something like the "k h" in "bac*kh*and")


This phenomenon is present, for example, in lots of compound verbs. Let's look at the verb *αφυπνίζω*. This combines (1) *ἀπό* (*apo*), which means "away from" and (2) *ὕπνος* (*hypnos*), which means "sleep." You put them together and it means to "awaken," to "take someone out of his / her sleep." Here's how we put them together:

apo + hypnos 

The first thing we do is elide the "o" of "apo":

ap + hypnos

next, we combine the "p" and "h" and they become "φ":

a + ph + ypnos

so the verb becomes:

άφυπν-ίζω 

In Modern Greek the idea behind this principle has been lost, since pronunciation has changed so much. There is no longer a "rough diacritic" and all words that had them in Ancient Greek are now pronounced without an "h." For example, the Ancient Greek *ὑπέρ *("hyper" = "above") in Modern Greek is written *υπέρ* and pronounced "iper" (without an "h" sound). Just like *ἥλιος* and *αἵμα* (*ilios* and *ema*). Despite this, we continue to respect the diacritic marks when forming compounds.

So, let's come back to your example: *αφ' ενός* and *αφ' ετέρου*. The word for "one" is *ένας* (enas) in Modern Greek, but in Ancient Greek it was *ἕνας* (henas). The genitive case was *ἑνός*. 

Why is it in the genitive case? In Ancient Greek (and Katharevousa), prepositions took different cases, which reflected different meanings. *Apo *almost alwaystook the genitive case. You can still see this in a few isolated phrases in Modern Greek, like your example. So, the phrase "*αφ' ενός*" literally means "from the one", and "*αφ' ετέρου*" means "from the different," and they're used just like the English "on the one hand" and "on the other hand."  


I hope that makes sense.


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## shawnee

I don't know about Anastasia but I sure am happier and wiser for your elaborate explanation Vatrahos. The grammar lessons at the Greek forum ( eg Ireney) are invaluable. I have a dusty old Triandafilidi lying around somewhere, but reading it is like asking me to eat a brick and believe it is a kourabie. And what's more I've seen you do that in what is it, three languages so far! That is a magnificent effort! I must say the survival of older forms in modern Greek do often pose a problem for me. If there was a site you could recommend I would be most interested.


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## anastasia0000

Thank you Vatrahos and Shawnee for your interesting responses!!


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## pavlo

Just making one correction to Vatrahos:

_ἥλιος: "h" sound = "helios" (think of the word "helicopter," which means "sun-cutter"_

Cutting the sun sounds a little bit weird... 

ελικόπτερο (helicopter) = ἕλιξ (=propeller, from the verb ἑλίσσω=turn around) + πτερό (=wing)


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## shawnee

Thanks for the added info Pavlo. I must say however, "sun cutter" is rapidly displacing my previously favourite expression for 'helicopter.' Its from New Guinea pidgin: "mixmaster belong to Jesus Christ."! [source unreliable]


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## vatrahos

Thanks for the correction!


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## apmoy70

Amazing effort vatrahe, I'm impressed!
A minor correction though if you don't mind, ημέρα takes the rough breathing diacritic marker (spiritus asper): ἡμέρα.
I follow one simple rule when I want to make sure if a word takes a rough or smooth breathing diacritic marker: I check compound words formed by the word in question. So, since we say ε*φ*ημερίδα (and not επημερίδα), or κα*θ*ημερινός (and not κατημερινός), ημέρα takes the rough breathing diacritic marker-->ἡμέρα


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## winegrower

I really envy you guys for knowing all these rules about the use of ψιλή and δασεία. Unfortunately my generation had to learn them by memory, like a poem: *ὁ*δός, *ὁ*μάδα, *ὁ*δηγός, *ὅ*που, *ὅ*πλο, *ὁ*μαλός and *ἄ*μα, α*ἷ*μα, *ἀ*μαρτία. (Still on hard disk despite Alzheimer)! Now, I humbly want to observe that, as I remember, α*ἷ*μα gets a circumflex, or am I wrong?


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## vatrahos

Yes, sorry for the myriad of errors; I must have lent my brain out while writing those examples. It's αἷμα and ἡμέρα (although the last example, winegrower, is ἁμαρτία, I believe).

p.s., that's a good rule of thumb, apmoy!


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## apmoy70

vatrahos said:


> Yes, sorry for the myriad of errors; I must have lent my brain out while writing those examples. It's αἷμα and ἡμέρα (although the last example, winegrower, is ἁμαρτία, I believe).


Come on, no big deal.


vatrahos said:


> p.s., that's a good rule of thumb, apmoy!


Thank you, just remember that this rule (like every grammatical rule in Greek), has its exceptions. We say Με*θ*αύριο (the day after tomorrow), while the word αύριο takes spiritus lenis:
αὔριο


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## ozdiva

shawnee said:


> Thanks for the added info Pavlo. I must say however, &quot;sun cutter&quot; is rapidly displacing my previously favourite expression for 'helicopter.' Its from New Guinea pidgin: &quot;mixmaster belong to Jesus Christ.&quot;! [source unreliable]



  I can assure you that "mixmaster belong (bilong) Jesus Christ" is correct, as I was told this personally by a nurse who had worked in a mission in Papua New Guinea.


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## shawnee

Ha, Ozdiva, Great! I knew I had spelled 'bilong' incorrectly but what were the chances that was going to be picked up on the Greek forum? Thanks also for the confirmation, I had no way of checking. But I suppose there is a wiki on pidgin.
Hope you read this before it is deleted as chat. Oh, and a very warm welcome to the forum.


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