LESSONS IN GH 



I 



in t.h world. No modern tongue, except tba Gorman, can 



endure a comparison with the Greek. The Greek language 



owe* itH Hiiperiority to the riohneu of its vocabulary, the 



van iufleotionfl, itH power of forming compounds, 



-sivonoHs, its adaptability, and its harmony. It was 



i <>1 old that if the gods were to descend to earth, they would 



apeak the language of Plato, the famoun Greek philoaopher. 



The Hpirit of the saying is borne out by fact. The Greek ia a 



wonderful and beautiful instrument of human thought. 



lint the study of Greek ia worthy of attention, if only as a 

 men r.-.-ipline. Self-discipline is the true end of edu- 



cation. Nothing better can be given to any mortal than a well- 

 cultivated mind. The man whose faculties are in their highest 

 Btate of development, and their greatest degree of activity and 

 productiveness, stands at the summit of humanity, and now en- 

 joys what he has reached, namely, the perfection of his earthly 

 bohi. 



The study of the Greek is pre-eminently fitted to educate our 

 mental powers. All linguistical studies are useful for that pur- 

 pose. Looking at their effects in their several bearings, I am 

 free to declare that the study of languages is of all studies the 

 most useful. But the Greek lias the special recommendation of 

 being more subject to rule than other languages. The Greek, 

 too, deals with wider reaches of intellect and subtler distinc- 

 tions of thought than most other tongues can comprise or define. 

 But there is a recommendation of the study of Greek which 

 throws all others into the shade, for in Greek are the Scriptures 

 of the New Testament written. Strange is it that, in a Chris- 

 tian country, the records of salvation should be so little read in 

 their originals. What a privilege is the power to do so ! How 

 much better are the teachings of the Apostle to the Gentiles un- 

 derstood, when the student applies his mind to the very words 

 which fell from his lips or flowed from his pen! How much 

 more easily, and how much more thoroughly, do we enter into 

 the spirit, and feel at once the beauty and the power of the 

 lessons of the Divine Master, when we have thrown aside the 

 veil of a translation, and reverently with our own eyes look upon 

 his sacred presence ! 



In connection with the study of theology, we may observe 

 that the word "theology," and almost all our ecclesiastical and 

 theological terms, are derived from the Greek. The English 

 words bishop, baptism, atheist, liturgy, diocese, cathedral, with 

 a host of others, are all drawn from the Greek. 



While, however, the Greek language commends itself very 

 specially to the attention of all who seek an acquaintance with 

 Divine truth, and offers its aid for the general culture and im- 

 provement of human intelligence, it is not without a claim 

 which, though more humble, may with some persons be more 

 valid. That claim it lays before all who study or propose 

 to study the sciences. Though some of the sciences existed 

 not, even in rudiments, during the classical days of Aristotle, 

 and though other sciences have been carried far beyond tho 

 boundaries where they were left by Euclid and by Galen, yet in 

 1 the language of science is Greek ; for such is the readi- 

 ness with which the Greek lends itself to combination, that tho 

 moment a new science is elaborated nay, the moment a new 

 fact is ascertained, or a new elementary substance is discovered 

 that moment some form or forms of words are produced from 

 'Troek elements, which exactly set forth the novelty. Hence 

 these scientific names are so many definitions, and being defini- 

 t ions they describe th objects which they are used to designate ; 

 they, 1 say, describe those objects to such students as arc fami- 

 liar with ( iivrk. Take photography as an instance. This word 

 ia made up of two Greek words, <s (phose), light, and -ypo^rj 

 ( graph'-pbee), a painting, and so means light-painting ; that is, a 

 painting made by the so Jew rays. If the student will take tie 

 trouble of turning to the Greek stems as set forth in the lessons 

 >n the English language published in the POPULAR EDUCATOR, 

 de will find many illustrations of the fact that, in English, Greek 



language of science. 



