h. Ρ and sometimes meet in a mixed pronunciation, and are accordingly interchanged; thus we have κρÚTтw by the side of καλύπτω: and the termination -dos often appears under the form -ρος; compare μεγά-λος with μακ-ρός, δῶ-ρον with κρότα-λον, and the like. i. As the Greeks could not pronounce 80-, 70-, or σ-, and were particularly attached to the combination σ0-, we often find this as a substitute for the other combinations of dental sibilants; thus we have οἶσθα for οἶδ-θα; a comparison of τύπτο-μὲν with τυπτόμεθον, and of τύπτε-τον with τύπτε-σθον, leads to the conclusion that the latter is for TÚTTE-TOOV; and the observation that an inserted marks the passive voice suggests the probability that τύπτεσθαι may be a representative of τύπτεθ-σαι. v; j. Some of these and many other changes of pronunciation may be traced to the double value of F, the Vau or Digamma, which, as we have mentioned, was originally the sixth letter of the alphabet, and which was a compound of the two consonants, one of which represented the guttural, the other the labial in its ultimate state. These two consonants are s (sometimes reduced to h) and and from their combination, and the different changes which they separately and together admit of, arises that great variety of letters which are traced to an original identity. In most cases, this sv or hv represents kp; when a dental appears, it has arisen by a fault of articulation from the sibilant (above, g). The following is the regular series of transitions: the guttural may pass through k, q, 9, j, 8, h to our i ory: the labial through p, b, m, ph, v, to u. And either element may be dropt (see below, 74, 107, 118, and elsewhere). Although the Digamma was undoubtedly pronounced, if not written, at the time when the Homeric poems were composed, the Attic and Alexandrian editors neglected it altogether, and no notice was taken of it till the time of Apollonius Dyscolus, a grammarian who flourished under Hadrian, and he only directed attention to its use in the Æolic Dialect of the Lesbian and Boeotian poets (de pronom. pp. 98 B, 106 A, 107 A, 136 в). As it was retained longest in this Dialect, it got the name of the Eolic Digamma. It still appears in ancient inscriptions and coins; thus we have 'HpFaíois='Hpalois, C. I. I. n. 11; Διί= Διΐ, η. 29; κωμάξυδος, τραγάρυδος for κωμῳδός, τραγῳδός, η. 1583; Γαυξίων, II. p. 638; and the name of Oaxus is spelt Fágos on old coins (Mionnet, Vol. II. p. 263, cf. above, e). The metre of Pindar shows in some places that v does not form a diphthong, but represents the consonantal value of this letter: thus we have Pyth. 11. 28: αυάταν for ᾀFάταν. In Attic Greek the digamma is sometimes indicated by the absence of the usual contraction; as in πλέω, ῥέω, χέω; by the appearance of v in other parts of those words, as ἔπλευσα, ῥεύσω, χεύσω, ἔχευα, Attic ἔχει; by the substitution of v or by the insertion of p, as in xʊrós, from χέω, κλύω from κλέος, and ξέω, ξύω, βρύω by the side of ξίφος and βρέφος. § III. Classification of the Letters. 19 The consonants (consonantes litteræ, σToxeîa σúμpwva) are divided into a. According to the organ with which they are pronounced, Labials, or lip-letters............ß, π, &, μ and Sibilants, or hissing letters.....σ, 5, §, Y. b. According to their power, or capacity for independent articulation into i. Semi-vowels (μípwva), which form a syllable, whether the vowel precedes or follows, and these are a. Liquids............λ, μ, v, p B. Sibilants...........σ, §, §, ¥. ii. Mutes (äpwva), which do not properly form a syllable unless a vowel follows them, and these are distinguished according to the breathing with which they are uttered as a. Rough, aspiratæ, daoéa, p, x, 0 20 Vowels (vocales litteræ, OTоIXEîα pwvýevтa) are divided into two classes. a. Those which are the residuary forms of breathings, and We say, conversely, that a is the heaviest, e the lightest, and o the middle vowel in point of weight. The meaning of this is, that in words from the same root a appears in the lightest, e in the heaviest forms, and o in the forms of intermediate weight. Thus the root raμ- appears unaffected in the 2 aor. e-тaμ-ov, but assumes the forms o and e in the successively heavier words Tóμo-s, Téμ-v-w. This is particularly the case in the perfects of verbs when the weight of a consonant is taken off from the vowel by the attraction of the consonant into the following syllable. Thus, in στρέφω and πέμπω the first syllable is necessarily στρεφ-, πεμπ-, but in the perfects е-σтро-pа, πé-πoμ-pa, the & is drawn off to represent the lost guttural of the affix (below, 302, c, a, 1). A comparison of such words as λόγος, λέγω, στροφή, στρέφω, will show us that the verb has lost a strengthening insertion or affix, which required a lighter vowel in the root, or contributed to throw back the last consonant of the root on the preceding vowel. b. Those which are the residuary forms of mutes: し from the dentals and gutturals, ບ from the labials (above, 18,j). 