PHILOLOGICAL GENIUS OF THE MODERN GREEK LANGUAGE. aN 
for xdvis, just as in the classical dialect pixpds and opixpds appear in friendly 
company. The letter y, which appears sometimes as a prosthetic letter, seems 
to be a modification of the rough breathing, as in yuids for tuds, yuepdxu for 
tepaxvov, from tepag. But this y has a tendency to show itself, not only in 
the front of words, but specially in the middle between two vowels, by the 
figure known to the old grammarians by the name of epenthesis. Thus we 
have— 
wadevyo, for oadevo. 
yupevyo, # yupevo. 
ayOupos, 33 awpos. 
KaBaldikevyo, ‘ KaBadduKevo. 
avyor, i" @ov. 
Onpyvo, . Onp.d = Onpiov. 
Aédyoura, } Aaovra (lute). 
TEYO, BS TrEW. 
payilo, ‘. pailo. 
OTEPYLOs, 9 OTEpEOS. 
Boyyaa, Bi Bodu. 
ayvavTevo, from e€vavTios. 
That this epenthetic y is a relic of the famous digamma, which plays such a 
redoubtable part in the criticism of the Homeric text, is a favourite notion with 
scholars. That it actually is so in some cases seems probable ; scarcely in all, 
I should think, or in the majority of cases. 
One of the most notable epenthetic lengthenings of classical words occurs 
in the present indicative of certain classes of verbs, by the insertion of v. 
Thus, in all liquid verbs, for o7é\\o, orédva, for dépw, dépvw, kohvdw for Korda, 
a fashion clearly traceable in the New Testament. There we have dépvw for 
deipw, dmTdvouar for dmropow, xvvw for yéw, and others. In fact, this peculiarity 
is as old as Homer, who has @vvw and dvvw for Avo and Sve, and the lengthened 
form of dywéw for ayo. We need not, therefore, be surprised at its great pre- 
valence in modern Greek. From the Alexandrians downwards, the people have 
always been in the habit of inserting a v before the final vowel of the large 
class of verbs in dw; as in the common cxordva, to darken one’s day-lights—to 
kill, pavepovw, kapapove,and many others. But this v is found also in other and 
less marked cases, as in addiva from ddinm, cdéve for cdlw, Bavw for Balw, yapivw 
for yapilo, pew for ew, bdyve for yavo. This is a peculiarity indeed, to which 
every one must tune his ear who wishes to read modern Greek with any comfort.* 
* Mr Gexpart (c. 4) remarks that, “in ancient Greek we may regard aivw as a strengthened form 
of éw, and dvw, as a strengthened form of dw.” This may be quite true; only in such verbs as Acvcaivo, 
the v is retained throughout all the parts of the verb, whereas in the modern oxordvw, and such like, it 
belongs only to the present indicative. 
VOL. XXVII. PART I. F 
