32o ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERSj 



Doric name*; and Athen^us further obferves, that Aris- 

 tophanes, in his comedy of The Clouds, has called thofe 

 horfes who had this letter branded upon them, 2a.f/,<poga,i f. It 

 has been by fome thought abfurd, that the letters, which are 

 the figns of elemental founds, fhould be called by any other 

 names than the mere founds which they denote. It may be 

 faid, however, in favour of the Greek names, that they always 

 begin with the letter whofe power they denote ; and it is a 

 good practical rule in grammar, to fay, " That the power of 

 " each letter may be known by catching the initial found of the 

 " name J." In fpeaking particularly of the letters, it is ne- 

 ceffary to have a diftincT: articulate name to give to each of 

 them, becaufe the mere power, efpecially of the mute confo- 

 nants, can fcarcely be uttered without a vowel -, and if the af- 

 fiftance of a vowel be employed in uttering them, then you 

 give them a name fomewhat different from their real power, and 

 more likely to lead into error. 



With refpect to the elemental found of which Tiypcx, is 

 the fign, there is no doubt that the Greeks ufed that letter to 

 exprefs precifely what we denote in Englifh by the letter S in 

 fuch words as the following, fame, defgnation, d'tftrefs. This we 

 learn from a diftindt defcription, which Dionysius of Hali- 

 carnaffus has given of the pofition and effort of the vocal 

 organs in the pronunciation of this letter. " The 27y//,a, fays 

 " he, is pronounced by an appulfe of the tongue to the palate, 



" while 



* He mentions it as (J called by Pindar. Dt cornpojitione Verborum, Seel. 14. of which 

 more afterwards. 



+ Athenjeus, p. 467. Edit. Commelin. See alfo IsAAci Casaub. Animadverjf. in 

 Athen. Lib. X. cap. 21. Xa^opj is evidently compounded of Zav and <pipa' » being 

 always /* before ir, p, <p, which will be remarked more particularly afterwards. Sec 

 Aristopiianis Nubes, 122. 1298. Edit. Brunch. Argentor. 1783. 



X Liters cujufque vis intelligitur ex initiali fono nominis. Moor Element a, L. Gr. 

 p. 2. 



