148 GREEK LANGUAGE 



meaning), and finally that of "act," "do" without regard to the 

 attainment of the goal (first in Xenophanes). o-u/n/SoXXetv in Homer 

 still means " to bring together," in Heraclitus it means " to compare," 

 in Pindar "to recognize." rep-reiv shows a tendency to differentiate 

 the forms with a (rapTrrjvaC) with the meaning "satisfy," "satiate " 

 (a meaning which disappears with the a-forms) from the forms with 

 e, which have the force of "rejoice." 



The range of a many-sided language like Greek is enlarged by 

 those ideas that appeal to the wider commonalty of the conscious- 

 ness of the entire race. So it is with the sense of sight and the 

 appearance of light which awakens a train of associative images. 

 Image reacts upon image. o//,/xa is not only the eye but that which 

 is seen by the eye, the capacity of insight, the effluence of the thing 

 seen (cf. Plato, Meno, 76 D). Various aspects of thought are pre- 

 sented by many words of like character, such as avyrj, auya^eiv, Xa/xTmv, 



Xa/wrpos, <ais, <eyyos, and their opposites. So with SeSop/ceVai = T}V. In 



the language of Greek poetry concrete sensuous images, as <oiras 

 I'o'o-os, "intermittent pain," may be subtilized by the reflective 

 process. 



An inviting field of investigation is a study of certain forms of 

 comparison as the expression of the mental habits of the Greeks. 

 How far does Greek apply a quantitative standard where the modern 

 languages employ other expressions of degree? TroXvs and /Aeyas have 

 a wide range, like multus and magnus. The Greek used TroXv? of 



yeXtos, VTTVOS, atSws, avdyKr), vv ; //.eyas, of <i'Xos, <u>VT7, Xoyos, Kaipoi. The 



animal world offers the standard of comparison in ITTTTOO-^LVOV, ITTTTO- 

 KPTJ/AVOS, /JovyXoxro-os. Diminutives are common where emotion is read- 

 ily or strongly expressed. Italian has many, English few, diminu- 

 tives; South German has more than North German. Very common 

 in Latin, they evince the tendency of the Romans to express their 

 feelings strongly when they express them at all. In Greek they play 

 an important r61e in popular speech and in those forms of literary 

 art which are nearest akin to the language of the people. Thus 



Aristophanes has /JaXXavriov, yao-rpi'Siov, i/zartSiov, fjicXiTTiov, 6</>$aX/Ai8ioj'. 



Epic poetry, choral lyric, and tragedy avoid the diminutive, though 

 in some words occurring in these classes of literature the diminu- 

 tive force has been lost, as in wpLov, TIXV; whereas yvia. seems to 1 

 be a primitive. The elective affinities of literature show that there 

 was a difference between the speech of the cultivated classes and 

 that of the common people, though that difference was probably less 

 than that which distinguishes German and French dialects from the 

 coyer literature. 



But the investigation we desiderate has much more to do than to 

 open up the polarities of comparison. Above all is needed a study of 

 expressions for love, admiration, tenderness, hate, anger, sternness. 



