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of the Greek Language. t5i 



passage m one of Cicero^s letters^ where there arc some remarks 



upon eqi^Avoques ; among which Cicero mentions the word lini^ 



(sounded, as Erasmus takes for granted, beencej which in Latin 



has a different signification from/3ivgf in Greek. Now, says Eras* 



mus, if the Grreek word was pronounced by the ancienfy as it is by 

 the Modern Greeks, veenee^ the Latin word and the Greek one 

 could not have been enough alike in sound, to have given room 

 for a double meaning, any more than the two words bini and 

 could bave done in the Latin language. The same arguraeut was 

 afterwards much relied on by other writers in the contrpversy; 

 the cliief of whom were — James Ceratiniis, a learned Dutchman, 

 who in i5'2Q dedicated to Erasmus a short treatise on the Pro- 



Vint 



nunciation of Greek* — Theodore Beza—anil Henry Stephens ; to 

 which number should be added Adolphiis Mekerchiis fJIet- 



TcerkeJ 



plagiarism fr 



Beza^s, that the editor, Ilamrcamp, feels it to be a staiu upou the 

 Bekiaa character; and he feebly excusek it by remarking, that 



Henry Stephens, no very for 





had pardoned Met 



IcerhCf and (as is the fact) had made use of his strong arguments 

 himself. Let us now see what answer may be given to tbe ar- 



ument from Cicero, 



Of the several writers, whose tracts in this controversy 



before 



been published by Havercamp, in his Sylluge Script 



cited, there are three in defence of the pronunciation of the Mod 



em GreeTcs ; they are— Grartfincr, 



the well know 



B 



of 



Winchester and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, who 



» Ceraiinus> family name, according to the biographers, was Tryng ; he 

 was born at Hoom or Horn in Holland ; whence, according to the fashion of the 

 a-e, he formed l}is name of Ceratinus, through the Greek ../j *?. a horn. 



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