[B-Greek] Jefferson on Greek Pronunciation

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon Feb 6 08:06:42 EST 2006


Nice things do come to light in the blogs, if one is willing to cull  
through them. Here's another nice revelation from Suzanne McCarthy  
(http://powerscourt.blogspot.com/2006/02/jefferson-on-greek- 
pronunciation.html) that makes me realize that I need to spend some time
reading from our founding fathers, and also reminds me, if I needed  
any reminding, that a great deal of what is well said has been said
long before someone gives it fresh expression in our own time. One  
may agree or disagree with this, but it seems to me a pretty sensible
perspective.
.
=====
To Judge Spencer Roane Poplar Forest, September 6, 1819

I thank you, Sir for the remarks on the pronunciation of the Greek  
language which you have been so kind as to send me. I have read them  
with pleasure, as I had the pamphlet of Mr. Pickering on the same  
subject. This question has occupied long and learned inquiry, and  
cannot, as I apprehend, be ever positively decided. Very early in my  
classical days, I took up the idea that the ancient Greek language  
having been changed by degrees into the modern, and the present race  
of that people having received it by tradition, they had of course  
better pretensions to the ancient pronunciation also, than any  
foreign nation could have. When at Paris, I became acquainted with  
some learned Greeks, from whom I took pains to learn the modern  
pronunciation. But I could not receive it as genuine in toto. I could  
not believe that the ancient Greeks had provided six different  
notations for the simple sound of {i}, iota, and left the five other  
sounds which we give to n, v, {i-i}, {oi}, {yi}, without any  
characters of notation at all. I could not acknowledge the {y},  
upsillon, as an equivalent to our {n}, as in {Achilleys}, which they  
pronounce Achillevs, nor the {g}, gamma, to our y, as in {alge},  
which they pronounce alye. I concluded, therefore, that as experience  
proves to us that the pronunciation of all languages changes, in  
their descent through time, that of the Greek must have done so also  
in some degree; and the more probably, as the body of the words  
themselves had substantially changed, and I presumed that the  
instances above mentioned might be classed with the degeneracies of  
time; a presumption strengthened by their remarkable cacophony. As to  
all the other letters, I have supposed we might yield to their  
traditionary claim of a more orthodox pronunciation. Indeed, they  
sound most of them as we do, and, where they differ, as in the {e, d,  
ch,} their sounds do not revolt us, nor impair the beauty of the  
language.

If we adhere to the Erasmian pronunciation, we must go to Italy for  
it, as we must do for the most probably correct pronunciation of the  
language of the Romans, because rejecting the modern, we must argue  
that the ancient pronunciation was probably brought from Greece, with  
the language itself; and, as Italy was the country to which it was  
brought, and from which it emanated to other nations, we must presume  
it better preserved there than with the nations copying from them,  
who would be apt to affect its pronunciation with some of their own  
national peculiarities. And in fact, we find that no two nations  
pronounce it alike, although all pretend to the Erasmian  
pronunciation. But the whole subject is conjectural, and allows  
therefore full and lawful scope to the vagaries of the human mind. I  
am glad, however, to see the question stirred here; because it may  
excite among our young countrymen a spirit of inquiry and criticism,  
and lead them to more attention to this most beautiful of all languages.

And wishing that the salutary example you have set may have this good  
effect, I salute you with great respect and consideration.  (Th  
Jefferson)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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