Analogical -εσσι datives in Sicilian Doric: Borrowing, independent development, or both?

The Aeolic dialects and many varieties of West Greek show the analogical extension of the dative plural marker ‑εσσι from s‑stems (ἔπεσσι) to other athematic stems (ἄνδρεσσι). Against the theoretical background provided by classic studies on the origin of ‑εσσι datives, this article focuses on the evidence from Classical Sicily, where ‑εσσι datives are traditionally considered to be a Syracusan trait, imported from the dialect of Corinth. A review of the evidence shows that this idea has little factual basis apart from the use of ‑εσσι datives in the literary Doric of Epicharmus and Sophron. An analysis of the epigraphic attestations of ‑εσσι datives in their textual context instead allows for a different interpretation. The ‑εσσι datives, which spread because of phono‑morphological concerns, may have been chosen to stylistically mark certain passages through a morphological feature endowed with a poetic pedigree. As in later Doric koinai, ‑εσσι datives were integral to the creation of a high‑register prose language.