As the language of science, Greek ia of special service to 

 all men of science ; in particular is it of great aervioe to 

 medical men. A vast number of the words with which they 

 have to do in their studies are of Greek origin. Those words, 

 to persons ignorant of the Greek tongue, are so many unknown 

 terms, the meaning of which has to be learnt as a mere matter 

 of routine ; but to the proficient in Greek they define tiiemselves, 

 and BO describe the objects which they represent. Take, as an 



Sam* m 



GrMfc. 



AAipo. 



BTJTO. 



F.7 ,1 It tl 



f^r^**" 



AcAro. 



example, the word bronchitis. Now I have never studied modi 

 tine, yet, from my knowledge of Greek, I know that Wic/.t/u is 

 a disease whose seat is in the /3poyx, (bron'-ki-a), that 

 cftreiintij ' ute. 



In proceeding to the study of Greek, you are stopped at the 

 very threshold, for tho characters of the letters are not the 

 same as those of your native tongue. The diversity, however, 

 is in appearance more than in reality. In fact, the English 

 alphabet was derived from the Latin, and the Latin alphabet 

 was derived from tho Greek. It may be added, that the 

 Greek letters can be traced back to the Phoenician. Thus we 

 learn from this statement that tho F"gHH and the Phoenician 

 alphabets are related to each other. In tho descent of the 

 letters, however, from age to age, and in their passage from one 

 people to another, they underwent considerable changes; 00 

 that, at least in some instances, it is only a practical eye that, 

 by supplying the intermediate forms, can discover tho iden- 

 tity. Tet scarcely is the difference in any case much greater 

 than exists between wi.at wo call Old English or Jilack Letter, 

 and the letters now employed in ordinary printing ; or those 

 you see when you compare a written with a printed composition. 

 I have made these remarks in order not only to state an 

 important fact, but to induce you to compare the forma of the 

 Greek letters with the corresponding English forms. By sc 

 doing you will be much aided in becoming familiar with th 

 Greek letters. 



THE GREEK ALPHABET. 



Englifh 

 Equivalent* 

 in Sound. 



a 



b 



g (hard) 



d 



e (sliort) 



z 



e (long) 



th 



i 



k 



1 



m 



n 



x 



o (sliort) 



P 



r 



8 

 t 



n 



ph 



ch 



pa 



o (long) 



Of these five columns the first gives the Greek letters in capi 

 tals; the second gives the same letters in small forms; the third 

 gives the corresponding English letters, that is, the forma in 

 English which have sounds similar to the several Greek letters ; 

 the fourth gives the Greek name of tho letters ; and the fifth 

 gives the same name in Greek characters. The names, aa they 

 appear in the hut column, are the designations which yon are 

 to assign to the Greek letters ; that is, yon are to call a not a, 

 but alpha ; j3 not b, but beta, and so on. 



Before you can advance another step, you must make yourseli 

 thoroughly familiar with these characters with their names and 

 their values or sounds. In general, yon may follow your ordi- 

 nary English methods of pronunciation ; one or two exceptions 

 will be pointed out immediately. Tour present business is to 

 acquire a facility of transferring the Greek characters into corre- 

 sponding English characters, and to read the former in tho 

 sounds of tho latter. In the requisite application I advise you 

 to employ a slate and pencil. Write the alphabet several times 

 merely in Greek. Then compare together such Greek characters 

 as resemble each other, and carefully mark wherein they differ. 

 Having become familiar with the mere forms, associate with 

 each its own name. Then study the sounds, that is, pronounce 

 each Greek letter in ** corresponding English sound. These 



Name in 

 English. 



Alpha 



Bete. 



Gamma 



Delta 



Epsilon 



Zeta 



Eta 



Theta 



Iota 



Kappa 



Lambda 



Mu 



Nu 



Xi 



Omicron 



Pi 



Rho 



Sigma 



Tan 



Upsilon 



Phi 



Chi (like A-t) 



Psri 



Zrrro. 

 HTO. 

 Qift a. 

 larra. 

 Kanra, 



Mis. 

 Nu. 



Hi. 



Ofii 



Hi. 



Tav. 



*< 

 Xi. 



