no ANJLOGT of GREEK LETl'ERS; 



Doric name * ; and Athen^us further obferves, that Aris- 

 tophanes, in his comedy of 'The Clouds, has called thofe 

 horfes who had this letter branded upon them, 1ctf/.<po^ai f . It 

 has been by fome thought abfurd, that the letters, which are 

 the figns of elemental founds, fhould be called by any other 

 names than the mere founds which they denote. It maybe 

 faid, however, in favour of the Greek names, that they always 

 begin with the letter whofe power tiiey denote ; and it is a 

 good pradtical rule in grammar, to fay, " That the power of 

 " each letter may be knowm by catching the initial found of the 

 *' name J." In fpeaking particularly of the letters, it is ne- 

 ceflary to have a diflindl articulate name to give to each of 

 them, becaufe the mere power, efpecially of the mute confo- 

 nants, can fcarcely be uttered without a vowel ; and if the af- 

 fiftance of a vowel be employed in uttering them, then you 

 give them a name fomewhat different from their real power, and 

 more likely to lead into error. 



With refpe£l to the elemental found of which 27yj«.« is 

 the fign, there is no doubt that the Greeks ufed that letter to 

 exprefs precifely what we denote in Englilh by the letter S in 

 fuch words as the following, /arne, c/e/ignalion, d'ljlrefs. This we 

 learn from a diftindl defcription, which Dionysius of Hali- 

 carnaffus has given of the pofition and effort of the vocal 

 organs in the pronunciation of this letter. " The Ttyyi^tt, fays 

 " he, is pronounced by an appulfe of the tongue to the palate, 



" while 



» He mentions it as (B called by Pindar. He campojitione Verborum, SeB. 14. of which 

 more afterwards. 



+ Athen;eus, p. 4*^7. 'Edit. Commelin. See alio IsAAci Casaub. Animadverjf. in 

 Athen. Lib. X. cap. 21. Txii-pipi is evidently compounded of lai and (ptf** ►being 

 always f« before w, /3, <p, which will be remarked more particularly afterwards. See 

 Aristopiianis A'aAcj, 122. 1298. Edit. Brunei. Jrgentar. i-j^^. 



% LiTERiE cujufque vis intelligitur ex initiali fono nominis. Moor Elenienta, L, Gr. 

 p. 2. 



