?:■ 



-r 



of the Greek Lansua^e. 259 



ucj not cococj or as the innovators (the J^io^vToi) pv 



cbcoc. 



" The sound of a trumpet is expressed by taratantara 

 though we can imagine in it the sound of other vowels more 



F 



ly than that of a only. 



"T-he sound of a lash or thong, is expressed in Plaiiti 

 the word taar. Others express it by kUszsch, klatsch, sch 



soun( 



(1 



schmatZf patzsch, peitzch, &c. H 



■ F f 



tl 



with t%^ or tzcJi P Or are these different vowels e(|uivalent to 

 each other? The same remark may be made of various oilier 

 words of this kind^^ 



^' Schmidt then a,A^Sy with some humour — ^^Nimis ergo in- 

 firraum fundamentum suae pronuiiciationis posuere miseri illi ver* 



qui 



Q 



eos, imo et ovium more, treraulum to jj pronunciare facile patic- 



mur. 



"* 



By this time, perbaps, tbis celebrated argument will appear to 

 be less conclusive in respect to the sound of the Beta, than might 

 at first view be supposed. The truth probably is, that tbe sylla- 

 ble /3i? was used in tbis instance, not because it perfectly repre- 

 sented the s-nnd in question, but because (to Cratinus' ear at least) 

 it only expressed it with more exactness, than any other syllable 

 to be found in the Greek language. And why is it not just as 

 probable, that so long ago as when Cratimis flourished, this writ- 

 er should have contented himself with a word, which was only an 

 approximation to the true sound, as that the grammarians ai 

 lexicographers down to tbe time of Phavorinus (only three bun- 

 dred years ago, when we know that the ^ bad the sound of F) 



d 



^ 



* Havercamp? B^Uoge, torn. ii. p. 6G1 



