In Ancient Greek grammar, a perispomenon ( ; ) is a word with a high-low pitch contour on the last syllable, indicated in writing by a tilde diacritic () or an inverted breve accent mark () in native transcriptions with the Greek alphabet, or by a circumflex accent mark () in transcriptions with the Latin alphabet. A properispomenon has the same kind of accent, but on the penultimate syllable.Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. paragraph 157.
Examples: , theoû, "of a god", is a perispomenon prâxis "business" is a properispomenon
Etymology Peri-spṓmenon means "pronounced with a circumflex",. the neuter of the present passive participle of peri-spáō "pronounce with a circumflex" (also "draw off").. Pro-peri-spṓmenon adds the prefix pró "before".. , perispomeni, is the Greek name for the accent marks ( or ) used above Greek letters, also known as , oxýbarys, "high-low" or "acute-grave", and its original form as a circumflex accent () was combining the acute () and grave () pitch accents occurring successively only in bimoraic syllables (with long vowels or diphthongs).
See also Greek diacritics Circumflex Pitch accent Ultima (linguistics) Tone (linguistics)
References