Greek Dative Plural

Dative Plural

Introduction

The dative plural marker is /σι regardless of gender or declension.

Intermediate

In feminine and masculine nouns of the first and second declensions, the dative plural marker /σι is added to the nominative plural. This makes the σ intervocalic, but it does not drop because that droppage would result in a dative plural form indistinguishable from the dative singular (whose marker, recall, is /ι):

κεφαλά/ι/σι > κεφαλαῖσι
ἄνθρωπο/ι/σι > ἀνθρώποισι

In Ionic prose, the α at the end of the base of first declension nouns will lengthen to η:

κεφαλά/ι/σι > κεφαλαῖσι > κεφαληῖσι

The peculiar formation of these words (i.e., the addition of the marker to the nominative plural rather than the bare base) makes it seem as if the marker of the dative plural in the first and second declensions is /ισι. Because of this, neuter nouns of the second declension use /ισι, rather than /σι, to mark the dative plural:

τέκνο/ισι > τέκνοισι

In Attic, first and second declension nouns drop the final -ι of the dative plural marker:

     κεφαλά/ι/σι > κεφαλαῖσι > κεφαλαῖς (Attic)
     ἄνθρωπο/ι/σι > ἀνθρώποισι > ἀνθρώποις (Attic)
     τέκνο/ισι > τέκνοισι > τέκνοις (Attic)

In the third declension, the dative plural is largely unproblematic. The σ interacts with other letters in the ways it always does:

     βασιλέϝ/σι > βασιλεῦσι
     κύκλωπ/σι > κύκλωψι
     πάντ/σι > πάνσι > πά_σι > πᾶσι
     πόδ/σι > πόδσι > ποσί
     φύλακ/σι > φύλαξι

“Largely unproblematic” does not mean “entirely unproblematic,” though.

Bases that end in σ, such as neuter nouns of the –εσ/ type, should in theory have a double σ in the dative plural:

ὄρεσ/σι > ὄρεσσι

Though these forms can be found in poetry, the double σ is often reduced to a single σ by a process called geminate reduction:

ὄρεσ/σι > ὄρεσσι > ὄρεσι

In bases that end in ν, we would expect the combination νσ to drop the ν (as is the norm for nouns), and fill the resulting quantitative gap by “stretching” the preceding vowel. In the dative plural in the third declension, though the ν does indeed drop, the vowel does not stretch:

ἡγεμόν/σι > ἡγεμόνσι > ἡγεμό_σι > ἡγεμόσι
δαίμον/σι > δαίμονσι > δαίμο_σι > δαίμοσι

In bases which end in consonant clusters, the further complication of that cluster that the addition of σ would create is resolved by adding α between the base and the marker:

ἀνέρ/ > ἄνδρ/σι > ἀνδράσι
θυγάτερ/ > θυγάτρ/σι > θυγατράσι

Rarely – and mostly in poetry – the third declension will form its dative plural by following the pattern of the first and second declensions, i.e., by adding the marker /σι to the end of the nominative plural rather than to the bare base. The resulting σσ will sometimes be reduced to σ:

ἄνδρ/εσ/σι > ἄνδρεσσι > ἄνδρεσι
πόδ/εσ/σι > πόδεσσι > πόδεσι

Vocabulary for this lesson (click here for the full lexicon)