140 GREEK LANGUAGE 



in the modern languages has not been carried far with the help of 

 scientific instruments, such as Rousselot's. 



The euphonic quality of language is not to be measured solely by 

 the proportion of vowels and consonants. It is the character of the 

 initial and final sounds, or rather the character and the position of 

 the sounds in all the parts of a word (as studied by Pott), that 

 marks the phonetic differentiation of one language from another. 



In comparison with Latin, Greek is richer, more harmonious, but 

 less majestic. It has v, and , and the aspirates, but is unfriendly to 

 the spirants. 1 It is rich in vocalic color, the wealth of which is due 

 in large measure to the retention of the original sounds and, in the 

 case of the diphthongs, in part to the disappearance of intervocalic 

 spirants. The relative frequency of vowels and consonants in Greek, 

 as contrasted with other tongues, has not been studied with any 

 completeness. An examination of six consecutive hexameters from 

 the Iliad shows 94 vowels, 106 consonants; from the Odyssey, 96 

 vowels and 105 consonants; from Virgil the figures are 99 and 107; 

 from Horace 98 and 114; from Platen 92 and 174. 2 



It will be observed that while Greek has a greater variety of vowel 

 sounds, the absolute number necessary to carry the consonants is 

 not materially different in Greek and in Latin. The dialects differ, 

 and Ionic shows greater variety in vowel sounds than Aeolic or 

 Doric. 



Consonantal alliteration is a mark of strength rather than of beauty, 

 and Latin affects such alliteration much more than does Greek; 

 Greek has, too, few stereotyped alliterative phrases such as paov 



[Ata/j-eia-Qai r) /u/xcurdou, 77x01 Kpivov rj KoXoKvvrrjv, KO.KOV Kopa/fos KCLKOV uJov, 



whereas these are common in Latin (salvus sanus, si sis sanus aut 

 sapias satis, purus putus), though the speech of the Romans is 

 much inferior to that of the moderns in the abundance of alliterative 

 expressions. 



Studious as Greek is of euphony, it is noticeable the language 

 manages with ease such initial sounds as TTV, yv, rp., 8//, (3S, 78, O-T\, CTKV 

 and some others forbidden to Classical Latin. Initial y/t, xfr "X^> ^XP* 

 o-xy, <rp it does not allow. On the other hand the os rotundum of the 

 Greeks is most exclusive as regards final consonants; yet it does not 

 shrink from o-$ty, <aA.ayf, ?vy. (aA? and //.axaps have no parallels.) 



The modern languages, particularly those of Germanic stock, 

 largely through the breakdown of the suffixal elements, are incom- 

 parably richer and incomparably more cacophonous as regards final 

 sounds. One effect of the limited range of Greek in this respect is 



1 The loss of the spirants, says Bergk, gives to Greek an impression of stammer- 

 ing in comparison to other languages. 



2 The consonants normally exceed the vowels in frequency. But in archaic 

 inscriptions (as those of Elis), a single consonant is often written for two con- 

 sonants. 



