of the Greek Language. B75 



K. 



X 



The pronunciation of the letter » is also admitted to have 

 been that of h in the laaguagas of the present day ; as the Mud- 



Greeks always pronounce 



A. 



The letter X is supposed to have had anciently the common 

 sound of L in the European languages. The Modern Greeks 

 also give it the same sound before the vowels a, e, o, a? ; bu{ 



/ 



before t and v, it seems, they give it the liquid sound of ^/ in 

 Italian ; as I have remarked in the Table of the Alphabet, at p. 

 S37. Whether this distinction was observed anciently does not 



appear 



M. 



The pronunciation of the letter /x is supposed to have remain- 

 ed unchanged to the present day. It has the common sound of M 

 in all the modern languages. 



N. 



The v in Modern Greek, before a, e, 0, »i has the common 



I 



sound of n in the European languages ; but before n* h v, (as I 

 am informed by the Greeks I have mentioned^) it has the sound of 

 gn in the word hagnio ; as I have before observed, in the Table 

 of the Jl^habet, European scholars use only the first of these 



sounds. " 



Another modification of the sound of this letter, among the 



I 



n - ■ 



Modern Greeks, takes place when it is followed by the consonants 

 ^, M,, t; in which case it slides into the sound of m. 



t 



