PA
267
A7
1908
MAIN
UC-NRLF
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THE RESTORED PRONUNCIATION
OF GREEK AND LATIN:
WITH TABLES AND PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
EDWARD VERNON ARNOLD, Litt.D.,
PROFESSOR OF LATIN AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES:
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND
ROBERT SEYMOUR CONWAY, Litt.D.,
PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER;
LATE FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
FOURTH AND REVISED EDITION
{emhodying the schemes app'oved for Latin and Greek by the
Classical Association)
CAMBRIDGE :
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1908
Price One Shilling.
Thohnton 4 SoH,
Booksellers,
II The Broad.
Oxford.
THE EESTOEED PRONUNCIATION
OF GREEK AND LATIN:
WITH TABLES AND PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
EDWARD VERNON ARNOLD, Litt.D.,
PROFESSOR OF LATIN AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES;
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND
ROBERT SEYMOUR CONWAY, Litt.D.,
PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN THE UNIVERSITY OP MANCHESTER;
LATE FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND OAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
FOURTH AND REVISED EDITION
{embodying the schemes approved for Latin and Greek by the
Classical Association)
CAMBRIDGE :
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
:l?Q8 •.:••
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,
C. F. CLAY, Manager.
HonUon : FETTER LANE, E.G.
ffilaasoto: 50, WELLINGTON STREET.
n
m
mn
Heipjtg: E. A. BROCKHAUS.
i^eto Hork: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.
iSombas antJ Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
First edition — 1895.
Second edition — 1896.
Third edition— 1^01 .
Fourth edition— 1908.
[All rights rese7yed.'\
[71 ^^7
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
IN issuing a third and revised edition of this pamphlet, we think
it may be convenient to give a short account of the movement
which it is designed to assist.
As early as 1871 attention was called in authoritative quarters
to the unsatisfactory standards of Latin pronunciation in vogue in
the United Kingdom, and a definite reform was advocated with
the support of such eminent names as those of H. A. J. Munro
and Edwin Palmer. This proposal was received with some favour
by the English Universities and public schools, with the result
that the reformed pronunciation was recognised as a permissible
alternative. In practice, however, it was seldom adopted, and
appeared only to increase the existing confusion.
When the University of Wales was founded in 1893, almost
simultaneously with the creation of a great number of schools
which provided instruction in Greek and Latin, it felt itself called
upon to deal with this question. Whatever excuses might be found
in England for indecision in dealing with a long-standing tradition,
it could not be expected that a new educational system should be
burdened with hesitations on so practical a question : least of all
in a country in which the reformed pronunciation of most of the
symbols concerned was already familiar in the native language.
Accordingly with the support of our colleagues we drew up and
published this pamphlet in 1895, the circumstances leading us to
make use almost exclusively of the English, French, and Welsh
languages to illustrate the pronunciation proposed. The scheme
was officially adopted by the University, and has since been in
regular use in the Principality ; and this experience has shown that,
whatever difficulties a change may cause to teachers accustomed
to a different system, the system itself causes none to learners who
are by it initiated to the study of Latin.
1—2
298498
iv / ; FllEifAGE TO TEE THIRD EDITION
During the last ten years the reform movement has steadily
gained strength in England also. New grammars and school books
have familiarised Latin teachers in all parts with the proposed
change : and their representative associations have with practical
unanimity declared in its favour. The restored pronunciation of
Latin is now advocated by the Philological Societies of Oxford and
Cambridge, and by the Associations of Assistant Masters and of
Assistant Mistresses : it has been adopted with practical unanimity
at a numerously attended meeting of the Classical Association
recently held in Manchester : and the Classical Association of
Scotland gives its support on behalf of that part of the kingdom.
Within the last few weeks the Headmasters' Conference has by
a decisive vote declared in its favour ; and we trust that this
re-issue of our pamphlet will help to minimise any inconvenience
that may be felt in what remains of the period of transition.
The reform of Greek pronunciation necessarily lags behind that
of Latin, and its intrinsic difficulties are greater. The proposals
that we made in 1895 have passed through the test of practice,
and have in the main been found feasible. Difficulty, however,
is attached to insistence on the ' narrow ' pronunciation of et, the
'broad' pronunciation of w, and the pure 'aspirate' values of ^,
</), X- In the present edition we have thought it well to allow a
certain latitude in the pronunciation of ct and tu, and we have
taken a new departure with regard to the 'aspirates.' Some
recently discovered evidence (of which an account is given in an
Appendix for which, as generally for the statements relating
only to Greek, Professor Conway is responsible) has made it
probable that the pronunciation of these sounds had become, in
part at least, that of fricatives as early as the fourth century B.C. ;
and we therefore propose that the pronunciation of that century
rather than of the preceding should be accepted as the standard,
and reproduced with such approximation to accuracy as circum-
stances permit.
The science of phonetics has made such great advances in recent
years that it is necessary for us to make it clear that we are not
attempting a scientific treatise on the historical pronunciation of
either language. Thus we have left out of account numerous
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION v
details and distinctions which, though scientifically important, do
not greatly concern our immediate purpose. We gladly welcome
the efforts made by teachers of modern languages to spread a more
precise appreciation of the niceties of correct pronunciation, but w©
do not think it practicable or desirable to set up such exacting
standards for Latin and Greek, in teaching which our dominant
purpose must always be to bring pupils into acquaintance and
communion with the great authors in whose pages Greek and Latin
for ever live and speak.
We desire to acknowledge gratefully the assistance we have
received from many friends in the preparation of this pamphlet.
Prof. J. P. Postgate and Prof. J. Strachan, though in no way
responsible for its final form, have generously submitted it to a
searching revision, which has removed many obscurities and some
errors. And as regards the pronunciation of the modern languages
used in illustration, we are especially indebted to Prof. A. H.
Fynes-Clinton, Prof. J. Morris Jones, Mr T. Rea, and Dr Frederic
Spencer.
The books which we have most often consulted are the
following: . ,, .,.
^ . /-v /. 1 Authorities
H. Sweet, Primer of Phonetics, Oxford, 1890, chiefly con-
and Histori/ of English Sounds, Oxford, 1888. A. J. ^"^««^-
Ellis, Early English Pronunciation, London, 1869.
W. Rippmann, Elements of Phonetics, London, 1903 (after Victor).
And an important paper by Prof. W. W. Skeat, The Testimfiony of
English to the Pronunciation of Latin, in Camh. Philol. Sac. Pro-
ceedings, 1905, p. 3.
[More detailed technical information will be found in E. Sievers
GrundzUge der Phonetik, Leipzig, 1901 (5^^ verbesserte Auflage) ; W.
Viet or, Elemente der Phonetik des Deutschen, Englischen und Franz6-
sischen (S*-® Auflage), Leipzig, 1904 ; 0. Jespersen, Lehrhuch der Phonetik
(Leipzig and Berlin, 1901).]
K. Brugmann, Griechische Grammatik (3^ Auflage) in I.
Miiller's Handbuch der Altertumswissenschafl, Band Greek.
2, Munich, 1900. G. Meyer, Griechische Grammatik
(3te Auflage), Leipzig, 1887. F. Blass, Greek Pronunciation
(translated by Purton), Cambridge, 1890.
Max Niedermann, Precis de Phonetique Historique du Latin
Paris, 1906. Emil Seelmann, Aussprache des ^^^.^
Latein, Heilbronn, 1885. W. M. Lindsay, The
Latin Language, Oxford, 1894 (or, better, the Short Latin Historical
vi PREFACE
Grammar by the same author, Oxford, 1896). W. Meyer-Liibke,
Grammaire des Langues romanes (traduction frangaise), Paris,
1890 — 1906. E. Bourciez, Precis de Phonetique frangaise^
Paris, 1885. H. J. Roby, A Latin Grammar from Plautus to
Suetonius, part i, fourth edition, London, 1881. A. J. Ellis,
Quantitative Pronunciation of Latin, London, 1874.
