Greek primer, colloquial and constructive

by John Stuart Blackie

θαυμαστὰ λέγεις,  wonderful!

ἀγαθὴ ἡ βασίλισσα, καὶ πρὸς τὰς εὐχὰς οὐ κωφὴ τὰς τῶν πιστῶν πολιτῶν,
good is the queen, and not deaf to the prayers of loyal citizens.

δίκαια λέγεις,  you say what is just.

English Affinities

Epistle. Graphic. Hippodrome. Euphony. Astronomy. Telescope. Polyglot. Agriculture. Basilica. Basil. Police. Two. Triad. Pentarchy. Hexagon. Heptarchy. October. Decade. Myriad.

LESSON IV

Third Declension, Singular

The third declension of nouns in Greek is more rich and varied than the other two, and, besides, is distinguished by a peculiarity from which the others are free, viz. while in the first and second declensions all that requires to be done in forming the cases is to change the last syllable of the nominative commencing with a vowel, leaving the main body of the word unchanged, as ἡμέρα,-ας, ἄργυρ-ος,-ου, in the third we observe that the final consonant of the root seems in many cases to have been assimilated or absorbed by the termination of the nominative, and reappears in the other cases, as in ἐλπίς, genitive ἐλπίδος. Sometimes also the vowel of the last syllable of the nominative is shortened before the addition of the genitival termination, as in ποιμήν, ποιμένος. In some classes of nouns no change is made, and the analogy of the two other declensions is followed throughout. We shall take our examples from the more simple classes, leaving the more complex and exceptional to be learned in the course of reading.

The general type is—

	-ος,	genitive.
	-ι,	dative.
	-α,	objective.
as—
	σωτήρ,	a saviour.
	σωτῆρος,	of or from a saviour.
	σωτῆρι,	to a saviour.
	σωτῆρα,	a saviour.
	κώδων,	a bell.
	κώδωνος,	of a bell, etc.
	λυμεών, -ῶνος,	a blackguard, etc.