[B-Greek] Jefferson on Greek Pronunciation
Eric Weiss
papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Mon Feb 6 12:12:21 EST 2006
> 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.
I am having difficulty figuring out what letters/diphthongs Jefferson is referring to in the
{ }, esp, the "n" and "v" and "i-i". Is "i-i" a double iota? I assume from the above that
"y" is upsilon, hence "yi" is UI. Is "n" supposed to be H? What does he mean by their
different pronunciation of "e" - I thought the Greek E is pronounced like our short "e"?
Thanks!
Eric S. Weiss
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