The augment is a prefix used in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian and Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, in the formation of past tenses. Historical linguists are uncertain whether the augment is a feature that was added to some branches of Indo-European or whether the augment was present in the parent language and lost by all other branches (see also Proto-Greek).
Greek
Ancient Greek
In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo "I say" has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa "I said." The initial ε e is the augment. When it comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment" because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel because the initial consonant of the verbal root (usually digamma) was lost:[1]
- *έ-ϝιδον *é-widon → (loss of digamma) *ἔιδον *éidon → (synaeresis) εἶδον eîdon
When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted and the vowel becomes long: ἀκούω akoúō "I hear", ἤκουσα ḗkousa "I heard". It is sometimes called the "temporal augment" because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.[2]
Homeric Greek
In Homer, past-tense (aorist or imperfect) verbs appeared both with and without an augment.
- ὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατο
hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato
"so he/she said" - ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,
"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"
The predominant scholarly view on the prehistory of the augment is that it was originally a separate particle, although dissenting opinions have occasionally been voiced.[3]
Modern Greek
Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables. However, accented syllabic augments have remained in place.[4] So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν (élūsa, elū́samen) "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).[5] The temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα (agapô, ēgápēsa) "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).
Sanskrit
Sanskrit has the augment अ- (a-) prefixed or -अ- (-a-) infix to form past-tense verbs (aorist and imperfect). [6]
Other
- Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
- Classical Armenian had an augment,[7] in the form of e-.
- Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.
Constructed languages
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect (for instance utúlië, perfect tense of túlë, "come") is reminiscent of the Indo-European augment in both form and function, and is referred to by the same name in Tolkien's grammar of the language.
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