Knowledge

Iotacism

Source 📝

312:(1467-1536) in his treatise "Dialogus de recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione" (Dialogue on the correct pronunciation of the Latin and Greek language, 1528) in which he asserted that in ancient Greek the sound of η should have been /e/, not /i/ (which is why his theory came to be called "etacism"). In support of this thesis a verse from the Athenian playwright 289:. (In fact, Modern Greek had to develop a new second-person plural, εσείς, while the first-person plural's eta was opened to epsilon, εμείς, as a result of apparent attempts to prevent it sounding like the old second-person plural.) As an example of a relatively minor (almost insignificant) source of variant readings, some ancient 320:, is quoted that speaks of a fool in this way: "ὁ δ'ἠλίθιος ὥσπερ πρόβατον βῆ λέγων βαδίζει" ("the fool walks making the sound "bee bee" like a sheep"); hardly could the verse "bee" be read /vi/, according to the itacistic pronunciation. 244:
Iotacism caused some words with originally distinct pronunciations to be pronounced similarly, sometimes the cause of differences between manuscript readings in the
300:
English-speaking textual critics use the word "itacism" to refer to the phenomenon and extend it loosely for all inconsistencies of spelling involving vowels.
281:"we, our" (first person plural in respectively nominative, genitive) could be easily confused if a lector were reading to 135: 172: 186: 155: 138: 159: 88: 68: 297:, which sometimes substitutes a plain iota for the epsilon-iota digraph and sometimes does the reverse. 122: 20: 332: 152: 86: 66: 449: 354: 217:). As a result of eta and upsilon being affected by iotacism, so were the respective diphthongs. 369: 74: 459: 359: 116: 454: 317: 8: 258: 433:(in Latin) (1st ed.). Ex Officina Rob. Stephani typographi Regi. pp. 68–90. 294: 24: 328: 324: 364: 349: 344: 232: 103: 38: 443: 383: 379: 261: 245: 221: 132: 98: 78: 374: 308:
The first demonstration of the phenomenon was made by the Dutch humanist
286: 54: 290: 265: 158:. Over the course of time, both vowels came to be pronounced like the 62: 313: 269: 28: 309: 282: 196: 176: 142: 386:– manuscripts with an unusual number of itacistic errors 93:, with which these vowels came to merge. The alternative term 273: 249: 212: 206: 200: 190: 180: 166: 146: 126: 58: 293:
spelled words the way they sounded, such as the 4th-century
162: 82: 97:
refers to the new pronunciation of the name of the letter
323:
Against the "Erasmian" theory came the German humanist
428: 431:De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione 121:Ancient Greek had a broader range of vowels (see 110: 441: 175:merged to the same pronunciation. Specifically, 417:Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism 239: 189:in Classical Greek before it later raised to ( 225: 81:. The term "iotacism" refers to the letter 442: 406:, Gorgias Press LLC, p. 74 ff, 93–94. 231: 102: 65:converged towards the pronunciation 16:Greek shift of vowels to the sound 13: 404:Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus 316:, one of the leading exponents of 14: 471: 327:(1455-1522), in whose honor the 422: 409: 396: 248:. For example, the upsilon of 136:open-mid front unrounded vowel 125:) than Modern Greek has. Eta ( 111:Vowels and diphthongs involved 1: 429:Erasmus of Rotterdam (1528). 390: 331:pronunciation is also called 415:Greenlee, J. Harold (1964). 