Lesson 5 Index    printable pages

5.3:  Alpha "pure" and "impure"   Does that apply to adjectives?

I have been shyly concealing until now another subgroup in the first declension.  Some of the feminine nouns with a nominative ending in  -α have what is traditionally called a "pure" alpha, others an "impure" one.  How do we tell one from the other?  In  θεά (the goddess),  ἡσυχία (tranquility),  χαρά (joy), alpha is pure because it is preceded by either a vowel or (only) the  consonant  ῥ.  In  δόξα (glory, reputation),  Μοῦσα  (Muse), alpha, preceded by a consonant other than ῥ, is impure.

Why make such a distinction?  Because whereas pure alpha remains throughout all the cases (these are the

-α  nouns we declined in 4.2), impure alpha changes to  -η   in the genitive and dative of the singular.  Their citation makes it immediately clear: in contrast to  τέχνη, τέχνης  (art, skill) or  θεά, θεᾶς,  we have  δόξα, δόξ-ης.

Thus we are encountering a "mixed" subgroup which it will be useful to compare with the straight 

  -α  and straight  -η  nouns of the first declension we studied before.  We need to consider only the singular, since in the plural all nouns of the first declension take the vowel -α.

First declension singular

If you review the citation of adjectives that we have been using so far, you will see that their feminine chooses either -α or  -η.  The issue of impure alpha does not apply to the adjectives of the first and second declensions that I have dubbed "Type 1" adjectives:

EXAMPLES

Click here for a chart of the declension of these adjectives. 

 ὀρθός, ὀρθή, ὀρθόν  =  straight, correct                  

 χαλεπός, χαλεπή, χαλεπόν  =  harsh                 

 ἐμός, ἐμή, ἐμόν  =  my (possessive adjective)

 δίκαιος, δικαία, δίκαιον  =  just, righteous

 μακρός, μακρά, μακρόν   =  large, great