Noun: Dative

MorphologyNoun – Dative singular

• The ι marks the dat, often found as a subscript.
• The form of the dat article is identical to the ending besides the initial τ.
• The ending is long, so the relevant accent rules for long vowels must be applied (see 3.1.3 above).

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MorphologyNoun – Dative plural

• The masc and neut forms both end in -οις.
• The fem form replaces the ο in the ending with an α.
• See 3.1.3 and 4.2.3 to review how accents may change according to the final vowel length of a word.

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SyntaxNoun – Dative case (1 – Recipient; 2 – Instrument; 3 – Alternations)

The dative may appear in a variety of places in the clause, though it often appears close to the verb. It may introduce a recipient (20) or an instrument (21), among other functions that will be learned later on:

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PhonologyAccents Changing with Vowel Length

Although we said in 2.3.3 that the acute accent cannot go further back than the antepenultima, even this is only possible when the final syllable in the word has a short vowel. When the final syllable has a long vowel, an acute accent can only go as far back as the penultima.

This rule applies to a new case you will learn in this lesson called the dative case. To form the dative case (abbreviated dat), you will use an ω with an iota subscript on the end of the word (-ῳ). This long vowel causes the accent to shift to the penultima in a word like ἄνθρωπος:

(14) ἄνθρωπ-ος (nom – ends with short ο vowel) (15) ἀνθρώπ-ῳ (dat – ends with long ῳ vowel)

Just as an acute accent can only be on the antepenultima if the final syllable is short, the circumflex can only be on the penultima if the final syllable is short. Long final syllables cause a circumflex on the penultima to change to an acute.

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