7: 338: 240:Issues in textual criticism 224:, the letters and digraphs 160:close front unrounded vowel 10: 476: 303: 274: 250: 230:(rare) are all pronounced 213: 207: 201: 191: 181: 167: 147: 127: 114: 18: 226: 171:) . In addition, certain 153:close front rounded vowel 42: 23:of certain consonants in 85:, the original sign for 402:Jongkind, Dirk (2007). 355:Ancient Greek phonology 211:) merged with upsilon ( 123:Ancient Greek phonology 370:Modern Greek phonology 360:Koine Greek phonology 117:Koine Greek phonology 57:by which a number of 310:Erasmus of Rotterdam 205:) and upsilon-iota ( 227:ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι 185:) initially became 419:, Eerdmans, p. 64. 107:after the change. 53:is the process of 325:Johannes Reuchlin 272:) and the eta of 467: 435: 434: 426: 420: 413: 407: 400: 295:Codex Sinaiticus 277: 276: 264:in respectively 253: 252: 235: 229: 228: 216: 215: 210: 209: 204: 203: 195:) while, later, 194: 193: 188: 184: 183: 170: 169: 157: 150: 149: 140: 130: 129: 106: 92: 72: 44: 25:Slavic languages 475: 474: 470: 469: 468: 466: 465: 464: 440: 439: 438: 427: 423: 414: 410: 401: 397: 393: 341: 329:Byzantine Greek 306: 242: 119: 113: 32: 17: 12: 11: 5: 473: 463: 462: 457: 452: 450:Greek language 437: 436: 421: 408: 394: 392: 389: 388: 387: 377: 372: 367: 365:Medieval Greek 362: 357: 352: 350:Greek alphabet 347: 345:Greek language 340: 337: 318:ancient Comedy 305: 302: 241: 238: 115:Main article: 112: 109: 104:[ˈita] 75:post-classical 21:palatalization 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 472: 461: 458: 456: 453: 451: 448: 447: 445: 432: 425: 418: 412: 405: 399: 395: 385: 384:Minuscule 543 381: 380:Minuscule 541 378: 376: 373: 371: 368: 366: 363: 361: 358: 356: 353: 351: 348: 346: 343: 342: 336: 334: 330: 326: 321: 319: 315: 311: 301: 298: 296: 292: 288: 284: 280: 279:hēmeis, hēmōn 271: 267: 263: 260: 259:second person 256: 255:hymeis, hymōn 247: 246:New Testament 237: 234: 223: 218: 198: 178: 174: 164: 161: 154: 144: 137: 134: 124: 118: 108: 105: 100: 96: 90: 84: 80: 76: 70: 64: 60: 56: 52: 48: 40: 36: 30: 26: 22: 460:Vowel shifts 430: 424: 416: 411: 403: 398: 322: 307: 299: 278: 257:"ye, your" ( 254: 243: 222:Modern Greek 219: 120: 94: 79:Modern Greek 50: 46: 34: 33: 455:Koine Greek 375:Vowel shift 333:Reuchlinian 291:manuscripts 287:scriptorium 275:ἡμεῖς, ἡμῶν 251:ὑμεῖς, ὑμῶν 233:[i] 55:vowel shift 444:Categories 391:References 266:nominative 173:diphthongs 77:Greek and 63:diphthongs 47:iotakismos 43:ἰωτακισμός 339:See also 314:Cratinus 283:copyists 270:genitive 151:) was a 131:) was a 35:Iotacism 29:iotation 19:For the 304:History 199:-iota ( 197:omicron 179:-iota ( 177:Epsilon 143:upsilon 95:itacism 51:itacism 262:plural 141:, and 59:vowels 27:, see 285:in a 91:] 87:[ 71:] 67:[ 49:) or 39:Greek 382:and 187:/eː/ 163:iota 139:/ɛː/ 133:long 83:iota 61:and 220:In 156:/y/ 101:as 99:eta 73:in 446:: 335:. 268:, 236:. 208:υι 202:οι 182:ει 45:, 41:: 214:υ 192:ι 168:ι 165:( 148:υ 145:( 128:η 89:i 69:i 37:( 31:.

Index

palatalization
Slavic languages
iotation
Greek
vowel shift
vowels
diphthongs
i
post-classical
Modern Greek
iota
i
eta
[ˈita]
Koine Greek phonology
Ancient Greek phonology
long
open-mid front unrounded vowel
upsilon
close front rounded vowel
close front unrounded vowel
iota
diphthongs
Epsilon
omicron
Modern Greek
[i]
New Testament
second person
plural

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.