GREEK LANGUAGE. 



cf the fspeJin'on, is reprefented by Homer as properly 

 piiniflicd ; for lie received an igiioiiiiiiioiis death tVoin the 

 hand cf Merioo, The poet adds, 11. v. 65. ss-ii oun 5;iv 

 f>-.5:t7.*xT5t. r,^r., iince he did not at all know the decrees of 

 the ffods. To fay tliat Phereclcus did not pofTefs this know- 

 ledge, appears not only a prolaic, but an nnnecen'ary fay- 

 ing: for who is the man that is acquainted with the divine 

 decrees, v.hile yet unfuliilled? Bnt when it is confidcred 

 that Pherecleus had pi-ii^ndcd to be fo knowing, and pro- 

 L.ibly prcdicled uhini.ite fncccfs, while the event turned out 

 very different from his prediciiona, there is much proprietv 

 and even point in the remark ; fnice it holds fortli the di- 

 fi/ier as a dfc/fver, who by liis inipolhires brought ruin upon 

 liimfelf and liis country. From this we may conclude, that 

 the beauties of Homer, who conlines himfelt beyond any 

 other poet to general nature, yet in many inftances depend 

 upon circumlhmces unknown to, or unoblerved by modern 

 rcadors. 



Tiie prevailing taftc for oriental literature promifes to con- 

 tribute much to tlie improvement ol philology. And when 

 claflic fcholars Shall engage with due attention in this purfuit, 

 the more ancient Greek writings will fliare in the general 

 benefit, by the light reflefted upon them from the Eall. 

 The derivation of the Greek from the oriental tongues, the 

 frequent ufe of terms which Homer, Hi-fiod, Lvcophron, 

 and others have adopted in their primary fignificatioriS, have 

 occafioncd difTiculties which a critic, however able, but 

 verfed only in Greek and Roman authors, is hardly able to 

 folv-e. Thef^ difficulties, inilead of being explained, have 

 been gloffed over by the futile etymologies of the ancient 

 fchohalls and lexicographers: and they can be properly felt 

 and fuccefsfully removed only by thofe who have extended 

 iheir ihidy from the elegant language of the Greeks, to the 

 no lefs polifiied languages of Perfia, Arabia, and Judea. Of 

 tliis pofition tlie examples above cited afford fufficient illuf- 

 t ration : and thev are, it is hoped, too curious, new, and 

 folid, not to be undefcrving of a place in a diftionary of 

 fcience. 



In the lad [ilace, the derivation cf the Greek from the 

 ancient langr.ages of the Eall, will account for the origin of 

 tlie much difputed digamma. In thefe tongues gutturals 

 ;'.bo!inded, which, like other confonants, contained in them- 

 ielvcs the vowel neceffarv to their pronunciation. But it is 

 thf tendency of every guttural, when become habitual, to 

 foften down, in the rapidity of utterance, into a mere afpi- 

 rate, till it at length vanilhes. Thus conui has degenerated 

 into horn ; x-'l^^'t i'''*o hiinn:!, earth, and into hovio, a crea- 

 ture of earth, man. Thus r.lfo tlie Hebrew »p (x'>) which 

 iigaiiies life, foul, f elf , appeared in Greek in the form of .'y, 

 •n, \. Moreover ~I33' I^^^J'^'U '' li'-'i^i') gave birth to i!:r'«7-D;. 

 This word retains an unqucilionahle mark of its derivation , 

 fi>r it has the form l^]^, hnhcd, or, "l^™' '•'"^'7''-" and this 

 variation lias been transfufed into the Greek !•? ^ and i-Trar-'-.. 

 Hence we obtain the origin of the afpirate placed over a 

 vowel. It ViT.s originally a guttural, which lofing its power 

 as a confonant left the included vowel behind, with an in- 

 verted comma above, to perpetuate tliat part of the letter 

 wl'ich fell into difiife. 



