[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


			
---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.


More information about the B-Greek mailing list