Ionic Imperfects in Herodotus: Are They Epic or Ionic?
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough analysis of the Ionic imperfects found in Herodotus’ Histories. By comparing them with the Ionic imperfects found in Homer and other epic authors, the main aim of the paper is to determine whether they can be considered an imitation of the epic language or truly Ionic. The absence of this category in dialectal inscriptions and their rarity outside Homer and Herodotus cast doubts upon the origin of these forms in the Histories. However, their lexical, morphological, syntactic and semantic characteristics will allow us to distinguish the Herodotean and Homeric use straightforwardly.
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