[A convenient summary of the principal points is found in Professor
J. P. Postgate's New Latin Primer, revised edition, London, 1890.
See especially §§ 251 — 256. A. Bos, Petit traite de prononciation latine,
Paris, 1893, and F. Sommer, HaTidhuch der Lateinischen Laut- und
Formenlehre, Heidelberg, 1902, should also be mentioned.]
E. V. A.
R. S. C.
Bangor ) _ ,^_„
V January, 1907.
Manchester ^
NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
We are glad that the speedy demand for a reprint enables us
to make the few changes needed to bring our recommendations for
Greek into harmony with the Report of the Classical Association's
Committee, the principles of which were approved by the general
meeting of the Association at Cambridge last October. In the very
few points of practice upon which the discussion disclosed any
difference of view, we have been careful to state the different
alternatives and the degree of historical truth which they may
respectively claim. We have also slightly modified our attitude in
regard to the attempt to pronounce the Greek Accents (p. 18). To
the list of books consulted should now be added W. G. Hale and
C. D. Buck, A Latin Grammar, Boston, 1903. We are also
indebted to Prof. Walter Rippmann for comments on several points
concerning the pronunciation of modern languages.
Bangor 1 ^, , ;^^„
,, V March, 1908.
Manchester j '
THE PKONUNCIATION OF GREEK
AND LATIN.
It is proposed in the following pages that the method of
pronunciation which is almost universal in England objections
in the case of Greek, and still survives widely in EngUsh %l^-
the case of Latin, should be abandoned. This nunciatim.
method, like others which prevail locally in various parts
of Europe and America, chiefly found acceptance from the im-
mediate convenience of giving to the symbols of the Roman
alphabet when used to write Latin, and the corresponding
symbols in Greek, the sound which is most commonly denoted
by the former in the particular locality. But even this con-
venience is delusive, since the pronunciation of English varies
greatly in dififerent parts of the kingdom, and, as will be seen,
where the standard or London pronunciation is most carefully
inculcated, there the result is, in fact, furthest from the true
Latin sounds. A Scotch or Yorkshire lad will pronounce Latin
it much more correctly, and distinguish it far more clearly from
Latin a, if left to his own instincts than if trained by a cultured
teacher who adopts the unreformed method. Any method of
this kind altogether disregards historical accuracy, and ac-
2 TEE PRONUNCIATION OF
customs the learner to fancy that languages exist as written
rather than as spoken : for he is put to no trouble to discover
the true sounds of the language he is studying. It is to him in
a very real sense a ' dead ' language : he ceases or never begins
to realise that by its help men and women lived, felt, and
thought : and is directly encouraged in a mistake which defeats
che very purpose of his education, the mistake of regarding
books as something remote from life rather than as an integral
part of the life of mankind and therefore of that for which he
himself is preparing.
But the local ' English ' method of pronouncing Latin and
Greek must be condemned also on the following more definite
grounds, which involve consequences smaller in themselves but
obviously and immediately mischievous :
(1) It confuses distinct sounds, and hence distinct words :
e.g. ceu and seu, caedit, cedit and sedit, caecae, caesae and sese,
noscet, nosset and nocet, luceo, lusio and Lucio (to say nothing
of so-lutio), Kelrai and 'x^alrav, /caivo), Keivw and KLvat are
pronounced alike.
(2) It obscures quantity : mensis (abl. plur.) is pronounced
as mensis (gen. sing.), and very often mensd (nom. sing.) just as
mensa (abl. sing.) : mdlum (evil) and malum (apple) are made
alike, and so v^nit (present tense) and ve^iit (perfect). The
same confusion occurs in the case of Greek, though not to the
same extent.
These two defects largely conceal from the student the
musical and rhythmical beauties of the two languages.
(3) The learner acquires by ear at the very beginning
false views as to the relations of languages, and, in particular,
fails to recognise the intimate natural tie between Latin
and the Romance languages. Thus Latin a instead of being
pronounced as French a is made to sound more nearly like
French e, following the common value of English a.
GREEK AND LATIN 3
In this way the historical study of language meets with a
needless obstacle even in tracing in a Romance language, such
as French, those words which are most immediately derived
from Latin.
(4) A somewhat similar suggestion has especial importance
in Wales. The sounds used in the Welsh language are on the
whole, and particularly as regards the vowels, of a simpler and
more primitive character than those of English: and their
expression in the written form is a permanent record of the
direct influence of Latin civilisation upon the Welsh people.
The * English ' method of pronouncing Latin tends to push out
of sight this important historical relationship.
In any attempt to frame a better system, two conditions
should be fulfilled. On the one hand, the scheme Conditions
proposed should present, if our knowledge can %^ 'ref^'-
secure it, at least a reasonable approximation to <^^'"^«cy «^^
^ ^ ease of ac-
the sounds which actually existed in ancient quirement.
times: and on the other, it should avoid placing any really
serious difficulty in the way of beginners in Latin or Greek.
For it must always be the principle of the study of these
languages that the learner shall, as soon as possible, begin
to read for himself the works of the great classical authors.
The progress of philological research has made it possible
to meet the first requirement. We can in the
Accuracy.
main reproduce with certainty the sounds actually
heard at Athens in the fourth century B.C. and at Rome in the
first. The margin of doubt that remains, though from the
scientific point of view it is considerable, is nevertheless, when
seen from the standpoint of the practical teacher, confined
within very narrow limits.
For example : some scholars may feel a doubt whether Latin
^ more nearly resembled French (close) i in Hve (= Eng. ee in
queen) or Italian (open) i in civitd ; but that it was immeasur-
1—5
y
4 TEE PRONUNCIATION OF
ably nearer to Eng. ee (though strictly considered this is a
diphthongal sound) than to the English diphthong % in line,
tide, etc. is clearly demonstrable and universally admitted.
Accordingly in drawing up the Tables, we have kept in
view the distinction between variations of greater and less
importance, and have inserted approximate illustrations of
some of the sounds from languages where precise equivalents
were not easily found: whilst we have tried to guard against
any misunderstanding by pointing to more exact equivalents in
other columns. We venture to hope that the use of a fairly
complete series of English, French and Welsh illustrations side
by side may enable even beginners to attain to an approximately
correct pronunciation of Greek and Latin, while incidentally
rendering some slight service to the teaching of modern
languages also.
In the second place, after careful discussion, and some years'
Ease of ac- experience, we feel that the scheme now proposed
qmrement. offers no difficulty that can reasonably be called
serious even to the English-speaking student : while those who
are familiar with spoken Welsh (or French) should find it far
easier than the local English method. We do not underrate
the embarrassment which results from the fact that the pro-
nunciation of Latin and Greek here advocated is still unfamiliar
to a large proportion of those who are engaged in teaching
these languages, and therefore lacks for them the attraction
which comes of early associations. But in the case of Latin
the weight of authority is now so strongly on the side of the
restored pronunciation that those who still adhere to the former
custom may fairly be asked to consider whether the cause of
Latin in our schools should be hampered by the continuance
of this controversy into another generation. Amongst the
bodies which are now united in advocating the reform we can
point to the Classical Association, the Oxford and Cambridge
GREEK AND LATIN 5
Philological Societies, the Head Masters' Conference, the
Associations of Assistant Masters and Assistant Mistresses,
and the Modern Language Association. Further, the Board
of Education now requires the adoption of the restored pro-
nunciation in all schools in connexion with which it has
responsibility for the use of public funds, unless special reasons
are given to the contrary ; and it appears that about three-
quarters of these schools have now actually adopted it.