The guttur.al, when foftencd into an afpirate, is apt to be 

 dilated into a long vowel. Hence the reafon wliy n, in the 

 ancient Greek, feems to have been accompanied by an 

 afpirate, as in r.:7x». On tlie fame principle that a guttur.il 

 foftens into an afpirate, the afpirate often melts into a gentle 

 breathing, or becomes in pronunciation quite qniefcent, as 

 tlie L.itin l>onor and h:nef!:is become in Enghfli homur and 

 h'.n..J},\.\\e h being mute. On the fame principle too t^i became 

 iilent in our tongue, as in taught, fought. So iu the Greek 



iKP> ihatin, a king, has degenerated into (ziKfftrk, which 

 Homer pron<iunced Jxvzya-i. This IcaJs us to remark, that 

 the afpirate, in'lcad of vanidiiiig, was changed ii;to a labial 

 letter w, :', ^,/, or .•. Thus Lugh, cough, which arc Hill 

 Urong guttur.il founds among onr northern neighbours, are 

 founded l,iff, crff, among us. Thus alfo in Greek, wiiat was 

 at full written ;^=--j;c:r3-i, was pron»)unced Ja.z-rji ; and the 

 words 'A, 'a, ', were founded Tt'c/u, luoy, 'Wi, or fou, foi, fe. 



But the digamma did not always originate in a guttural, 

 but fometimes in confonants allied to our •a' or y. Thus 

 from y"I', I'/V/'j, is derived the Greek si-ji', which in Honi.-r 

 is founded -iv'tdn, becaufe the original is \ido, hence the 

 Latin video. So again fron •?', j'm, is taken civo.-, cfin,-, 

 founded irhws: hence vinum, and tvine. 



AVe have already obferved, that in Hebrew CTerv con- 

 fonant contained in itfelf the vowel necedan- to its pronun- 

 ciation. This vowel tlie Greeks detached and gave it a 

 leparate exillence, by fubjoining it to the concomitant con- 

 fonant. And as the Hebrews ieem at lirfl to have founded 

 every confonant, thus dividing each word into as many f\l- 

 lables as it had of confonants ; and as tliey farther feem to luive 

 ufed vowel-, only in conjunction with confonants, and to have 

 confidered them as unfit to be employed alone and independ- 

 ent, fo the Greeks, in imitation of them, ufed at tiril onlv 

 ihort vowels : they next adopted the long or compound 

 vowels r, and a ; but ilill avoided the diphthongs, and when 

 any two vowels concurred, they converted the lirft of them 

 into a labial confonant. Tlius, ?av.TSTo. v-i, was founded 

 not himpeloouti, but lainpi.towonti, or lampetovonti ; and 

 jj.ova-'j-v:, pronounced moufaivon, or moufi'vi.n ; n-r, -.vilo. 



This letter is called dignmma, becaufe it has the form of 

 two gnmma.', one upon another like our capital F, and alfo 

 called JEol'ic, as fuppofed to belong exclufively to the JF.olk 

 dialect. But this account of it proves, that it did not be- 

 long, as Dr. Bentley and others have fuppofed, to the jEolic 

 dialecil only, but to ail the diulcAs of Greece, in their more 

 ancient mode of pronunciation. It follows alfo that tlie 

 univerfal opinion of the learned, w ho fay that the d':^amma 

 at jiifl prevailed, and was afterwards fucceeded bv the 

 afpirate, is the reverfe of the truth. For the true flate of 

 the cafe is, that gutturals at firil prevailed; thefe foftencd 

 into mere afpirates ; and thefe again were changed for a 

 mori, eafy and agreeable letter, which being Gmply a hbial 

 was diverfiiied by different people into y, iv, -v, ~, i, at f. 

 But the digamma, it will be laid, is to be found ot;ly in 

 Homer, by far the moil ar.c'icfit writer of Greece, while the 

 afpirate is in all the more recent authors. The ai.fwcr is 

 this: the ufe of th: afpir.-.te obtained in the written lan- 

 guage, and was, therefore, lefs fulceptible of corruption. 

 On the otlier hand, that of the digamir.a prevailed in pro- 

 nunciation, which was more liable to change, and to deviate 

 from the original terms. Homer, we may naturally fup- 

 pofe, adopted the firil in compofing and iL-rilirg his poems, 

 and the lail in redliug them to the people. Tlie written 

 form, we n.;.y prcfume, was at firil ufed but little, but pre- 

 vailed by degrees; while the peciiliaiilies of pronunciation 

 in their turn began to decline. The laiigiiage, as written 

 by Homer, at length became fafhionable in the converfation 

 cf polilhed people, and the afpirate, being thus triumphant 

 ia the d;;ily cor.verfe ot learned men, would of courfe, iu their 

 writings, triumph over oral and temporal corruptions. 



The change of a guttiir;J into an afpirate, or into a lc:ig 

 vowel, or into a labial letter called the digtimma, is not pe- 

 culiar to any one language, but is founded on the ftrufture 

 of the organs of fpeech ; and inllanccs of it prevail in all 

 languages, both ancient and modern. 



The preiervati'jn of the afpirate iji the written language cf 



Horner^ 



