Aoidai 4: Homeric Hymn XXIX, line 1, word 4: ἐν
In the first installment of the Αοιδαί project we began a word-by-word examination of Homeric Hymn XXIX to Hestia. It begins:
ἑστίη, ἣ πάντων ἐν δώμασιν ὑψηλοῖσιν
Today we continue with the fourth word, ἐν. It is both transliterated and pronounced, simply, "en". We'll translate it as "in".
Pronunciation
Today's word is short, sweet, and to the point. It has one syllable. Two sounds -- a vowel and a consonant. We've heard them both before. We heard ε in our first installment in ἑστίη. We heard ν in our third installment in πάντων. They're both pretty easy sounds.
Attentive readers, though, will notice a difference from some previous words. So far, whenever we've started a word with a vowel -- that's installments one and two for any who've forgotten -- the word had an "h" sound at the beginning, but today's word doesn't. More visually-inclined readers might notice that the little curvy diacritical mark on top of the letter curved a different way this time. These two facts are connected.
Whenever words in ancient Greek start with a vowel, that vowel will have a "breathing mark". This mark comes in two varieties. The one curled to the left like in ἑστίη or ἣ is called a "rough breathing mark", and it means to start the word with an "h" sound. The one curled to the right like in today's word ἐν is called a "soft breathing mark" and means to start the word with just the vowel -- that is, no "h" sound.
Grammar
Like ἣ from installment two, today's word ἐν is a simple utility word that gets a lot of action. As a preposition, it usually introduces another word or phrase. You don't just say something is "in". It's always "in something".
We said earlier that nouns in ancient Greek have a bunch of different cases reflecting how they're used in the sentence. Prepositions are different: they don't have tons of different forms. ἐν is pretty much always ἐν, no matter how it's used. It's a simple word for a simple concept.
Other Uses
Today's word ἐν often refers pretty straightforwardly to someone "in" a location. It can also get more idiomatic, though. Just like English "in trouble" doesn't imply a particular location, there are lots of uses of ἐν that are more idiomatic. Someone "in" a group of people is among them, even in Greek. Something in Greek can be "in" one's reach, just as it is in English.
Some other uses of ἐν could be translate to English "in", but they might be a bit uncomfortable. Someone keeping an eye on something might have it "in" his eye. In Greek you might refer to someone "in" fear when we'd call them "afraid", and not just in circumstances where in English someone might cower "in fear".
And then some uses get more distant from our English concept of "in", especially when ἐν gets mashed into another word. Liddell and Scott mention ἔναιμος "with blood in it" as well as ἔμφωνος "with a voice", and they hint at many others.
Today, though, it just means "in".
ἑστίη, ἣ πάντων ἐν δώμασιν ὑψηλοῖσιν
Today we continue with the fourth word, ἐν. It is both transliterated and pronounced, simply, "en". We'll translate it as "in".
Pronunciation
Today's word is short, sweet, and to the point. It has one syllable. Two sounds -- a vowel and a consonant. We've heard them both before. We heard ε in our first installment in ἑστίη. We heard ν in our third installment in πάντων. They're both pretty easy sounds.
Attentive readers, though, will notice a difference from some previous words. So far, whenever we've started a word with a vowel -- that's installments one and two for any who've forgotten -- the word had an "h" sound at the beginning, but today's word doesn't. More visually-inclined readers might notice that the little curvy diacritical mark on top of the letter curved a different way this time. These two facts are connected.
Whenever words in ancient Greek start with a vowel, that vowel will have a "breathing mark". This mark comes in two varieties. The one curled to the left like in ἑστίη or ἣ is called a "rough breathing mark", and it means to start the word with an "h" sound. The one curled to the right like in today's word ἐν is called a "soft breathing mark" and means to start the word with just the vowel -- that is, no "h" sound.
Grammar
Like ἣ from installment two, today's word ἐν is a simple utility word that gets a lot of action. As a preposition, it usually introduces another word or phrase. You don't just say something is "in". It's always "in something".
We said earlier that nouns in ancient Greek have a bunch of different cases reflecting how they're used in the sentence. Prepositions are different: they don't have tons of different forms. ἐν is pretty much always ἐν, no matter how it's used. It's a simple word for a simple concept.
Other Uses
Today's word ἐν often refers pretty straightforwardly to someone "in" a location. It can also get more idiomatic, though. Just like English "in trouble" doesn't imply a particular location, there are lots of uses of ἐν that are more idiomatic. Someone "in" a group of people is among them, even in Greek. Something in Greek can be "in" one's reach, just as it is in English.
Some other uses of ἐν could be translate to English "in", but they might be a bit uncomfortable. Someone keeping an eye on something might have it "in" his eye. In Greek you might refer to someone "in" fear when we'd call them "afraid", and not just in circumstances where in English someone might cower "in fear".
And then some uses get more distant from our English concept of "in", especially when ἐν gets mashed into another word. Liddell and Scott mention ἔναιμος "with blood in it" as well as ἔμφωνος "with a voice", and they hint at many others.
Today, though, it just means "in".