Words with Suffix ‐ρο‐

AbstractThis chapter discusses the formation of words with -ro-, comparative evidence for their accentuation, and descriptive accounts of their accentuation in Greek. An analysis of simplex words formed historically with -ro- shows that the adjectives are overwhelmingly accented on the final syllable. The nouns are less consistent and predominantly recessive. A division into nouns attested in Homer, and those not attested until after Homer appears to suggest a chronological shift towards recessive accentuation in nouns. However, it is argued that this is a side-effect of other, non-chronological factors distinguishing the two sets of nouns. It is shown that word frequency and accentuation are related, but not linearly: words of medium frequency are more predominantly recessive than those of very high or very low frequency.