284 PROFESSOR BLACKIE ON THE 



1. From the natural difficulty of elevating the voice, and not at the same 

 time giving an increased emphasis to the elevated vowel ; or, may I not say, 

 rather the natural impossibility — for, though it is certainly possible to give a 

 great emphasis to a syllable, and keep the voice at a low key, that is to say, 

 though stress does not necessarily imply elevation — it certainly does not seem 

 very natural or very easy to raise the pitch of the voice without accompanying 

 that high pitch with a certain emphasis. I may, for instance, pronounce the 

 Greek word avarokq, with a stress on the last syllable, and yet with the 

 whole pronounced in monotone ; but, if I raise my voice on that syllable, it will 

 be difficult for' me to withhold from the syllable the stress which naturally 

 accompanies the act of elevation. 



2. But that Greek accent implies stress as well as elevation is manifest 

 from the natural and obvious meaning of the terms used by the grammarians 

 in describing the phenomena of accent. For what does racris mean but stretch 

 or tension ? and is it not quite plain that as contrary as light is to darkness, so 

 contrary is eVtracrts to avecris, — i.e., intension to remission, strain to slackness of 

 sound — the constant phraseology of the grammarians with regard to this matter. 

 The word Kpovu^a, also signifying beat or strike, which is sometimes used, of 

 the acute accent,"" sufficiently indicates its analogy to the emphatic note in a 

 musical bar, which certainly does not signify elevation or depression. 



3. The analogy of the ictus metricus in rhythmical composition, suggested by 

 the word Kpovcrfxa, supplies another argument to prove that the Greek and 

 Roman accent meant stress as well as elevation. For there are some places in 

 the poets where we can observe that a word naturally short is made long for no 

 other reason that can be seen than that the spoken accent on the syllable 

 favoured the poetical license, just in the same way that the rhythmical accent 

 sometimes does. Mere elevation has no effect on quantity ; but stress or 

 emphasis can easily be so manipulated by the voice as to pass over into a long 

 syllable, or, to use the language of the grammarians, eViVao-is may become 

 €ktol(ti5, intension may spread itself out into extension. 



4. That the acute accent meant stress is plain from the inherited intonation 

 of the modern Greeks ; for accent is one of the most obstinate affections that 

 belong to spoken speech ; and no man can hear such words as kcl\6 ttcuSC, 2ko7to, 

 and Ylapvacrao in the mouth of the living Greeks without feeling that the dead 

 mark on our books has here received its living interpretation ; and, if any per- 

 son objects that the modern Greek not only acutes the last syllables of these 

 words, but makes their quantity long, this is all in favour of my argument ; 

 for the length arose and could arise naturally only from an exaggeration of 

 that tension of voice which was the necessary accompaniment of the accent. 



* Theodosius, Goettling, p. 61 ; KpovariKorepa ycyvof^evrj rj \e£t? o^vvercu, Scliol. Dionys. 

 Thrax. Bekker, ii. p. 690. 



