Spurious diphthong

Template:Short description A spurious diphthong (or false diphthong) is an Ancient Greek vowel that is etymologically a long vowel but written exactly like a true diphthong (ei, ou).

Origin

A spurious diphthong has two origins: from compensatory lengthening of short (e, o) after deletion of a consonant or contraction of two vowels:

1. • *mónt-ya or *móntʰ-ya → *mónsa (assibilation from palatalization) → Template:Wikt-lang "Muse"
   • doter-ya → "giver" (feminine; compare masculine )
2. • Template:Wikt-lang → "you (pl.) love"
   • Template:Wikt-lang → "mind"

In general, spurious contracts from . The specific rules are more complex.

True diphthongs

By contrast, true diphthongs are e or o placed before i or u. Some come from e-grade of ablaut + i, or o-grade + u, co-existing beside forms with the other grade:

• Template:Wikt-lang "I leave" (e-grade: genuine diphthong) — "I have left" (o-grade)
• *eleútʰ-somai → Template:Wikt-lang "I will come" (e-grade) — Homeric "I have come" (o-grade)
• Proto-Greek *akouyō → Template:Wikt-lang "I hear"

Pronunciation

Early in the history of Greek, the diphthong versions of ει and ου were pronounced as , the long vowel versions as . By the Classical period, the diphthong and long vowel had merged in pronunciation and were both pronounced as long monophthongs .

By the time of Koine Greek, ει and ου had shifted to . (The shift of a Greek vowel to is called iotacism.) In Modern Greek, distinctive vowel length has been lost, and all vowels are pronounced short: .

Other dialects

Long e and o existed in two forms in Attic-Ionic: and (ē, ō). In earlier Severer Doric, by contrast, only counted as a long vowel, and it was the vowel of contraction. In later forms of Doric, it contracted to . Throughout the history of Doric, compensatory lengthening resulted in .

"Severe" refers to the sterner-sounding open pronunciation of , in contrast to the closer .