{{Short description|Ancient Greek ν appended to some grammatical forms}} {{Ancient Greek grammar|sidebar}} In ancient Greek grammar, '''movable nu''', '''movable N''' or '''ephelcystic nu''' ({{langx|grc|νῦ ἐφελκυστικόν}} {{transliteration|grc|nû ephelkystikón}}, literally "dragged-in nu") is a letter nu (written {{lang|grc|ν}}; the Greek equivalent of the letter ''n'') placed on the end of some grammatical forms in Attic or Ionic Greek. It is used to avoid two vowels in a row (hiatus) and to create a long syllable in poetic meter as a form of epenthesis.
==Grammatical forms== Movable nu may appear at the end of certain forms of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. In grammatical paradigms, it is usually written with a parenthesis to indicate that it is optional.
{| class="wikitable" |- ! colspan="3" | third person plural present and future |- | λέγουσι(ν) || "they say" | rowspan=2 | present |- | τιθέασι(ν) || "they place" |- | λέξουσι(ν) || "they will say" || future |- ! colspan="3" | third person singular perfect and past |- | τέθνηκε(ν) || "he has died", "is dead" || perfect |- | ἔλεγε(ν) || "he was saying" || imperfect |- | εἶπε(ν) || "he said" || aorist |- | ἐτεθνήκει(ν) || "he had died", "was dead" || pluperfect |- ! colspan="3" | third person singular present<br>(athematic verbs) |- | τίθησι(ν) || colspan="2" | "he places" |- | ἐστί(ν) || colspan="2" | "it is" |- ! colspan="3" | dative plural |- | Ἕλλησι(ν) || colspan="2" | "to Greeks" |- | πᾶσι(ν) || colspan="2" | "to all" |- | ἀνθρώποισι(ν) || "to men" || Epic and Ionic |- | κούρῃσι(ν) || "to girls" || Epic and Ionic |}
==Usage== Movable nu is used before words starting in a vowel to prevent hiatus.
* πᾶσι'''ν''' ἔλεγε'''ν''' ἐκεῖνα "he said those things to everyone"
It is often omitted before consonants, but may be included there to produce a heavy syllable where the poetic meter requires one
* πᾶσι λέγουσι ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone" * πᾶσι λέγουσι'''ν''' ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone" with the dactylic pattern – ⏑ ⏑ | – – | – ×
It is often used at the end of clauses or verses.
==See also== * Nu (letter) * Ancient Greek ** Attic Greek ** Ionic Greek * Distinction between ''a'' and ''an'', a similar rule in English * {{lang|de|Eifeler Regel}}, a similar rule in German dialects
==Sources== * Herbert Weir Smyth, ''A Greek Grammar'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20170625161110/http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/html/smyth_1e_uni.htm#134 par. 134].
{{Ancient Greek grammar}}
Category:Ancient Greek Category:Greek letters Category:Koine Greek
{{AncientGreek-lang-stub}}