S80 



Jilr. FicTcerins on the Pronunciation 



a 



T. 



The Modern Greeks pronounce v like their t, or like our ee. 

 Strange as this may at first seem to us, there can be little doubt, 

 as will presently appear, that this is extremely near its original 

 Sound ; and probably, is exactly the sound it had as long ago as 

 tlie Jirst century. Henry Stephens and other French writers (and 

 indeed most writers of other nations) have no doubt, that it was 



originally 



pronounced like the French 

 Dionysius of JIalicarnassus of 

 •esponds in a very strikine: mar 



u; 



d 



descr 



his 



with that 



d 



in 



French language. After observing^ that in pronouncing a>. 



the mouth is rounded and the lips drawn towards each oth 



he 



adds 



I 



f ' 7»e 



TO, ^uXfj G-vs-oXrig 



* "? 



nfei' 



this 





The 



V 



for a remarkable 



lender stifled 



uttered 



X 



the lips is 

 V the n in 



French borders so nearly upon our ee, that in learning the Ian 





students, during their first awkward efforts to attain this 



difficult 



ally pronounce it like 



That the u, how 



ever, shortly after the time of Dionysius of JIalicarnassus, had 

 the simple sound of Iota, is now rendered in the highest degree 

 ■probable, by what we find in the Ilercuhnean Manuscripts : 

 where it is sometimes erroneously used by the copyist for the let- 

 ter /. The learned editor of Philodemus makes the foUowin"- re- 



mark upon 



OW/'XCi 



Sic. V. 17, [col. vii.] 



^I^ 



u 



yu 



a 



bes JT 



/i 



et V. 19, pro 



yo>, 



a 



omnia b 



* 



Dions. Hal. Be Structura Orat. sect. 14. p. 9G. edit. VpUm, 



