Soinids and Inflections of tJic Cyprian Dialect. 7 



These two formations represent two different forms of the 

 suffix, Kper- (strong) and Kpar- (weak). The original inflec- 

 tion, , 



nom. -KpeT7]<;, 



gen. -KpdT€o<i (for *-KpaT€o<;, i.e. *-Krteao<i), 



has become modified by the "levelHng" process {cf. Wheeler, 

 Analogy and the Scope of its Application in Language, p. 2 1 ff.). 

 In most Greek dialects the levelling took place in favor of 

 the strong form -Kper-. The Cyprian is peculiar in that it 

 has levelled both ways, and so developed two inflections, 



-Kper7j<; -/cpdrrj'i 



-/cpereo? -Kpdr€0<; 



as shown by the above examples. (Cf the Anglo-Saxon prae- 

 terite sang, plural snngnn ; whence by similar levelling we 

 get in modern English the two inflections sang and snng) 

 These were probably local differences. The close relation- 

 ship of the Arcadian to the Cyprian is shown by the occur- 

 rence of proper names in both -Kperrj'^ and -Kparrj'; in that 

 dialect also, e.g. AuTO/c/jer?;? Coll. 1246, D, 17; KaWiKpi- 

 Tr)<; 1246, B, 15 ; ScoKperrj^i 123 1, C, i; KaWt/CjOeVeo? 1246, 

 B, 3; 'Api(TT0KpdT7]<; 1 181, A, 12. 



2. K€ Coll. 60, 10, 23, 29. As primitive form of this 

 particle we must assume Kev found in Homer and Lesbian. 

 This was doubtless originally orthotone. By its side stood 

 the weak form ko. (i.e. /en), enclitic, preserved in Boeotian, 

 Cretan, Heraclean, Laconian, Elean, and Locrian. The 

 form K€ can only be explained (with Spitzer, Laut. Ark. Dial., 

 p. 8, and Osthoff, Geschichte des Perfects iui Indogerniani- 

 scJien, p. 328) as a compromise between these two forms Kev 

 and Ka, a " Cojitaniinationsbildujig.'' Parallel with Doric, 

 Boeotian, and Elean Kd, as weak form of Kev, occurs Thessa- 

 lian fjid {i.e. ^ti) as weak form of ^ev, in the sense of he ; e.g. 

 Coll. 326, 3 ; 345, 20, et pass. Cf. Prellwitz, De dialecto TJies- 

 salica, p. 48 ; Meyer, Gr. Gr.^ § 24, i). So also the Homeric 

 and Attic p^d as a particle of asseveration, e.g. vaX pud roSe 

 aKYjiTTpov A 234 ; val fid Ala Ar. Ac/iar, 88. Even in the 



137 