The reform of Greek pronunciation is naturally not so
advanced, but it appears to be immediately urgent that the
pronunciation of Greek and Latin should be brought into
general harmony. Hence, whilst we have explained as accur-
ately as we can the exact sounds of the period of classical
Greek, we refrain from advocating generally any changes other
than those which the Classical Association is prepared to
accept as immediately practicable.
In conclusion we venture to claim that the restored pro-
nunciation has the advantage not only in distinctness and
scientific accuracy, but also in simplicity and musical character.
Written explanations must always be to some extent tedious
and incomplete: but if once an oral tradition is established
amongst teachers, it will be maintained with no greater sense
of effort than must always be needed by those who, rejecting
slipshod and inartistic methods of speech, aim at inspiring the
most constant of our occupations with the instincts of force,
precision and beauty.
1—6
TABLE OF GREEK SOUNDS.
The letters which give the equivalents in English, French
and Welsh are printed in heavy type. Examples enclosed in
square brackets contain only rough equivalents.
Greek
English
French
Welsh
a
footpsith, Siha
chaise
aJ)er, lla.n
a
fsither
B.me
t&d
/3
hut
hon
haner
7 always as
get, gone
gateau
gardd, gynt
except^ that
77^
anger
Bangor (not as
- are as
-
mangor,tyngu)
7^^.
^ahkle
llangc
h
[deny
dette
du
e (close ^)
[getr
et, ^t4
[ceginy
?
[adze]'
r) (open e)
nearer to 6ear
than to ta.ke*
pere, il m^ne
hen'
' (spirit us asper)
1 hoard
hardd
(spiritus lenis^
) denotes the absence of the i
spiritus asper in
initial vowels.
6 (see below)
I
hit'
veritd
dim'
i
queen
rive, eglise
hin
K
cat, come
eclat, cour
ci, coed
\
let
lit
gweled
M
man
mere
mam
V
name
nom
nid
f
tax
fixer
bocs
(close 6)
cannot, consist
[monologue]
[colyn, ponty
TT
ipit
"parler
pen
p
[herring]
[cheri]
carreg
r
P
[tree]
theatre
rhwng
<r, 9 always as
salt, mouse
savant, russe
nos
except that
a^(
' has heen
ayi are as
has gone
(Tfl[
has made
-
GREEK SOUNDS
T
[te/2, tillY
tete tan
V
du pain, lutte [North Welsh
pump]
V
1 ■
pur [North Welsh
[German grun] cun]
^\ see below
%)
^
la-pse
(o (open o)
nearer to ore
than to coke^
encore pob*
The Aspirates 0, <^, ^.
There is some reason for thinking that in the fourth century
B.C. even in Athens the aspirates 6, </>, ;)^ contained more than
the pure combination of t'\-h (Eng. antldU), p-\-h (Eng.
uphill\ k-\-h (Eng. backhanded); that is, that though the h
was still clearly heard, the first part of the sound was no
longer a plosive (t, p, k\ but a plosive beginning to change
towards a fricative (e.g. in <^ something between the plosive
p and the full 'affricate ' pf). Further details will be found in
the Appendix. The Committee of the Classical Association
recommend for 6, </>, and ;j^ the sounds respectively of Eng. th
in thin, Eng. y, and Scotch ch in loch.
1 A further probable exception, of no great importance, is mentioned on
p. 13 below.
2 For the slight variation in English t, d from the dentals in the Romance
languages, see p. 12 below.
3 Greek e was a 'close' e (see p. 16 below), and may be more nearly heard in
the usual pronunciation of college, or in the old-fashioned pronunciation of
engine, engineer, entire, than in the approximate examples given in the table,
which contain a more 'open' sound. It was the short sound corresponding in
quality to the ei of efs, see below.
^ For 77 and w the Committee of the Classical Association sanctions, on
practical grounds, the sounds of Latin e and o respectively (see p. 10), though
commending the open pronunciation in schools where it is already familiar in
other languages. Welsh e and o are open or * half-open' sounds, both when
short and long : but the degree of openness appears to vary slightly in different
districts. See p. 16 below.
5 But in the fifth century b.c. f had a sound like English zd (e.g. in glazeii).
It remained always a double consonant, making the preceding syllable long
by position.
* See note 4 on p. 11 below.
GREEK SOUNDS
Diphthongs ending in l.
These should be pronounced simply by combining the
sounds of their component vowels. Thus
aL = a-\- i. Roughly as Eng. I in ride^ more exactly Fr. ail in
email, Welsh ai in taid.
01 — o -\- L. Eng. oi in oil, Welsh oi in troi.
vt = v-\- 1. Roughly as Fr. ui in lui. It rarely occurs save
before vowels and then v has its regular sound
and the t is simply equivalent to the Eng.
consonant y.
a, y, ft) = a + fc (Welsh ae in caer\ rj-{-i, (o + 1 (Welsh oe in coed)
respectively.
The t was probably not pronounced at all in a and « after about
200 B.C., just as in modern spoken S. Welsh ae and oe are pronounced (in
Glamorganshire) simply as Welsh a and o.
The sound of ei was originally diphthongal (Welsh ei, half-
way between Eng. ^ay and ^ie), but by about 450 B.C. it had
become simply equivalent to a long e (' long close e') = Eng. a
in day, pronounced without the final y-sound. It was however
distinguished from tj down to at least the 2nd century B.C., and
from 7) down to at least the end of the 4th century; and if
there is any risk of the sounds being confused, it may be
necessary to allow et to be pronounced as Eng. eye, though this
is certainly incorrect.
Diphthongs ending in v.
These should be pronounced by combining the sound of
their first vowel with that of Latin u (= Eng. u in full, Welsh
w in cwm), not with that of the Attic v, which when it stood
alone had undergone a change that it had resisted when pre-
ceded by another vowel.
Thus
av = a-^ Latin u, as Welsh aw in llawn, nearly as Eng. ou in
round, ow in fowl.
GREEK SOUNDS 9
ev — € + Latin u, as Welsh ew in mewn. The nearest equivalent
existing in English is ew in new, but the first
element of this is an i- instead of an e-vowel.
(dv = a) + Latin u, but is of rare occurrence.
The sound of ov was originally diphthongal (Eng. o in stone,
see p. 16), but it became in Attic before 450 B.C. equivalent to
a long o (' long close o,' French o in chose), and then, becoming
still closer, to a long Latin u (Eng. oo in moon, Welsh w in gwr).
Accent.
For the value of the Greek signs of accent see below, p. 18.
Note.
The exact nature of the sound or sounds represented in
early Attic writers by (T(t, in later writers by tt, has not yet
been precisely determined, though it is practically certain that
it denoted some sound closely akin to those which in English
we write sh (French ch) and ch (Ital. c before i and e), see
Witton, Am. Journ. Phil. xix. p. 420 and Postgate, Classical
Review, Dec. 1906. Until a more decisive result is reached, we
must be content to give the symbols the sound of a double a
and a double r respectively; such inaccuracy as we may be
committing in this pronunciation is as great as, but no
greater than, the corresponding inaccuracy in spelling allowed
by the Athenians themselves.
TABLE OF LATIN SOUNDS.
The letters which give the equivalents in English, French
and Welsh are printed in heavy type. Examples enclosed in
square brackets contain only rough equivalents.
