[B-Greek] PEI, FEI, XEI, KSI, PSI (was pee or pie)
David Miller
dmiller at briercrest.ca
Mon Jul 10 10:52:11 EDT 2006
This debate about Greek pronunciation has been going on for some time.
Consider Henry Schliemann, writing in 1881:
"I therefore strongly recommend all directors of colleges and
schools to introduce the method I have followed; to do away with the
abominable English pronunciation of Greek, which has never been in use
outside of England; to let children first be taught modern Greek by native
Greek professors, and only afterwards begin ancient Greek when they can
speak and write the modern language with fluency, which it can hardly take
them more than six months to do. The same professors can teach the ancient
language, and by following my method they will enable intelligent boys to
master all its difficulties in a year, so that they will not only learn it
as a living language, but will also understand the ancient classics, and be
able to write fluently on any subject they are acquainted with.
"This is no idle theory, but a stubborn fact, which therefore ought
to be listened to. It is a cruel injustice to inflict for years upon an
unhappy pupil a language of which, when he leaves college, as a general rule
he knows hardly more than when he first began to learn it. The causes of
this miserable result are, in the first place, the arbitrary and atrocious
pronunciation of Greek usual in England; and in the second place the
erroneous method employed, according to which the pupils learn to disregard
the accents entirely, and to consider them as mere impediments, whereas the
accents constitute a most important auxiliary in learning the language.
What a happy effect would be produced on general education, and what an
enormous stimulus would be given to scientific pursuits, if intelligent
youths could obtain in eighteen months a thorough knowledge of modern Greek,
and of that most beautiful, most divine, and most sonorous language, which
was spoken by Homer and Plato, and could learn the latter as a living
tongue, so as never to forget it!" (Henry Schliemann, Ilios: The City and
Country of the Trojans [New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881], 15-16; Online:
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/).
Schliemann's method of learning foreign languages, discussed on pages 9-16,
makes for fascinating reading.
David Miller, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Briercrest College and Seminary
dmiller at briercrest.ca
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