From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Sat Dec 11 1999 - 14:35:02 EST
<x-flowed>To: Lauren Porter,
<< I have not as yet encountered any classicist who seriously contended for
the eight-case system. Are there any classicists who have published on
this topic? I am interested in both the earliest appearance of this
discussion and the most recent manifestation within the classical community. >>
What do you mean by "the eight-case system"? The two major classical
advanced grammars, which I own, are Smyth-Messing [1956] and Goodwin
[1894]; I also have a Homeric grammar by Monro [1891].
While Smyth-Messing [1956] doesn't say "there are eight cases," they appear
to think that there are eight major syntactical functions for the five
cases. Smyth-Messing writes: "Of the cases belonging to the Indo-European
language, Greek has lost the free use of three: instrumental, locative, and
ablative. ... the syntactical 'functions' of the instrumental and locative
were taken over by the dative; those of the ablative by the genitive. The
genitive and dative cases are therefore 'composite' or 'mixed' cases" (sec.
1279); "Since the genitive has absorbed the ablative it includes (1) the
genitive proper, denoting the class to which a person or thing belongs, and
(2) the ablative genitive" (sec. 1289); and "The Greek dative does duty for
three cases: the dative proper, and two lost cases, the instrumental and
the locative" (sec. 1450). That seems to suggest to me that Smyth-Messing
accepted the notion that Greek had an eight-case system, or perhaps it
would be better to say: five cases with eight major syntactical functions.
Monro [1891] writes: "Comparison of the Case-system of Greek with that of
Sanscrit shows that the Greek Dative does the work of three Sanscrit Cases,
the Dative, the Instrumental, and the Locative. There is also reason to
think that distinct forms for these three Cases survived down to a
comparatively late period in Greek itself. This is made probable (1) by the
traces in Homeric Greek of Instrumental and Locative Case-forms, and (2) by
the readiness with which the 'uses' of the Greek Dative (especially in
Homer) can be re-apportioned between the three Cases -- the original or
true Dative, and the two others" (sec. 142); and "The Greek Genitive, as
appears at once by comparison with Latin or Sancrit, stands for the
original or 'true' Genitive, and also for the Ablative. The use of the Gen.
may therefore be divided (theoretically at least) between these two Cases.
The distinction however is more difficult than in the case of the Dative;
partly, perhaps, because the Case-forms of the Ablative were earlier lost
than those of the Locative and Instrumental, but also from the peculiar
syntactical character of the Genitive" (sec. 146). Thus Monro too seems to
think in terms of five cases with eight major syntactical functions.
Things are different with Goodwin [1894], who writes: "The Greek is
descended from a language which had 'eight' cases, -- an 'ablative,' a
'locative,' and an 'instrumental,' besides the five found in Greek. The
functions of the ablative were absorbed chiefly by the genitive, partly by
the dative; those of the instrumental and locative chiefly by the dative"
(sec. 1042).
And similar to Smyth-Messing & Monro, a beginning Homeric grammar by Clyde
Pharr [1959] writes: "The Greek gentive represents two earlier cases: 1)
the 'genitive proper,' denoting the class to which a person or things
belongs. 2) the 'ablative genitive' (formerly the ablative), usually
expressing 'separation, source, cause'" (314); and "The Greek dative
represents three earlier cases: 1) the 'dative proper,' denoting 'to' or
'for' which something is or is done. 2) the 'instrumental' ('dative'),
denoting 'instrument, means, manner, cause, accompaniment.' 3) the
'locative' ('dative'), denoting 'place where' and 'time when'" (317).
Thus it seems to me that Smyth-Messing [1956], Monro [1891], and Pharr
[1959] teach that there are five cases with eight major syntactical
functions. So what do you mean by an "eight-case" system?
-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree),
what do I know?"
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