Latin
English
French
Welsh
a
footpath, a,ha
chs^se
Siber, lla.n
a
fsither
kme
tsid
b
hut
hon
haner
bs as ps, urhB as urps
c always as
cat, "kitten
eclat, cour
coed, ci
d
[deny
dette
du
e (open ^)
get
berger
pen
e (close e)
[tay, bsLneY
passee^
[henf
f
fox
fifre
Son
g always as
get, gone
gateau
gardd, gynt
h
hoard
hardd
i
hit
4
dim
I
queen
rive, eglise
hin
i consonant
yoke
bataillon
iaith
1
let
lit
gweled
m
man
mere
mam.
n
name
nom
nid
n before c,"
&, q
song^
llangc
o (open o)
dot
reconnu
pont
o (close o)
[low, loney
chose, chaxide
[pob]'
P
pit
parler
pen
qu
quiz
quoi
LATIN SOUNDS
11
r [herring]
[cheri]
carreg
s always as hiss, pace, manse
savant, russe
nos
t [tiny
tete
tan
u pyill, wood
nouvelle
cwm
fl pool, wooed
resoudre
cvrn, gvrr
u consonant® vrine
Nord-Ouest
(g)vreled
X tax
fixer
bocs
The following sounds, used in Latin in words borrowed from
the Greek, are to be pronounced as in Greek :
Latin
Greek
y
V
y
V
z
?\
ch
%
ph
<!>'
th
^1
rh
p
English
see p. 7.
[^ree]
French
du pain
pur
[German grun]
Welsh
[North Welsh pump]
[North Welsh cun]
theatre
rhwng
^ Latin and French t, d are more strictly dental than the corresponding
English sounds.
2 Latin e may be obtained from English a in ba.y, ba.ne by omitting the i
sound which follows immediately on the English vowel : and so o from English
in low, lone by omitting the u sound. English air, oar give the corresponding
open vowels. French ee in pass6e is a close vowel, and was formerly long,
though in modern pronunciation it is short. See further p. 16 below.
3 Welsh e and o are open or * half-open ' sounds, both when short and long :
but the degree of openness appears to vary slightly in different districts.
4 Latin i differs slightly from the corresponding Greek vowel : it is an open
sound, as are the English and Welsh equivalents. To this sound there is no
precise equivalent in French. On the other hand, the Greek vowel is close, and
corresponds exactly to French i, e.g. in veiAte.
5 Accordingly Latin ng corresponds to the double sound {'ng' + g) in English
finger, and not to the single sound heard in singer: to Welsh ng in Bangor,
not in tyngu,
8 A distinctive symbol v is still often found in Latin printed texts, althongh
j for the i consonant has been generally abandoned. These distinctive symbols
for the consonants came gradually into use towards the end of the Middle Ages,
when the sounds had undergone considerable change (see p. 14), and had become
comparatively remote from those of the corresponding vowels.
12 LATIN SOUNDS
Diphthongs. *
These should be pronounced simply by combining the
sounds of their component vowels. Thus
Latin English French German Welsh
ae^ side email, hat^jllon t?dd
oe 6oi^ hUMser troi
ui [ruiri] [oui] [mwyn]
(The vowel-sounds in ruin, etc., if run closely together, will
correspond to Latin ui in Auic, cui.)
au cow /iau5 ^/awn
eu [new] mevrn
(English new would be in Latin letters niu: but if we
substitute the sound of e for that of i, we obtain the Latin
diphthong.)
1 See p. 17.
EXPLANATIONS OF SOME POINTS IN PHONETICS.
.»
These remarks are intended as comments upon the tables of
Greek and Latin pronunciation, amplifying the very
brief directions there given. They aim only at dealing
with certain practical difficulties, and not at presenting even the
elements of the Science of Phonetics. Technical terms in common
use are therefore not, as a rule, explained. Fuller information may
readily be found in the recognised text-books of Phonetics (see the
list of authorities in the Preface).
The plosive sounds or stops are found written
onsonan s. q^^^q^^ uniformly in modern European languages :
those common to Greek and Latin with them are
7rp, T t^ KG (breathed sounds) and /S b, S d, y g (voiced
b. voiced. , v
sounds).
But t and d are more strictly dental in the modern Eomance languages
than in English or German, where they are formed rather above than on
the teeth ; and in this particular the Romance and Welsh sounds cor-
respond more closely to Greek r 8, Latin t d.
Besides these six sounds Greek possessed aspirates, and Latin
used them in words borrowed from Greek : ch ph. th,
c. aspirate. t mi • . n i . \ ^
X ch. These also were originally plosive sounds, only
differing from the corresponding breathed sounds tt p, r t, k c
EXPLANATIONS 13
respectively in adding a slight emission of breath, in sound like the
English A, before the next vowel or consonant in the word. They
were gradually replaced by the continuous (fricative or 'spirant')
sounds which appear in modern Greek, as well as in other
European languages, such as ph =/ in English, French and Welsh,
th in English and Welsh, ch in Welsh and German. On the date
at which this change began in Attic Greek, see the Appendix.
These fricatives are not the only modern developments of the
plosives of classical times : and in English and other
ModcTTi
modern European languages (though not in Welsh) values {in
c, g, t have come, in certain positions, to represent ^^^"* cases)
corresponding continuous sounds, for which other
symbols also stand. Thus English city^ gin, nation are pronounced
just as if sity, jin, nashun were written. These secondary values
of. modern c, g, t are in no case to be given to the corresponding
Greek or Latin symbols.
Amongst continuous sounds the nasals m and n corresponding
to the voiced h and d are found in all European
languages : but observe that Greek v and Latin n consonants^
may perhaps have more closely resembled the sound
heard in modern French and other Romance languages, and have
been more strictly dental than English, Welsh, or
m^ . ,. . i. 1 (a) Nasals.
German n. The nasal corresponding to g is found
in English and Welsh, and written ng. In Latin and Greek the
sound is heard before the sounds k c (q), y g, x ^^^ (^^ Greek probably
also before //, and i/, though certainly not before m and n in Latin).
It is denoted by y in Greek, by n in Latin. Hence Greek yy (for
example) = Latin ng = English or Welsh ng + g, or ng in the examples
given in the tables.
Final m was pronounced lightly in Latin. In verse, when the
next word began with a vowel, we find the vowel before -in elided :
yet when the next word began with a consonant, the syllable ending
in -m is counted long by position. The best explanation seems to
be that the -m was so far weakened, that when a vowel followed, the
-m was only heard as a nasal afiFection of the vowel before it, such as
is given to o and a in French hon, plan : and therefore the vowel
was subject, like others, to ehsion. The exact sound before following
consonants is doubtful (see Hale and Buck, Lat. Gr. § 34). For class
purposes it seems sufficient to pronounce m as in English, but rather
more lightly when it occurs at the end of a word.
14 EXPLANATIONS
There is some variety in modern languages' in the sounds denoted
by r and I: but in most they are voiced sounds clearly
pronounced, and r is trilled. Yet English r is always
a weak sound, and often entirely inaudible : and even English rr
represents only imperfectly the full sound of Greek p, Latin r.
A breathed sound corresponding to the voiced r is found in
Greek p, Latin rh (in words borrowed from Greek or Celtic), Welsh
rh and French r in certain positions \ as in theatre. This sound can
often be recognised in the pronunciation of the English tree.
In most modern languages the symbols s z are found to represent
a breathed and a voiced sibilant respectively. But
whilst Welsh on the one hand possesses the s sound
only, English on the other frequently employs the voiced or z
sound, even where s is written : so that lies comes to rhyme with
size., and cheese with freeze : whilst the breathed sound (when final)
is often represented by c or s, as in pace, manse. Greek a (except
before /S, y and /x) and Latin s always, represent the breathed
sounds, and care should be taken to give them this value even
when final ; for example, the endings of ovtods and reges should not
be pronounced as in English toes and gaze, but as in dose and chase.
