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Perfect Stranger Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Correct or not no. 37 - Greek names (Thespis, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristotle)

Hi Dear Users!

I'm not quite sure whether these sentences are correct. I'm particularly doubtful about the Saxon Genitive in case of those Greek philosophers' names... I have no idea how to pronounce them with an extra 's but anyway, can you tell me if the sentences are correct?

I'm just reading about Euripides's influence on the development of the Greek tragedy. I had a class on the origins of the Greek tragedy last Friday and we discussed Thespis's, Sophocles's influence... and Aristotle's definition of the tragedy.

Thanks
  

Top answer

This is a matter of style, and therefore a matter of opinion and prescription. My rule is to write the "s" only when you would say it in speech. That gives us: Euripides' Thespis's Sophocles' Aristotle's

— Enoon

  • This is a matter of style, and therefore a matter of opinion and prescription.
  • My rule is to write the "s" only when you would say it in speech.
  • That gives us: Euripides' Thespis's Sophocles' Aristotle's
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5 Answers
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This is a matter of style, and therefore a matter of opinion and prescription. My rule is to write the "s" only when you would say it in speech. That gives us:

Euripides'
Thespis's
Sophocles'
Aristotle's
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I would write only the apostrophe for all ancient Greek names that end in the sound /iz/, as shown in enoon's reply above.

Also:

Damocles'
Heracles'
Hippocrates'


CJ
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enoonEuripides' Thespis's
Thanks Enoon and CJ. I'm not quite sure if I get the idea here. How come we've got 's added to Thespis but there's no 's in case of Euripedes or Sophocles ?
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It's a gray area. There is disagreement among the very people you would expect to have an answer. A famous stylebook makes it simple: Form the possessive by adding apostrophe "s". You heard my rule, which is not very helpful, I admit, for non-native speakers: If you say the "s", write it, otherwise, don't. Some say to use only the apostrophe on historical or biblical names ending in "s", and other
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Thank you. I think I have to chew it all over...
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