Greek ζά for διά and some «Lesbian» glosses

Abstract

Among other forms in the lexicon of Hesychius a preverb ζά ‘much, very’, without an indication of the dialectal provenance can be found; this form has been quoted as a typical Lesbian formation by Johannes Grammaticus Philoponus (490-580 AD) in his work on Lesbian dialect. In fact, the occurence of instead of may be observed only twice in Lesbian inscriptions. On the other hand, one observes the use of ζά attested in literary dialect, both in an absolute form and as a member of compound in Sappho and Alcaeus. The forms with ζα- are attested also in Homeric poems, and as probable Homeric elements they occur also in the Archaic Lyric. According to Hoffmann, all the glosses found in Hesychius, which display the use of the preverb ζά in place of διά should be interpreted as originating from the Lesbian dialect. It seems however more probable to consider the big group of compound glosses consisting of ζα- to be rather poetical formations. They all belong to the poetical diction (even if the possibility of existing in the vernacular use in some cases cannot be excluded), where since early Epic the metrically caused variants ζα- and δια- existed hand in hand. The occurring interchange ζά for διά for the metrical reason in Sappho and Alcaeus should then be considered another element of Epic/Homeric influence upon an independent Aeolic poetical tradition.