In Latin a consonant as well as a vowel value was given to each
of the symbols I, V : but that the consonantal sound
could not have differed widely from the vowel in
either case is shown by the easy passage from one to the other;
as, for example, in siluae (silvan) and siluae (siluae) ; neue (neve)
and neu; and by the well-known play on words between caue ne
eas {cave ne eas) and cauneas 'figs from Caunus.'
The sounds given to j in English and French respectively, and
to V in most European languages (Welsh f), are historical develop-
ments of Latin consonantal i (j), and u (v), as well as of other
sounds : but they are much later in date than the classical period,
and should not be introduced in reading classical Latin.
The number of distinct vowel sounds used in modern European
languages is very considerable, whilst the number of
symbols available is relatively much smaller than in
the case of consonantal sounds. Accordingly in all modern European
languages, but very especially in English, the written representation
of vowel sounds is entirely inadequate. Not only is one symbol
used to denote several distinct sounds, but it is quite common to
1 See Victor, p. 132, § 93 and Anmerkung 1.
EXPLANATIONS 15
find a double or diphthongal sound represented by a single symbol,
and a single sound by a double symbol.
If however we put English (and Dutch) on one side, we find
that in modern languages generally an approximately uniform
character is given to the sounds represented by a, e, i, o. These
sounds are single vowel sounds, and we have every reason to
attribute them to Latin a, e, i, o, and to Greek a and i respectively.
Latin u corresponds to Greek ov = French ou (for Greek € and o,
see below). Greek v, Latin y, seems to correspond most closely to
French u : and sounds somewhat resembling this are found in
German and Welsh. Most of these sounds occur in English also,
but the symbols by which they are denoted are not uniformly
employed, and often have a value peculiar to this one language.
Accordingly it is better to start from French and Welsh than from
English in studying the character of the Greek and Latin vowels.
The distinction between short and long vowels was more plainly
marked in the classical languages than in modern
° . Quantity.
English : and this difference must be kept entirely
distinct from that between short and long syllables ; thus in co-Trepos,
Vesper, the first vowel in each case is short, the first syllable
long. In a reformed pronunciation the distinction between short
and long vowels should be carefully observed : and the student
should endeavour to master the quantity of the vowels in new
words in Greek and Latin, as he learns the words themselves. But
where in Latin a vowel is followed by two consonants, its quantity
is only known to us in a certain number of cases ^ : e.g. vowels are
long before nf, ns, as in Injuns : in other positions we consider that
the only practical course is to follow the English method of making
the vowel short.
Further distinctions can be traced with the help of English
illustrations : but to use these it is necessary first to
understand the nature of the sounds represented in ^^j^^^ "^ "
English by the vowel symbols and those used in con-
nexion with them. For shortness' sake we may denote the values
given to a, e, % o, u in Latin, as stated in the table above, as the
1 See Lindsay, Latin Language, p. 133 ff. ; and observe that the difference
of quantity in Latin produced differences of quality in the derived vowels in
Eomance ; thus Lat. sthlla gives Fr. etoile, Ital. stella with close e ; while Lat.
imum 'beautiful' gives Fr. hel, Ital. 6eWo with open e (Meyer-Liibke, Gram.
Lang. Rom. i. pp. 91 and 153).
16 EXPLANATIONS
normal values of these symbols. English ' short a, e, t, o have
then, in the examples given as equivalent to Latin a, e, ^, o,
the normal values.
It is, however, not easy to find clear examples of normal short a
in English : the English short u (as in 6u^, Uncertain), does not
greatly differ from it, but a more exact equivalent is found in the
first element in each of the English diphthongs heard in mine
(main), how (Aau). The English spellings er in better, e in the
man, a in Sigain, alike represent an indistinct vowel sound, which
is chiefly found in unaccented syllables, and is denoted in phonetics
by e reversed (a). It closely resembles French e in me, te, and
Welsh y in yn, yma.
English long a and o in most cases represent a long vowel sound
followed by a slight i and u sound respectively : this sound is
written as a consonant in 5ay, low, and, though unwritten, is none
the less heard in ba.ne (bein), stone (s^oun). Hence English long a
may be represented by ei, long o by ou. Although in each case two
distinct sounds exist, it is not easy without practice for an Englishman
to pronounce the first separately.
English long i in most cases would, on the same principle, be
denoted by the combination ai (a -hi), and long u by yu : from the
latter normal u can easily be deduced, as it is common in English
under the form oo.
English ai, ea, when followed by r are equivalent to normal e
lengthened : e.g. in air and bea.r : and so oa to normal 6 lengthened,
in oar. In these words the final r is but slightly heard, and nearly
equivalent to the indistinct vowel sound, so that air (English) or
(b)ear (English) is little more than ed (normal), and oar (English)
than 09 (normal).
English ee = ea in Zean^ normal i followed by 9.
The short vowels described^ are uniform in quality, and are
known as ' open ' or ' wide ' vowels (see below). But
Open {wide) i\^q lonff vowels are of two kinds. Some differ from
and close (nar-
tow) vowels. the short vowels just mentioned only in quantity or
duration, and these are open long vowels. Such
are e in English air (eo), beSir (ed), French phre, il mhne, Greek ^v
and Welsh hen (in many districts) : o in English oar {od), bore (od),
Greek wkv9, Welsh pob in many districts, Italian popolo.
But more often the long vowels differ also in quality : e being
^ Observe that Greek e and o are close and were therefore omitted above.
EXPLANATIONS 17
somewhat nearer to i than e is, and so o to u. [This may readily
be felt by pronouncing in succession (1) a, e lengthened, e, I ; (2) a, 6
lengthened, o, w.] Thus we obtain long close (or narrow) vowels,
so called because the channel through which the stream of voice
passes is specially narrowed in their formation ; e.g. e in English
6a?/, {hei), ba,ne (bein), German wer : this sound occurs in Greek ets
(at 450 B.C.), Latin sedi. Similarly 5 in English bone (boun), French
chose, Latin nonus, is formed with ' narrowing of the voice.' The
same tendency can be observed (but less clearly) in i in French rive,
and uin English rVide, etc.
So far as e and o are concerned, the distinction is of some
practical importance in Greek and Latin. Greek distinguishes in
writing both the short and long close vowels c and et, o and (in
early Attic ^) ov from the open long vowels {-q and w). Latin e and
o were close; but in the fourth century a.d. ae had come to be
pronounced as the open long vowel corresponding to e, so that equus
and aequus differed only in length of the first vowel. The change
seems from Yarro, Ling. Lat. vii. 26, to have begun even in classical
times : but this passage does not give us enough data to determine
exactly how far it had then gone : and we have therefore recom-
mended in the table that ae should be pronounced as a diphthong,
since it is of great importance that the syllable ae, so common in
inflexional endings, should be at once recognisable in the oral work
of a class.
In vulgar Latin the classical distinctions of quantity were much
obscured by the effect of the stress-accent, with the result that (close) e
and (open) i became identical in pronunciation, and similarly ^ (close) o
and (open) u ran together. This development is of importance in tracing
the connexion between Latin and the Komance languages. Thus the
following examples show the normal representation of the Latin vowels
e e i I, occurring in accented syllables, in modern French.
Latin 6 = French ie : pedem, pied ; hen, hiet:
el . , jtres, trois ; habere, avoir
I) ' [viam, vole ; /idem, foi
i i : filum, fit ; venire, venir.
