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The Invention of the Greek Prosodic Signs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2019

Philomen Probert  and
Stephanie Roussou
Philomen Probert
Affiliation:
University of Oxford and University of Cyprus*
Stephanie Roussou
Affiliation:
University of Oxford and University of Cyprus*
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Abstract

Aristophanes of Byzantium is credited with inventing the signs for Greek accents, breathings and vowel lengths, according to a single source: a short text found in two 16th-century Paris manuscripts. The passage has a doubtful history, but the story it tells is of considerable interest. We first provide a new edition of this text, based on a new examination of both manuscripts, and a complete translation. Secondly we argue that the author consulted a source that was in Latin and that dealt at least in part with the Latin accent. We conclude by considering the implications of our proposal for the text’s date and circumstances of composition.

Keywords

ancient GreekAristophanes of Byzantiumaccentsbreathingsquantities
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 139 , November 2019 , pp. 125 - 146
Copyright
© The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2019 

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Footnotes

*

[email protected]; [email protected]. We would like to thank Eleanor Dickey, Nigel Wilson, the participants in the Society for Classical Studies panel on Greek and Latin language and linguistics in 2017 and two anonymous referees for helpful feedback, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France for enabling Stephanie Roussou to examine codices Parisinus Graecus 2102 and Parisinus Graecus 2603 in person. Part of the work presented here arose out of an AHRC Leadership Fellowship held by Philomen Probert in 2015–2017 (grant number AH/M011291/1) and part out of a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship held by Stephanie Roussou in 2014–2016.