On nominatives joining or `replacing' vocatives

Abstract

The construction Z πα'τ ... 'H'λιóζ τ may probably be explained by the tendency to avoid ‘Übercharakterisierung’, the nominative often replacing other forms of a noun. With regard to the grammatical form of an attribute of a vocative there does not seem to have been a generally accepted idiom in prehistoric times. Scholars are however too often inclined to pose questions of this character in terms of chronology. The views upheld in connection with constructions such as γ'oν ιλ, ιλoζ w Mν'λα etc. are open to criticism. It may also be doubted whether a proper name added to verbs of calling etc. originally was in the vocative. Finally some remarks are made on the ‘nominative instead of a vocative’.