Perispomene

The perispomene (῀) is an accent like any other, on syllables originally long.

The accents ´ oxeia (acute) bareia ` (grave) and ῀ perispomene (circumflex) were the early prosodic recitation marks for the Gospels and lessons.

At the time of Romanos, the special prosodic value of the perispomene was completely lost, so that -ών and -ῶν were perfectly homophone.

Finally, the mordent tone, usually represented by the perispomene, is instead marked with an x above the vowel.

Note the caesura media; the syllable preceding it is perispomene, as is very often the case.

This locative might be at the origin of our adverbs. However, the locative accent was perispomene, not oxytonic, a problem for which there has been no satisfactory explanation so far.

There are a number of textual issues in connection with αἰαῖ. Firstly, the proper accentuation is uncertain. There is no agreement in the manuscripts on whether it should be oxytonic or perispomene.