Greek Language

This paper introduces the concepts of "implicit" and "explicit" bilingualism to better understand the complex linguistic landscape of Sicily in antiquity.

“for the trumpet will sound [salpisei], and the dead will be awakened as incorruptible” (1 Cor. 15.52). This passage from Paul has come to be identified with the eschatological doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, but the line itself appears within a very curious passage of the epistle, centering on the meaning of the word mystērion that Paul uses to describe his teaching.

Looking at discussions of characterized present stems in Greek (e.g., Schwyzer Debrunner 1939, Rix 1976, Chantraine 1991), it is customary to find an appendix to the familiar Greek presents in -σκω (like πάσχω or εὑ

This paper presents a brief analysis of the use of inherited [aː] in poetic genres associated with archaic and classical Attica that goes beyond the traditional scenario (i.e., [aː] in tragic choruses) in several respects.

Since the days of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, scholars of Jewish studies have tried to show classicists how important rabbinic literature is for their discipline. Although the rabbis could interest classicists for many reasons, in this paper I focus on rabbinic Greek. This modality of Greek is radically different from standard imperial Greek on both a morphological and semantic level. Rabbinic Greek is written in Hebrew script which can only imperfectly capture the sounds of the Greek language.

I propose a solution to an old problem: how was high tone assigned in Ancient Greek (Attic) to words conventionally described as being “recessive,” the default and most common accentual pattern in the language (Probert 2006)? Linguists have come tantalizingly close, but we still lack a single explanatory system that works perfectly. The contributions of Steriade and Sauzet established that tone assignment is based on trochaic feet constructed right-to-left (Itō & Mester, who posit a purely moraic mechanism, disagree, followed by Revithiadou).

Sappho’s poetry frequently juxtaposes preeminence and comparison as, for instance, in the provocatively truncated fr. 106 Voigt: “Preeminent, as when the Lesbian singer among the foreigners” (πέρροχος, ὠς ὄτ’ ἄοιδος ὀ Λέσβιος ἀλλοδάποισιν). This fragment challenges the reader to imagine what lies beyond the limits of comparison: how can someone or something be both incomparably preeminent (πέρροχος) and in comparison (ὠς ὄτ’)?

The famous opening sentence of Nem. 6 is fraught with controversy and yet critical for an understanding of the distinctive cosmology Pindar proposes in the ode: Ἓν ἀνδρῶν, ἓν θεῶν γένος (1). Does this mean “there is one genos of men, another of the gods,” or just the opposite, “the genos of men and gods is one (and the same)”? While each reading has its advocates, most commentators have opted for the latter (cf. Lourenço [2011], Henry [2005], Gerber [1999], Fränkel [1975], Fehling [1969], Farnell [1932], Fennell [1899], Bury [1890], and the scholia).

This paper explores the intersection of structure and paronomasia in Homer as a vehicle for poetic self-reflexivity by arguing that small-scale lexical ring structures in the Iliad and Odyssey can be used to identify and substantiate sound-based wordplay.

Ἀντίπατρος Ἀφροδισίου Ἀσκαλ[ωνίτης]

“Antipater, son of Aphrodisios, the Ashkelonite."

’NK ŠM[.] BN ‘BD‘ŠTRT ’ŠQLNY

"I am Shem[.], son of Abd-Ashtarte, the Ashkelonian."