21 Vowels of the former class, when prefixed to vowels of the second class, may be pronounced in one breath, and are then called Diphthongs (Sip@oyya), or double sounds. The diphthongs with their English pronunciation, and Latin transcription, are as follows: 22 Besides these diphthongs properly so called, that is, as containing a double sound in which both vowels were expressed, the old grammarians recognized six improper diphthongs, which contained only one vowel-sound apiece; these were: a, n, w, vɩ, nu, wv. And leaving out ac and or, which, as we shall see, had assumed a weaker pronunciation, they arranged the other ten combinations as follows (Anecd. Bekk. 1214, 804; Theodos. p. 34; Moschop. Titz. p. 24): Kaтà κρâσw (i.e. when the two sounds were really mixed): ov, av, ev Kaт' ÉπIKρáтEιAV (i.e. when the former vowel predominates): eɩ, a, ŋ, w Kaтà diétodov (i.e. when both vowels are heard in succession): nu, v, wv. η These distinctions are quite inapplicable to the sounds of the letters in the best ages of the Greek language. The long vowels n and a involve such an effort in the pronunciation that they necessarily absorb any following sound; this is well expressed by the grammarian's definition: δεῖ τὸ ἢ μὲν ἐκφωνοῦντα μηκύνειν τὸ στόμα ὡς ἐπὶ τὰ ὦτα ἑκατέρωθεν, τὸ δὲ ῶ ἐκφωνοῦντα μηκύνειν τὰ χείλη ὡς ènì Tηv piva Kai Tòv Túywva (Anecd. Bekk. p. 797). The value of ŋ, in accordance with this description, is established by the passages from Cratinus (Etym. M. 196, 7): η, ὁ δ ̓ ἠλίθιος ὥσπερ πρόβατον βῆ βῆ λέγων βαδίζει : and Aristophanes (Anecd. Bekk. p. 86): θύειν με μέλλει καὶ κελεύει βῆ λέγειν. Cf. Hesych. s. v. Bô Xéyer Bλnxâtaι Overaι (Meineke, Fragm. In Doric n is represented by a, and in Boeotic by e; and in heavier forms η passes into w; thus, from πατήρ we have ἀπάτωρ, from φρήν, σώφρων; and we have the heavier words, ἀσπιδιώτης, Ιταλιώτης, στρατιώτης by the side of ὁπλιήτης, πολιήτης. When these long vowels are prefixed to v, it can hardly be said that the result is a diphthong: on the contrary the accentuation of Ocupa for lavua shows that in wu the v was not sounded, and aov is contracted into w, and not into wv. And with regard to nu the habit of omitting the temporal augment in verbs beginning with ev, and the pronunciation of such words as nus, lead us to the conclusion that when 7 appears as the augment of verbs beginning with au, it was either written rather than pronounced; or, if pronounced, that the augment was syllabic as well as temporal. At any rate, when ā, ŋ, w are prefixed to, the latter is so completely absorbed that it is not generally written in the same line, but becomes what is called Iota subscriptum, or "Iota underwritten;" thus: a, n, w. This iota, however, is placed on the same line when it follows a capital; thus: "ΑΙΔΗΣ ="Αιδης = ᾅδης, Ἤιθεος = ᾔθεος, Ωιδή = し won. In the combination vɩ one or other of the letters has assumed or resumed a consonantal value, unless the is merely absorbed as in the cases just mentioned. It is laid down by the grammarians (Eustath. p. 1047, 53; Etym. M. 72, 26; 775, 24; Chœroboscus, apud Anecd. Bekk. pp. 1220, 1292) that this combination is never found before a consonant. Hence we have oπvíw, óπúσw; and the drops out in the optative-endings of verbs in vu, and in diminutives like βοτρύδιον, ἀφύδιον, ὕδιον, ἰχθύδιον, whereas a is inserted in viáow. That the combination was not dissyllabic is proved by the accentuation of αἴθυια, ἅρπυια. The accentuation of participles like TeTupuîa shows that the retains its value as a vowel. And a careful review of all the usages leads to the conclusion that, when followed by a vowel, the u in this combination was pronounced like our w, and that, when followed by a consonant, the v was vocalized and the absorbed and omitted. This conclusion is fortified by the change of cui-rei into cur, and of the diphthong ot, pronounced wee, into v in ἐμύ for ἐμοί, πρύλες for προίλες, &c. How the Romans pronounced their quadrisyllable Ilithyia, from Eixeílvia, we do not know: but the analogy of fio and fui would lead to the conclusion that yi became in effect a long i. し 23 In general, it is not easy to recover the true pronunciation of the diphthongs, whether proper or improper. It is probable, that e and ev were articulated nearly as in English, but that αυ, οι, ου were sounded like the German au, ö, ou, or the English ow, wi, oo in how, wig, choose. A dog in Aristophanes (Vesp. 903) barks aů, aů; the bird's note p'wee, as in pewit, is written πoî (Aves, 227); and our natural exclamation ugh is expressed by the common interjection ioû. Considerable difficulties, however, are occasioned (a) by the manner in which the Greeks themselves speak of the pronunciation of some of their vowels and diphthongs; (b) by the Roman transcriptions; and (c) by the modern Greek articulation: and we may infer that changes took place at different epochs. (a) Plato says, Cratylus, p. 393 D: σTEρ Tŵν σтоIXEíwv oiola ὅτι ὀνόματα λέγομεν, ἀλλ ̓ οὐκ αὐτὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα πλὴν τεττάρων, τοῦ |