OF ASIATICK WORDS. 19 



founded in ancient Greece. The Arabs and the Englijh 

 articulate this compohtion exactly alike ; though we 

 are pleafed to exprefs it by a fimple letter, which on the 

 continent of Europe has its genuine found. In the 

 mouth of an Italian, the conftituent vowels in the words 

 mai and miei do not perfectly coalefce, and at the clofe 

 of a verfe, they are feparated; but a Frenchman and a 

 Perjian would pronounce them nearly like the preceding 

 lon£ vowel; as in the word Mai. which at Paris means 

 our month of the fame name, and at Isfahan fignifies 

 wine. The Perjian word, indeed, might with great 

 propriety be written mei. as the diphthong feems rather 

 to be compofed of our Jecond and third fhort vowels; 

 a compofition very common in Italian poetry. 



Though a coalition of acdr and ucdr forms this 

 found in Sanfcrit, as in the myftical word dm, yet it is, 

 in fact, a fimple articulation, and the fourth of our 



long vowels. 



Here, indeed, we meet with a proper diphthong, 

 compounded of our firfl and fifth vowels; and in Perjia 

 the conftituent founds are not perfectly united; as in 

 the word Firdaufi, which an Italian would pronounce 

 exactly like a native of Isfahan. Perhaps, in Arabick 

 words, it may be proper to reprefent by an accent, the 

 letters yd and ivdzv, which, preceded by the open vowel, 

 form the refpective diphthongs in Zohair and Jauheri : 

 but the omiilion of this accent would occafion little 

 inconvenience. 



C 2 This 



