ÆOLIC, or ÆOLIAN, in Grammar, denotes one of the five dialects of the Greek tongue. It was first used in Bœotia, whence it passed into Æolia, and was that in which Sappho and Alceus wrote. The Æolic dialect generally throws out the aspirate or sharp spirit, and agrees in so many things with the Doric dialect, that the two are usually confounded.
The Æolic digamma is a name given to the letter ϥ, which the Æolians used to prefix to words beginning with vowels, as ϥοῦν for οῦν; also to insert between vowels, as οϥς for ος.
Æolic Verse, in Prosody, a verse consisting of an iambus
Eolipile or spondee; then of two anapæsts, separated by a long syllable; and, lastly, of another syllable: such as, O stelliferi conditor orbis. It is also called eulogic verse; and, from the chief poets who used it, Archilochian and Pindaric.