ii. Etymology, which explains the analysis of individual words, divides them into different classes according to this analysis, and points out the affections or anomalous structures which result from the contact of consonants or vowels with one another.

iii. Inflexion, which applies the rules of etymology to the motion of nouns through their cases, numbers, and genders, and of verbs through their persons, numbers, tenses, moods, and voices.

iv. Derivation and Composition, which show how one form may be deduced from another, and how two or more forms may be united in the same word.

V. Syntax or Construction, which examines logically the conjunction of words in a sentence, and the mutual dependence of

sentences.

vi. Metre, which points out the connexion between the quantity of syllables and their rhythmical arrangement in verse composition.

These six parts fall into two main departments-the first four referring to the Word itself, and the last two to the logical and rhythmical arrangement of words in sentences and verses.

PART I.

ORTHOGRAPHY AND ORTHOEPY.

§ I. Alphabet.

16 THE ordinary Greek Alphabet consists of the following twenty-four letters (σToixeîa):

Besides these twenty-four letters, which are used in this order to designate the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Greeks had other characters, which became obsolete at an early period as ordinary letters, but retained their place in the alphabet as numerical signs: these were the spirant F, called Baû or the Digamma, originally the 6th letter of the alphabet and used under the form to denote the number 6; the hard dental sibilant Σáv, which originally occupied the seventh place, that of its Hebrew prototype Zain, but was ousted by Zĥra the representative of Tzade, and was represented among the numerical signs only in the arbitrary compound Σaμmî (i.e. Σáv and wî, the converse of 4), written, to denote the number 900; and the guttural Q, called Kóππα, which originally followed II, and was used to denote the number 90. The latter is still found in inscriptions in such words as φόρινθος, λυρος, &c. (see Böckh, C. I. nn. 29, 37, 166).

§ II. Pronunciation.

17 We have given the usual pronunciation of these letters as they are articulated in England. At the revival of letters there was a considerable controversy on this subject, especially between the followers of Reuchlin, who was guided by the pronunciation of the modern Greeks, and those of Erasmus, whose method rests upon internal evidence, and is also supported by the Latin transcription. The system of Erasmus was called Etacismus, because it gave the value of e to 'Hra, as distinguished from the new Greek Itacismus, which pronounced that letter as i. Few modern scholars will doubt that the theory of Erasmus is the more reasonable. According to this method, β, γ, δ, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ο, π, σ, τ, χ, ψ, ω, were pronounced as they still are in England, or nearly so; a was the English a in father, or mat, according as it is long or short; e was the short e in met, n the long a in mate, or the long e in there, or the double ee in meer; i was the i in machine, or pin, according as it is long or short; and v was pronounced softly, like our u in cube or Cupid.

It will be observed that e and v are called λóv, i.e. “unaspirated." The reason of this is that e was originally an aspirated vowel or the mark of aspiration: and v never occurs at the beginning of a word without a rough breathing. Similarly, p is always hr or rh.

Philology has taught us that the compound letters, , §, and & had other sounds than those which Erasmus attributed to them.

(a) At one time, as we have mentioned, the Greeks had a Záv as well as a Znra, just as the Hebrews have Zain by the side of Tsade: the former was a hard dental sibilant, like the English z or the pronunciation of s in Somersetshire; and the latter, which at last corresponded very nearly to the palatalj, was really the combination do, which gets that palatal value even in English; compare Etheredge from Ethereds, &c.: and as the same sound results from the combination of y (x) or 8 (7) with , we find that is a regular substitute for this assimilation. In certain dialects we have the transposition ad for do, just as p= hr becomes rh in Latin; as we have e, w, -pse by the side of opé; and as the root of the relative pronoun, which is su in Sanscrit and Greek, qu in Latin, hv in Gothic, becomes wh in English.

σχι

(b) Similarly, there were two articulations of Eî: the hard sound as or xs, and the softer sound sh, resulting from the transposition of xs into ox, and corresponding to the articulation of its parent the Hebrew Shin. The former pronunciation is established not only by derivations like è by the side of è, but by the appearance of Xs for in inscriptions. The latter value, in which the k-sound is lost altogether, and the palatal force of reappears, is inferred from comparisons like 'Odvoσcús, Vlyxes, épid-s, ¿píçw, rixa, &c., and is proved by the fact that in the Doric dialect appears for σ, or rather σt, in the fut. and 1 aor. of verbs in -tw.

almost

(c) With regard to î it is doubtful whether it ever had the pronunciation f, and whether it was not always pronounced like p-h in hap-hazard, shep-herd. This at least may be inferred from reduplications like πέφυκα and contacts like Σαπφώ; and Quintilian (1. 4, § 14. XII. 10, §§ 27, 29. Cf. Priscian, I. p. 14) distinguishes between the Greek and the Roman f. It is true that pop, fur seem to correspond, and that Plutarch writes πpaipektos, pîλɩğ, and the like; but the Romans themselves never wrote filosofia, and Plutarch's acquaintance with Latin was confessedly imperfect.

18 Some of these letters would change their sound when doubled, or in contact with others.

a. y followed by another y, or by K, X, E, represents an original v, and in this combination is pronounced ng: compare ayyeλos with angelus. b. is often written for yɩ, ki, xi, dɩ, Tɩ, the pronunciation of which it represents; thus we have μείζων for μεγίων, κάρζα for καρδία, &c.: also for σδ, as in 'Αθήναζε for ̓Αθήνασδε. In later Greek falls back to the original value of Záv, and not only appears before consonants like a simple σ, as in Bevvival, Suúpva, but even follows a dental, as in Terns.

C. σo not only takes the place of , but like it is substituted for combinations of other letters with; thus we have λanáσow for λαπάζω, πράσσω for πραγίω, ἐλάσσων for ἐλαχίων, &c.

d. 7 before approximates to σ, and sometimes is changed into that sibilant: compare πλούσιος with πλοῦτος.

T

That before a vowel had a soft sound, at least in later Greek, may be inferred from the fact that Plutarch (Æm. Paulus, c. 5) writes KáλTIOV for calceus.

e. o when followed by a vowel, if not combined with it, may be pronounced like our w; thus we have olorpos to represent the whizzing sound of the gad-fly, and oa represents the Persian interjection wah!

f.

before o, w, is often pronounced like our y; thus Tóλews is not only accentuated, but is often scanned as a dissyllable.

g. 8, 01, p seem to have approximated in pronunciation to one another, and to the sibilant σ, for which they are often substituted in writing: but although T may be changed into σ, σ is not changed into 7 except in the diplasiasmus oo, which is written TM in later Attic. The interchange of σ and is most common in the combination σ = Oe, e.g., σiós Oeós; and 0 becomes & most frequently in the combination Od. It is to be remarked that not only do -Oia-dia become -On, -dn, but the dentals are occasionally omitted.

=

=

=

1 In Joannis Cheradami Introductio Alphabetica sane quam utilis Græcarum Musarum adyta compendio ingredi cupientibus, Dionysiæ, 1535, the following definition is given of the pronunciation of ô and @: "Delta non prorsus ut Latinis D, sed producta sensim per dentes lingua aliquanto minus quam Thita aspere pronuntiatur. Thita prolata per dentes lingua a literæ quidem prolatione incipit, sed vehementius quam Delta in anserinum sibilum exspiratur." On the change of R and D in Latin, see Varronianus, pp. 82, 256.