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This article is from the Classical Studies FAQ, by Richard M. Alderson III alderson@netcom2.netcom.com with numerous contributions by others.

5 Glossary (Classical Studies)

Providing endless fodder for flamewars, here are some simple definitions of
terms you will meet in classics.

hapax legomenon (Gk., "said once") - a word or idiom attested (i.e., found in
the body of known works) only once

crasis (Gk., "mixing") - the blending of two adjacent vowels, as when a final
vowel merges with the leading vowel of the following word. E.g., "to onoma"
(Gk., "the name") sometimes becomes "tounoma" (since o + o = ou in Attic).

asper (L., "harsh") - the rough-breathing mark in Greek, indicating (under the
Erasmian system of pronunciation) a leading "h" sound on a word beginning with
a vowel. Cf. *lenitus.

lenitus (L., "relaxed") - the soft-breathing mark in Greek, indicating the
absence of an "h" sound before a leading vowel. Cf. *asper.

 

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