Similar distinctions are found in the history of Latin o 6 u u, see
Meyer-Liibke, Grammaire des Langues romanes, §§ 118 ff'. and 183 ff.
1 It is probable that even as early as the classical period ov had become still
closer, and = Lat. u.
2 Except in one Eomance language, see Meyer-Liibke II. cc.
X
18 ACCENTUATION
English ee, ea are usually followed by an indistinct vowel sound
before r : the r is also sounded except when final, so
ea {i) before r. ^^^^ peeress, dearest, are pronounced almost as pwres,
didrest. This should be avoided in Latin : e.g. audirem
should be pronounced (save for accent), as audi rem, not as
audiQrem : for the double sound would have been represented in
Latin by ie as le in fterem.
The short i sound is favoured in English at the end of words,
as in lady, cheery : but this sound should not be
V iiy. ** introduced for Latin final e, as in the English pro-
nunciation of triste, posse. Except for the different
position of the break at the end of the word parce tibi and parcel
ibi are pronounced alike.
Accentuation.
There is no doubt that in the Classical period of Greek
the accented syllables were marked by a higher
Greek Accent, pitch or note than the unaccented, and not by
more stress, not, that is, with a stronger current
of breath and more muscular effort. Therefore, unless the
student is capable of giving a musical value to the Greek
signs of accent, it is doubtful whether he should attempt to
represent them in pronunciation ; for in many cases we should
make our pronunciation more, not less remote from that of the
Greeks themselves if we gave to their accented syllables the
same stress as we do to the accented syllables in English;
for example, in paroxytone dactyls (/ce%p7y/^ei^09) when the
penult is stressed, the quantity of the long antepenult is apt
to be shortened and its metrical value destroyed \ But where
there is no conflict between accent and quantity {a^aOo^),
something may be said for stressing moderately the accented
syllable, and so distinguishing e.g. KaXaj<; and koKco^, Al6<;
and Btof;, ravrd and ravra.
1 This had actually happened in spoken Greek at least as early as the
2nd century a.d., as is proved by the frequency of the confusion between w and o
on inscriptions {^AvTiyobvip for older ^Avriyovip, ^Xopov for ^\d}pov, and such
prosody as Ner/co/x^S^s). See, e.g., Meisterhans-Schwyzer, pp. 24 and 68.
ACCENTUATION 19
In Latin the accent had undoubtedly a musical character,
but it also implied stress, though not such forcible
Latin Accent, stress as in English, nor such as involves any slurring
or indistinct articulation of the unaccented syllables.
The student should therefore be careful not to shorten the vowel
of the syllable which precedes the accented syllable in such
words as audiehdmus, amdbdtur. The most important laws are
(i) that words of two syllables are accented on the first, (ii) that
words of three or more syllables are accented (a) on the last
syllable but one if that is long, (6) on the third syllable from
the end, if the last but one is short. These laws are correctly
observed in the ' English ' pronunciation : e.g. dmat, vituperdre,
regerem, compedibus. Welsh-speaking students, accustomed in
almost all words to accent the last syllable but one, need to
be careful in the two instances given last, and to avoid such
mispronunciations as regerem, compedibus.
It is necessary to guard the English student by pointing out
that the Greek and Latin vowels possess the qualities
which have just been described in whatever position Quality in
unaccented
of the word they may occur ; for instance the three syllables.
syllables of e^ere and the three of regere should
be pronounced with exactly the same respective vowel-sounds,
€ and e. But in English almost all vowels in unaccented
syllables are pronounced (except in special cases, where the
nature of the following sound affects the vowel) simply as the
indeterminate, colourless vowel d which was described above ;
as in villa., better, the wind, author : in careless speech even i
in authority, etc. is given the same sound. The student should
distinguish the vowels in the unaccented syllables of tlvu, rive,
mensa,, imber, turtur, as well as those in accented syllables like
vir, ver, fur.
APPENDIX.
NOTE ON THE GREEK ASPIRATES.
What was the pronunciation of 0, <f), and x ^^ Athens in the
fourth century B.C.? It cannot be said that the evidence is full
enough to provide us with a complete and precise answer to this
question. How much is certain and how much we must for the
present be content to regard as matters of probability merely will
best appear from a summary of the chief considerations which bear
upon it. The general limits of our knowledge are stated very clearly
by Brugmann {Grundriss d. Vergleichenden Sprachwiss. ed. 2, Vol. i.,
p. 655) from whom the following sentences may be reproduced :
" The Tenues Aspiratae of pro-ethnic Greek ph, th, kh, no doubt
remained unaltered in most dialects down to a period within the
historical epoch. In course of time they were ultimately converted
into Breathed Spirants (/, ]> (Eng. th in thin), ch (in German or
Welsh), probably through the intermediate stage of Aflfricatae
(pf, t]}, kch). But we have not now the means of tracing precisely
in its various stages at different times and in different localities the
gradual progress of this conversion. The different dialects did not
all advance in this matter at the same rate The genuine
Aspiratae were maintained best and longest in Attic. This is
especially clear from the appearance of such forms as cxw [instead of
€^(0), see below] with the first syllable aspirated through assimilation
to the second ; from the representation of <f>, 6, Xj ^J P) ^> ^ re-
spectively in Latin of the early period [e.g. purpura = -n-opcfivpa,
tus = 6vo^, calx = xaXi^] and by ph^ th, ch in the writing of the
educated class at Rome from about 100 B.C. onwards In Egypt
even in the second century a.d. they were still aspirates, except only
6 before t [as is shown by their transcription into Egyptian
characters], see Hess, Indogerman. Forschungen 6. 124." To this
Brugmann adds a few cases in which the fricative pronunciation is
APPENDIX 21
proved for certain dialects (in the third and second centuries B.C.;
see his Griech. Grammatikj ed. 3 (1900) p. 105 where some further
details are given).
Can we hope to add anything to Brugmann's discreet silence as
to the earliest date at which the Affricate stage was developed in
Attic Greek 1
It is acknowledged by all scholars that the sounds in Attic of <f),
6, X ii^ ^^® sixth century B.C., when these symbols themselves had not
yet been completely established in use in place of the older fashion^
of writing ttA (FlB) etc., and when in metre they never made a
preceding vowel long by position, were pure aspirates. Now^ let vis
ask first :
A. What grounds are there for supposing that these sounds
remained unchanged in Attic till the fourth century B.C. 1
1. The most important evidence is that to which Brugmann
briefly refers in the passage just quoted, namely the very frequent
mis-spelling of words containing aspirates in the fifth and
fourth centuries B.C. in Attic inscriptions, the record of which is
collected in Meisterhans-Schwyzer, Grammatik d. Attischen Inschrr.
ed. 3, 1900, p. 102. But to interpret the evidence correctly it is
necessary to sift it a little more closely than has yet been done.
(a) Such spellings as exoi for €xw show quite clearly that the
Aspirates contained an h sound which careless speakers added to
other syllables in the same word.
(b) Such spellings as ;j(t^ajv for ;)(it(joV and cvopxovvTL for evopKovvri
show that the combination of this h sound with a preceding plosive
was written (by the authors of the particular insc.) by means of the
aspirate symbol, r + h being written in x*-^^^-
(c) Such spellings as kiOwv (and sometimes kitwV) show that when
an h was subtracted from an aspirate the result was written (by the
authors of the particular insc.) as a plosive, k instead of the x which
had lost its h to the following syllable.
Now if we had only such cases as (c) we could maintain, I think, with
absolute confidence, that they established a quite enormous probability in
favour of the view that at this date K + h was the only value of x. and so with
6 and <f>.
