Φως morphology question

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Stonemtn
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Joined: December 24th, 2024, 10:13 am

Φως morphology question

Post by Stonemtn »

I'm currently studying through Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce and I'm trying to figure out why φως ends with a "ς" since the stem is φωτ and the word is third declension, neuter. I thought the "τ" simply dropped off on words like that (i.e. πνευμα). Thanks for any direction.
Jason Hare
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Re: Φως morphology question

Post by Jason Hare »

Stonemtn wrote: December 24th, 2024, 10:19 am I'm currently studying through Basics of Biblical Greek by Mounce and I'm trying to figure out why φως ends with a "ς" since the stem is φωτ and the word is third declension, neuter. I thought the "τ" simply dropped off on words like that (i.e. πνευμα). Thanks for any direction.
That’s the fun of third declension. It has a lot of exceptions! Sometimes you just need to learn the words as they appear.
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
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Jonathan Robie
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Re: Φως morphology question

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Morphology is not my forte, but I think this is close to a correct explanation of the declension of these two nouns. As always, jump in and correct anything I got wrong.

Exercise for the reader: try creating similar tables for these nouns:

ὄρος (mountain, stem: ὀρετ-)
γένος (race, kind, stem: γενετ-)

φῶς (light, stem: φωτ-)

phos.jpg
phos.jpg (183.98 KiB) Viewed 23550 times


πνεῦμα (spirit, wind, stem: πνευματ-)

pneumat.jpg
pneumat.jpg (206.32 KiB) Viewed 23550 times
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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Stonemtn
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Joined: December 24th, 2024, 10:13 am

Re: Φως morphology question

Post by Stonemtn »

Thanks for the reply.

I understand where φως comes from if the 3rd declension, singular neuter has a ς for the ending as your chart shows, but Mounce teaches that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending (like your πνευμα in the lower chart). Thus you would expect the τ just to drop off and be left with φω rather than φως.

I guess φως is an exception for the rule that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending then?
Jason Hare
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Re: Φως morphology question

Post by Jason Hare »

Stonemtn wrote: December 27th, 2024, 1:51 pm I guess φως is an exception for the rule that 3rd declension, singular neuters have no ending then?
Probably because the one-syllable φῶ would be difficult to hold on to. The word would not stand out in pronunciation. No other third-declension neuters with jump to mind.
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
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Jean Putmans
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Re: Φως morphology question

Post by Jean Putmans »

Could the reason be that φως in fact is φαος, belogning to a group of Neutra on -ος: δε(ι)ος, κλε(ι)ος, χρε(ι)ος, σπε(ι)ος, that doesn’t need the -τ- in the Declension?

(See Kühner-Blass, Vol 1, p. 436: https://archive.org/details/p1ausfhrlic ... 6/mode/2up )
Jean Putmans
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