| The morphological and semantic similarity of the verb ζυγώνω, in the sense of “to approach” in Standard Modern Greek, to the verb ζιγώνω-ζιγώχνω, in the sense of “to chase, pursue” of the modern Cretan dialect, make it possible that the dialect form arises from the synonym διώκω-διώχνω. Similarly, the composite verb αποζιγώνω most probably derives from the Ancient Greek αποδιώκω. The Cretan dialect type όντιμος is probably not related to έτοιμος-ότοιμος, but rather to ότι μη or ότε μη, a parallel to and synonym of ει μη, meaning “except, unless”, which has come to mean simply “but”. The adverbial form ομπανέ, used in Crete in the sense of “this evening”, is derived from the phrase όπου αν έ(νι), i.e. “any moment”, “shortly”, “in a while”. |