Correption
Introduction In Latin and Greek poetry, '''correption''' ( , "a shortening")  is the shortening of a long vowel at the end of one word before a vowel at the beginning of the next. Vowels next to each other in neighboring words are in hiatus.Homer uses correption in dactylic hexameter:* — Odyssey * Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered fullmany ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.—  translation by A.T. MurrayHere the sequence η ε in bold must be pronounced as ε ε to preserve the ''long—short—short'' syllable weight sequence of a dactyl. Thus, the scansion of the second line is thus:''' ''' |
Attic Typically, in Homeric meter, a syllable is scanned long or "closed" when a vowel is followed by two or more consonants. However, in Attic Greek, a short vowel followed by a plosive and a liquid consonant or nasal stop remains a short or "open" syllable. This is called '''Attic correption''', sometime known by its Latin name ''correptio Attica''.Therefore, the first syllable of a word like δᾰ́κρυ could be scanned as "δά | κρυ" (open/short), exhibiting Attic correption, or as "δάκ | ρυ" (closed/long), in keeping with the conventions of Homeric verse.
See also * Metaplasm* Hiatus* Synalepha
References