/ 



S56 Mr. Pickering on the Pronunciation 



a very long period, was not the case. But we can also, on the oth- 



er hand, fiud a great number of Latin words, beginning with V, 



which are derived from Greek ones hegining with fi ; as vado 



from (Ba^oit volo from (BiXo{jt,o(.t, via from /3<a, etc. which (to apply 



this reasoning) would prove that the Greek /S and Koman Fsound- 

 ed alike, 



Equallj inconclusive are several other arguments adduced by 

 the writers in this controversy ; as, 1. That /Bi^Tcc is a middle let. 

 ter between the smooth letter v and the aspfrate (p ; an appella- 

 tion, which might properly be applied to it, whether it is to be 

 sounded like B or like F.* ' S. That the very name, MpJiahetum 

 (which, says Metkerke, nobody pronounces alphavitumj shows 



Beta ought to be sounded like B. But this is plainly as- 



suming the thing in question. 3. That Beta is derived from th 

 Hebrew Beth, by adding a ; and hence the Greeks, when they 

 write Hebrew or Latin words having a B in them, always write 

 them with |S, as may be seen in Plutarch, Dion and others. This 

 argument is liable to the same objections as the others ; and it 

 will, moreover, presently be seen, that the argument from the He- 

 brew is directly against the Erasmic pronunciation. 



But the argument, which is considered as the most decisive in 

 favour of the Erasmic pronunciation of Beta (which was not, how- 

 ever, adduced in Erasmus' Dialogue) is the well known line cited 

 by Eustatkius from Cratinus, to mimic the hleafing of a sheep. 



Now, says Beza, after citing this line, if the, syllables B^, B?f, 

 express the bleating of a sheep, they must have been pronounced 



Beza 



446 



Metkerke, p. 54 



% 



