i68 
Creosote  or  Creasote  ? 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1894. 
cases,  the  use  of  the  binding  vowel  is  optional ;  in  most  others,  it 
is  ruled  by  custom.  When  the  stem  ends  in  a  consonant,  the  bind- 
ing vowel  is  necessary.  Examples:  (i)  vowel-stem:  i%&vs,  fish, 
gen.  fy#vo?,  stem  lypv\  l%&v-(36\o$  or  ty&v-o-fioXos,  fish-catching. 
(2)  consonantic  stem:  (Tafia,  body,  gen.  awnaros,  stem  o-cd/jlclt; 
cr(OfxaT-o-(pv\a^y  body-guard ;  but,  without  binding-vowel,  acofiar- 
e/jLiropLa,  slave-trade  ("  body-trade"). 
Now  there  are  some  nouns  of  the  third  declension,  ending  in — a?, 
which  have  certain  peculiarities.  Among  these  is  icpeas,  flesh.  We 
shall  consider  a  few  others  at  the  same  time  by  way  of  comparison, 
viz  :  yrjpas,  old  age,  and  /cepas,  horn.  Kpeas  has  in  the  genitive 
either  /cpem,  contracted  from  tcpea-os  (the  a  is  short),  or  Kpearos. 
Its  stem  therefore,  is  either  rcpea  or  Kpear.  Tijpas  has  in  the  gen. 
<yr)pm,  contracted  from  jr/pa-os.  A  form  yr/paros  does  not  occur. 
Its  stem  is,  therefore,  only  yrjpa.  Kep?  has  in  the  gen.  either 
/cepcos,  contracted  from  /cepa-os,  or  /ceparos.  Hence,  its  stem  is 
either  /cepa  or  /cepar. 
On  examining  now  the  compounds  which  occur  in  the  actual 
language,  and  in  which  these  three  nouns  form  the  first  part,  we 
find  as  a  rule  that,  where  the  short  stem  (tcpea,  yrjpa,  icepa)  is  used, 
the  final  a  (which  is  short)  is  dropped,  and  replaced  by  the  binding- 
vowel  0.  Thus  we  find  compounds  like  the  following,  in  which  we 
will  place  a  hyphen  on  either  side  of  the  binding-vowel : 
From  Kpeas  :  fcpe-o-ftopeco,  to  eat  meat ;  /c/oe-o-So'yo?,  meat  receiv- 
ing ;  fcps-o-7rco\7]s,  meat-seller,  etc.,  some  30  compounds  actually 
occurring.  In  some  dialects  Kpsio  is  used  for  /cpso,  and  /cpsco  is  often 
spelled  for  tcpso  in  manuscripts. 
From  yTjpas  :  yrjp-o-Tpocpia,  yrjp-o-icopLos,  etc.,  some  10  compounds 
actually  occurring. 
From  /cepas:  Kep-o-fidrris,  tcep-o-yopos,  etc.,  some  16  compounds 
occurring. 
There  are  no  compounds  having  the  form  yrjpa-  or  /cepa-,  sup- 
ported by  the  best  manuscripts.  In  the  case  of  tcpea? ,  however,  the 
form  /cpea  occurs  in  a  few  (5)  compounds  with  the  word  vo/xea) 
and  its  synonyms  or  derivatives  (fcpea-vo/jLeco,  to  distribute  (sacrificial) 
meat,  fcpea-Soaia,  gift  of  (sacrificial)  meat,  etc.)  Here,  how- 
ever, the  a  is  long,  and  appears  to  be  contracted  from  tcpea-o.  These 
words,  are,  moreover,  old  sacrificial  technical  terms,  and  do  not 
count  in  the  face  of  the  many  other  words  beginning  with  /cpeo. 
