Augment (Indo-European)


The augment is a prefix used in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian and Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, in the formation of past tenses. Historical linguists are uncertain whether the augment is a feature that was added to some branches of Indo-European or whether the augment was present in the parent language and lost by all other branches.

Greek

Ancient Greek

In Ancient Greek, the verb légo "I say" has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa "I said." The initial ε e is the augment. When it comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment" because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel because the initial consonant of the verbal root was lost:
When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted and the vowel becomes long: ἀκούω "I hear", ἤκουσα ḗkousa "I heard". It is sometimes called the "temporal augment" because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.

Homeric Greek

In Homer, past-tense verbs appeared both with and without an augment.
hṑs pháto — hṑs éphato
"so he/she said"
êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,
"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"

Modern Greek

Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables. However, accented syllabic augments remained in place. So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε. The temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα.

Sanskrit

has the augment अ- / a-, prefixed to past-tense verbs.
stempresentaoristimperfectEnglish
ध / dhãदधति / dadhãtiअधत् / adhãtअदधत् / adadhãtput
गम् / gamगच्छति / gacchatiअगमत् / agamatअगच्छत् / agacchatgo

Other

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect is reminiscent of the Indo-European augment in both form and function, and is referred to by the same name in Tolkien's grammar of the language.