114 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; 



ginal fignification, however, of y^L<fu was not precifely what 

 we now mean by the exprelhon to write. In the earlieft times 

 of the Greek language, it meant to carve ; and as the moft an- 

 cient method of writing was to carve fome fort of figures upon 

 tables of wood or brafs, which was expreffed by ygkcpn^, (as 

 we learn from Homer *), that verb remained in ufe to exprefs 



the 



Casp. Valckenaer. Aristotle gives llie following account of an element, tmyiic^t 

 uXt B» £fi ^«»ij w^ia/perfls' « :r«(ra 3, aA?i* t^ h', •JTZ^vm a-vnrvi ytno^ ipwv«. kJ ^ rc^i Snottun «VJ» 

 aJiaijsToi (pmyxi Zt sJffi/at Xiyti roixaov. ^n Element is an indivijible Jound ; not every in- 

 divifibU found, but from the compofilion of which an intelligible found [or word] is natu- 

 rally produced. For the cries of wild animals are indiviftble funds, but I call none of theft 

 an Element. De Poetic, cap. xx. See alfo Dionts. Halicarn. de Compof. Verb, 

 cap. XIV. et Plato in Cratylo. Vol.1, p. 426. Edit. Serrani. See tlie Stoic defini- 

 tion of an element, quoted by Mr Harris from Diogenes Laertius : Hermes, Book III. 

 chap. 2. But though y^df/tfi*. and a^i-^Hm are clearly different, the one fignifylng a let- 

 ter and the other an element, they are frequently confounded by the Greek writers ; the 

 Cgn being often taken for the thing fignified. Accordingly, Diontsids the Thracian, in 

 giving the etymology of the words, has confounded their meaning. Zfic^iAtcra. Js /.iytTxi 

 ^li TO ypajJ.fjixi'; xci ^VTy.a'ii TV-rii^. yfi/i^'Xi yJ to ^la-xt Tra^a. ro7; Tra^aiorV, w; xa* ffag' 'O/^iifU. 

 [Iliad, a', 3S8 ] Ti Ji xiri r.ai o-tiji;^h« xaAaTai Six Ts £;,;«» <mii}(,''> ""'x xj Ta'|i». 7Aey are 

 called yp'-yiyix-rx, on account of their being formed by lines and incijions : for yi^oi^ai, among 

 the ancients, fgnified to make an incijion, as wefindfram Homer, [Iliad, a', 388.] The fame 

 are called uroiXHx, becaufe they are arranged according to a certain progrefpon orferies. Ars 

 Gramm. apud Fabricium in Biblioth. Gr. Vol. VII. p. 27. Nor has Theodore Gaza 

 attended to the diftindlion in his definition, though it is, in other refpefls, extremely accu- 

 rate. AptTsov 3' IWs aTTo ra ^gwTtf, cbF Ta/v crmyiitav. txvtu y) i '.t^wtjj text cc/Afpn's i<r7t- T* «y- 

 Bfuva ^avx, a ycco ui^ btv^i^ trvfA.Tr\ix.nxi aA^o^otj «; trva-rxtriv fftAAabif, aAX' ly; v.a\ tavoyM ani- 

 Mt ffrtivH Ti K^ iiiTxy.Tui xiva^uiix Trws awTxtrinrai kxtx Xo'yoi. Perhaps wefhould begin with 

 thefrjl, viz. the Elements. For they are the firfl and indivijible -voice of man ; not be- 

 ing conneSied together at random, to produce the compojition of a fyllable ; but, as the 

 name imports, arranged in a rational manner, advancing in a certain feries and regular 

 order. Grammat. Inft. Lib. IV. Priscian has remarked this confounding of an ele- 

 ment and a letter : " Abufive tamen et clementa pro literis et literae pro elementis vo- 

 " cantur." Lib. I. In moft cafes, however, no great inconvenience arifes from the 

 negleft of this diftindion. 



* n^^TS ?e /*"' Auxijj^^e, iro'psv V oyi <rn}ixr» 7\vy^^, 



TpX-^Xi iV TTtVXXt WTVKru ^VjJLt^^C^X TToXXx, Iliad. Cj , l68. 



which, tranflated literally, runs thus : He fent him into Lycia, and he moreover gave him 

 deJlruB'tve figns , having carved, upon a folding tablet, a variety of them fatal to his life. 

 The poet is (peaking of Proetus, who fent Belleropuon into Lycia with this fatal 



tablet. 