1 On this see Kirchhoff's Studien zur Geschichte d. griech. Alphabete (ed. 4,
1887, e.g. p. 172) or Koberts' Greek Epigraphy, i. almost passim, i.e. wherever
the history of <f> and x is discussed in the various localities ; for <p<T, xo" io the
old Attic alphabet see Meisterhans-Schwyzer, p. 3.
22 APPENDIX
But the examples like (a) where the h is added to another syllable, but
leaves the x unaffected in its original place, do not exclude (though of course
they do not directly support) the supposition that in the pronunciation of the x
(or or 6) some slight fricative sound had already crept in after the
plosive and before the h. And examples like (6) do not necessarily exclude it
either, because while it is clear that a fricative pronunciation is not likely (at all
events not nearly so likely as the /i-sound) to be transferred from one syllable to
another, yet the fact that d was used in xt^wj' (being the only available symbol)
to denote merely an h added to r does not amount to an absolute proof that it
did not commonly denote r + a faint th + h.
Now from the fourth century and later Meisterhans-Schwyzer gives 15 ex-
amples of (c) to 11 of (6) : in the sixth and fifth centuries there are 11 of {a), 10
of [h) to only 2 of (c). Altogether the proportion in his examples is
11a : 216 : 17c.
In other words the examples of (a) and (6) together are nearly twice as
numerous as those of (c), in spite of the fact that no examples of (a) can
occur after 403 B.C. since the symbol for the h went out of use with the rest
of the Old Attic alphabet in that year, when the Ionic alphabet was adopted
by law^. These numbers are significant 2.
Subject, however, to these comments it is clear that from these Attic
spellings taken alone we should judge the pure aspirate pronunciation dis-
tinctly more probable for the fourth century in Athens. It is worth noting,
however, under (c), that while there are 7 examples of x losing its aspirate and
appearing as k, and 4 of ^ appearing as r, the only words in which appears as
IT are Uwacpopos and Il€pa-€<p6p7), there being three examples of each.
2. The development of ovOeU (fern. ovSe/Aia) from ov8' ct? and
the occasional spelling ovO* ot for ov8' ot (see Meist.-Schwyzer,
pp. 104, 258). These are roughly parallel to the examples under
(b) just discussed.
3. The writing in early Latin of words derived from Greek
words containing aspirates, like calx 'cup' from x<^^'^- This re-
presentation is not exact, but it clearly suggests that there was a
definite plosive element in the Greek aspirates. Observe that the
examples of this are very numerous and that a large number of
them are of the class that came over uiua uoce, by actual spoken
intercourse, e.g. purpura, apua, tus, calx.
^ It is well to state that I have regarded xf-^^^^ i^oXxVj J^o.Xx'^Sojv and
<^ep<r€^6vT] as the normal forms, and have only counted variants from them.
- For statistics it seemed best to start from Schwyzer's examples, though his
collection is not complete. He omits all examples from Vases, referring merely
to Kretschmer's Gr. Vaseninschriften, pp. 149 ff., 156 ff. Those that Meisterhans
has included from this source (in his second edition, 1888) raise the examples of
(b) to 33 instead of 21 ; for instance, the signature of the vase-painter Xaxpv\lo}v,
which I have only counted as one of the 33 examples, though it occurs on a
number of vases {KaxpvXicav is less frequent).
APPENDIX 23
4. The adoption of ph, th, ch by educated Romans, beginning
about 133 B.C., and regular from 100 B.C. onwards, in transliterating
Greek words, or spelling words derived from Greek in which the
aspirate was customarily pronounced, as in Corinthua = Kopivdos.
Cicero's very interesting remark^ (^Orator § 160) shows that an h
sound was clearly heard in pulcher and triumphus, both words
borrowed from Greek; but it does not necessarily follow that
there was no fricative element as well. He clearly reflects the
instruction of his teacher. Priscian prescribes a pure aspirate
pronunciation {p + h, etc.) six centuries later, when it is absolutely
certain that this represented only grammatical tradition, not the
pronunciation of his day. The statements of Diomedes (fourth
cent. A.D.) show conclusively that by that date (f>, 0, x were mere
fricatives. See Lindsay's Latin Lang. pp. 58 and 100.
5. Finally we have the evidence of the transcription of Greek
aspirates into the alphabets of non-European languages, e.g. on some
Graeco-Indian coins of the second century B.C. (Bendall, Proceedings
of the Gamb. Philol. Soc. Nov. 12, 1903, in the Camb. Univ. Eej)orter
of Nov. 24), and in Egyptian papyri of the second century a.d. (cited
above by Brugmann). Now in both cases the Greek <^, 0, x '^^^
represented by the symbols of the pure aspirate sounds of the
languages into w^hich the words are borrowed.
This gives us reason for thinking at least that the h sound clearly
survived in Greek, and probably also some part at least of the plosive
element. But it cannot be pressed so far as to prove that there was
no other element in the Greek sound ; any more than the fact that
the spirant f of Latin and the other languages of ancient Italy was
always and only represented in the Greek alphabet by ^ (e.g.
^\<xovLo<i = Flauius) proves that ^ had exactly the sound of /;
1 Quin ego ipse, cum scirem ita maiores locutos esse ut nunquam nisi in
uocali aspiratione uterentur, loquebar sic, ut pulcros, Cetegos, triumpos, Carta-
ginem dicerem. Aliquando, idque sero, conuicio aurium cum extorta mihi
ueritas esset [i.e. 'when the pronunciation I heard all round me broke down
my obedience to the grammarians' rules which I had been taught '], usum
loquendi populo concessi, scientiam mihi reseruaui. Orciuios tamen et Matones,
Otones, Caepiones, sepulcra, coronas, lacrimas dicimus quia per aurium iudicium
semper licet [i.e. *in these latter words the addition of h is a mere vulgarism '].
The origin of this vulgarism has recently been shown to be Etruscan, see my
notice of Schulze's Lat. Eigennamen in the Classical Review, Nov. 1906. On
triumphus see Ital. Dial. p. 230; on pulcher (from TroXi/xpoi/s, through the
probably Oscan TroWaxpo-) see Ital. Dial. p. 48. Carthago is of course Semitic,
Cethegus probably Etruscan or Etrusco-Greek.
24 APPENDIX
we know (e.g. from Quintil. 1. 4. 14 and 12. .10. 29) that there was
an audible difference. All that these transliterations prove is that
the degree of resemblance between the transliterated sound and the
transliterating symbol was closer than between the same sound and
any other symbol in use in the given locality.
But why, the reader will naturally ask, should we seem
anxious to reduce this evidence to its narrowest compass 1 Why
not give it the benefit of a liberal instead of a grudging inter-
pretation ? The answer is : in order to reduce to as narrow limits
as possible the apparent contradiction between the conclusions which
would, from it alone, seem reasonable, and the evidence of an
opposite nature, to which we must now briefly turn. Some of
this was put forward by Dr Elizabeth Dawes in her dissertation
on the Greek Aspirates (London, 1895), though her argument is to
some extent weakened by lack of critical method.
B. What grounds are there for attributing a partly fricative
pronunciation to ^, ^, x ^^ Attic in the fourth century B.C. 1
1. The cases, beginning^ with Aristophanes (<f>iX6(T6<f>ov Eccl.
571) and continuing down to the Christian era, in which ^, Xi ^
appear as double consonants, making a preceding vowel long
by position, as in the Latin bracchium from Ppa^iiav, Low Latin
struppus from arTp6<fio<;. For some other examples see Lindsay, Lat.
Lang. p. 58. It is reasonable to assume with Gustav Meyer (Gr.
