Homeric dialect

Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey and in the Homeric Hymns. It is a literary dialect of Archaic Greek consisting mainly of Ionic and Aeolic, with a few forms from Arcadocypriot and non-Greek languages, and a written form influenced by Attic. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter, of poets such as Hesiod and Theognis of Megara. Compositions in Epic Greek may date from as late as the 3rd century AD, though its decline was inevitable with the rise of Koine Greek.

In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed. Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek.

Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long ᾱ to η: thus, Homeric Τροίη, ὥρη, πύλῃσι for Attic Τροίᾱ, ὥρᾱ, πύλαις/πύλαισι "Troy", "hour", "gates (dat.)". Exceptions include nouns like θεᾱ́ "goddess", and the genitive plural of first-declension nouns and the genitive singular of masculine first-declension nouns: θεᾱ́ων, Ἀτρεΐδᾱο "of goddesses, of the son of Atreus".

A note on nouns:

In most circumstances, Homeric Greek did not have available a true definite article.

Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey) uses about 9,000 words, of which 1,382 are proper names. Of the 7,618 remaining words 2,307 are hapax legomena.

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