ephelcystic nu

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νῦ ἐφελκυστικόν (nû ephelkustikón, literally “attractive nu; dragged-in nu; affixed nu”), from the letter νῦ (nû) + ἐφελκῠστῐκός (ephelkustikós, “attracted to; drawn towards”) from ἐφέλκυσις (ephélkusis, “attraction, pull; affixation”). Shortened from earlier ἐφελκυστικόν τοῦ νῦ (ephelkustikón toû nû, literally “pulling in nu; attracting nu”), transferring the epithet to the letter nu itself.

Noun

ephelcystic nu (plural ephelcystic nus)

1. (grammar, linguistics, phonology) Euphonic nu /ν/ (n). Consonant /ν/ affixed to vowel endings of some Ancient Greek grammatical forms to produce euphony: in prevocalic position, to avoid sounding two vowels in a row (hiatus), and prevent elision or fusion of vowels contracting into one sound (crasis). In preconsonantal coda position, /ν/ may be added to create a long syllable in poetic meter. Nu is also usually written before a pause at the end of a clause in prose or the end of a verse in poetry.
2. (grammar, linguistic morphology) Paragogic nu /ν/ (n), understood as an allomorph of certain Greek morphemic forms otherwise terminating in vowels /ε/ (e) or /ι/ (i), viz. third person verb and third declension dative plural noun forms, phonemically represented as -ε(ν) (-e(n)) and -ῐ(ν) (-i(n)). An early Attic–Ionic innovation, nu paragoge spread through the Hellenic world; inclusion or omission of /ν/ in ancient inscriptions is so variable and unpredictable as to suggest morphemes with and without /ν/ occurred in free variation, not bound to the prescriptive rules of phonetic harmony codified by later Byzantine grammarians.

Synonyms

• movable nu
• nu euphonic
• nu paragogic