Gi^amm. Ed. 3, p. 287) that this innovation indicates the beginning
of the affricate stage. It is clear that a single case of such a prosody,
which defies the traditional poetical usage in Attic, is weightier
evidence than a great multitude of cases in which the traditional
usage is obeyed; but there are parallel examples of the metrical
lengthening before (f>, e.g. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus
collecta, 60. 1 ; Notiz. d. Scavi di Antich. 1888, p. 282 {philosopha
in a Latin metrical epitaph of the last century B.C.); and others
given by Schulze, Quaestiones Epicae, pp. 256, 232 footnote. Pro-
bably all of these are later than the fourth century B.C., but in
Attica itself we have the names IltT^evs, HiT^tos^, probably derived
1 Cases from earlier poets must hardly be quoted as evidence of Attic use ;
and even Aeschylus (Ghoeph. 1049) may be copying the Epic or AeoUc examples.
Homeric lines beginning with e.g. Ze<pvp€r], iwiTovos, or ending with e.g. 6<f)iv
probably represent variations of metre, not of pronunciation: see Schulze,
Quaestiones Epicae, p. 430.
■^ This third century example would be very strong evidence but for the fact
that some names, originally pet-names, were formed by an intentional doubling
of the consonant, e.g. Sa7r^c6, '^evvdo.
APPENDIX ' :;. [ : :•*.;';. :*.; :\: l^
from the deme 111^17 (though not used in a geographical sense) at the
end of the third century B.C. (C. I. A. 11. 977 uv. 9, 250—150 B.C.) ;
and in imperial times it is clear that IltT^cvs is used in the geo-
graphical sense (C. I. A. iii. 908 ; iii. 1230 b; iii. 226) ; the regular
spelling in Attic inscriptions being Ilt^evs (Meisterhans-Schwyzer,
p. 80, to which add Gustav Meyer Gr. Gramm. Ed. 3, pp. 288 ff.).
' Such borrowings into Latin as hracchium are no doubt later
in date than those like apua, Corintus etc., and point to a
change in Greek pronunciation. Yet hracchium is older than
Plautas\
2. The evidence that in Aeolic (from an early date, as the forms
BaK;(09, jSpoKxo's, and the later fX€Tr)WaK)(OTa show), Laconian, Cretan
and Boeotian, in or before the fourth century cf>, and ^ had become
affricatae or fricatives. (See Brugraann's Gr. Gram. Ed. 3, p. 105 f.,
and Gustav Meyer Gr. Gram. Ed. 3, p. 287.) Now it seems at
least likely that such a change, once established in Boeotia, would
affect to some extent the speech of the commoner class of their Attic
neighbours. The pronunciation of Laconia, which Aristophanes
ridicules (vat to> o-tw for vat rw ^cw), is hardly likely to have affected
the speech of Attica.
3. The remarkable use of <^ in the Eteocretan fragments
(written in Ionic alphabet and dating from about 400 B.C.) to
denote what can only be some kind of spirant arising from p before
t {ado(i>te probably meaning ' optione,' ' libenter,' like Osc. ufteis =
Latin opt(ati)), as well as before s {-o<j>sano). See the Annual of
the Brit. School at Athens viii. p. 146, with the footnotes.
It is difficult to separate this from the early Greek use of (per for \^ (in an
Attic inscription as late as of 439 b.c, see Meisterhans p. 3), or, more generally,
to believe that f and \f/ had precisely the sound of ko- and ira- ; for if so, why were
these additional symbols needed ? And this brings us very near the unsolved
question of the sound denoted by x, &, <t> in the combinations x^» 0^. which is
however too complex to be discussed here. See Brugmann and Meyer U. cc. and
the authorities they cite.
4. Why did the Romans change their transliteration of the
Greek Aspirates from the simple jO, <, c to pA, th, ch 1 Was not the
additional sound which they heard so clearly in the second and first
centuries B.C. something more than merely an A, though this was
the only means they had of writing it ?
1 Its use in Miles Glor. i. 1. 26 shows that it was a completely naturalised
word. In Cato it is even applied to trees.
^'fjdl :;/: V; V '■<• i^^: /;, APPENDIX
5. Finally, in the first century a.d., while all the Greek school-
masters at Rome were busy (as they were for one or two more
centuries) inculcating the pure Attic pronunciation of the aspirates,
we have on the walls of Pompeii (overwhelmed in 78 a.d.) the indis-
putable evidence of the graffiti of certain persons content to spell as
they spoke that to some people in Italy at any rate <^ sounded like
/ {Dafne 'litteris sat uetustis' C. I. L. iv. 680; Fyllis ibid. 1265 a;
Trofime 2039 ; Filetus 2402).
None of this evidence demonstrates that a fricative pronunciation
had established itself even on the most vulgar lips in Athens in the
fourth century B.C. But it does appear a possibility that under
certain conditions the pronunciation was that of affricates.
My own present interpretation of the data, if it be worth setting
down, might be represented by some such conjectural table as this,
where/ denotes a labiodental spirant,/' a bilabial spirant ("like the
sound made in blowing out a candle ") :
At 450 B.C. at Athens <f>=p + h, and so in educated speech down
to at least 150 B.C., and in the teaching of Atticist grammarians at
Rome for another two or three centuries ;
but at 400 B.C. in colloquial speech medially at least <^=pf' + h
at 150 B.C. in vulgar speech in Italy <f>=/' + h
at 50 A.D. „ „ „ <^=/'
at350A.D. cfi=f.
R. S. C.
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
PRESS NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION.
" The foundation of the University of Wales, which deserves more attention
than it has received outside the Principality, has already led to the first serious
effort to reform the current pronunciation of Greek and Latin. The circum-
stances were exceptionally favourable. Owing to the fact that Welsh sounds
are only represented conventionally in the Koman alphabet, Welsh speaking
students have no prejudice in favour of the English practice ; while the
classical professors happen to belong to the advanced school of modern
philology.... We must congratulate the authors and their colleagues upon the
boldness of their enterprise and express a hope that Wales will show the way
to England in adopting the reformed system thoroughly, not as an alternative,
or in parts." Academy, Nov. 23, 1895.
"Diese kleine Schrift geht eigentlich nur die Englander an, kann aber
diesen allerdings warm empfohlen werden ; und das konnte noch eindringlicher
geschehen, wenn wir nicht selbst in derselben Richtung noch sehr viel vor
unserer eigenen Thiire zu kehren hatten. Unter den vielen grausamen Aus-
sprachen, mit denen die Werke der Griechen und der Rdmer in den Schulen
Europas und Amerikas vorgetragen werden, ist die in England iibliche wohl
der grausamsten eine und der Abanderung am meisten bediirftig. Die beiden
Verfasser der kleinen Schrift, als linguistisch tiichtig gebildete Latinisten
bekannt, haben Vorschlage fiir die Aussprache der beiden klassischen Sprachen
gemacht, die auf den wissenschaftlichen Ermittelungen iiber die zum Teil etwas
verwickelten Fragen hexvihen" —Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift, 1896,
No. 13.
" Die Frage der lateinischen und griechischen Orthoepie steht auch in
England seit langerer Zeit auf der Tagesordnung, ganz besonders brennend
scheint sie in dem zwiespraohigen Wales geworden zu sein. Zwei Professoren
der dort neu gegriindeten Universitat haben mit Unterstiitzung ihrer KoUegeu
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Griechische das 5. Jahrhundert, fiir das Lateinische das 1. Jahrhundert vor
Christ Alles kurz und zuverlassig und durchaus geeignet den Zweck zu
fordern welchem es dienen soil." — Deutsclie Litter aturzeitung, May 23, 189().
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