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example, in Mesomedes, Hymn to Nemesis 3, the word thnaton has over it the notes . The pitch-symbols are understood as having diseme value, because the word consists of two long syllables; the addition of the leimma makes the first one into a triseme. Similarly in 29 POxy. 2436 ii 6, |
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In the Hellenistic documents, when a long syllable is divided between two notes, the note symbols are simply written above it, and the vowel of the syllable is written double to indicate its resolution into two parts.32 In post-Hellenistic texts this doubling disappears except in a few special cases.33 Instead we normally find some graphical indication that the notes above the syllable belong closely together. This most often takes the form of a slur34 under the notes, e.g. . There may be a diseme sign over them too. Alternatively, or in addition, they are preceded by a double point, .35 Where a syllable is sung to three notes, the double point and diseme show that the notes form a group with diseme value, and the slur usually links the second and third notes, showing that they are more closely connected; so in the Berlin Paean, , , etc. This pattern is interpreted as the rhythm or . Other rhythmic configurations can be expressed by including a leimma. This, bracketed to the following note-symbol, indicates the division of the time-unit between a prolongation of the preceding note and the succeeding |
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32 The diphthongs ai, au, eu are in this case written aei or aiei, aou, eou; but ei, oi, ou become eiei, oioi (once oei or oiei), ouou. When the vowel is a short one, the syllable is almost always closed by a liquid or nasal consonant. which must have been sung on the second note. For example, (13 Limenius 18) would have been sung . |
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33 The exceptions occur among the instances noted on p. 203 where one syllable of a name is prolonged to twice its natural length: Aiian in the Berlin papyrus, Taantalos and Deeidameia in the Oslo papyrus. |
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34 In Greek: hyphen. Cf. Anon. Bellerm. 4, 86 f. The same sign was sometimes used in literary texts at the junctures of compound words, to confirm to the reader that the two elements of the compound were not separate words but formed a unity. |
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35 The double point too occurs as a lectional sign in literary texts. It is a mark of separation, used in particular to signal a change of speaker in dialogue. In early inscriptions it serves as a simple word-divider. |
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