The augment is an Indo-European verbal prefix used in Indo-Iranian, Greek, Phrygian, Armenian, and Albanian, to indicate past time.
[2][3][4] The augment originally appears to have been a separate word, with the potential meaning of 'there, then', which in time got fused to the verb.
[2][3] The predominant scholarly view on the prehistory of the augment is that it was originally a separate grammatical particle, although dissenting opinions have occasionally been voiced.
ὣςhṑsφάτοpháto——ὣςhṑsἔφατοéphatoὣς φάτο — ὣς ἔφατοhṑs pháto — hṑs éphato"so he/she said"ἦμοςêmosδ᾿d'ἠριγένειαērigéneiaφάνηphánēῥοδοδάκτυλοςrhododáktulosἨώς,Ēṓs,ἦμος δ᾿ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,êmos d' ērigéneia phánē rhododáktulos Ēṓs,"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo "I say" has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa "I said."
[7] Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared in some dialects during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables, this feature being inherited by Standard Modern Greek.