• The Greek alphabet is said to have consisted anciently of the following sixteen letters, which alone are sufficient to express all the sounds of the Greek language; A, B, I, A, E, I, K, A, M, N, O, II, P, Σ, T, Y. The other eight, which may be all considered as double letters, are said to have been introduced afterwards; Z, H, O, Z, 4, X, Y, N. In the course of speaking, letters are gradually attenuated by aspirating the consonants, or by changing the hard consonants into corresponding soft ones. Anciently, when consonants were aspirated, the aspiration and the consonant were both pronounced separately; the letter H was then used in Greek as a mark of aspiration, as it still is in Latin, in English, and in many other languages. The Greeks wrote TH, ПIн, KH; but when the sounds expressed by these letters began to coalesce, they adopted the double letters O, P, X. In like manner A became Z; K2, or гZ, or X2, became ; and B2, or II, became Y. The reduplication of and o was also expressed by η and w, as δήλος for δέελος. These changes may have been gradually made, as asserted by some ancient authors, and perhaps as described above; yet the Phoenician alphabet, which was introduced into Greece, consisted of no less than twenty-two letters, even from the days of Moses, who used no other alphabet. The vowel letters, now used, are seven, viz. three doubtful, that is, sometimes short, sometimes long, a, i, v. From these vowels are formed twelve diphthongs. If both vowels perfectly coalesce, and each be equally heard, the diphthong is called proper: if they do not perfectly coalesce, or one of them be sunk in the sound of the other, the diphthong is called improper. There are six proper diphthongs, formed from the two short vowels, or a when short, with or subjoined; thus, ย There are five improper diphthongs, formed from the long vowels, or a when long, with or subjoined. In three of these the sound of is sunk; it is, therefore, written not in the line, but under it, and is called ira subscribed; thus,,, . The other two are nu, wu. To these is commonly added v, though by some it is held to be a proper diphthong. When a diphthong is dissolved, or two concurring vowels are intended to be read separately, the mode of reading is called a diaresis, and is expressed by two dots placed over the latter vowel; thus, düvos, Teíxeï. The consonants, now used, are seventeen. and Double, with solitary diyua. They are distributed into Liquid, Mute, The liquid consonants are four, λ, u, v, g. Though sometimes changed for one another, they are never superseded by any other letters, and are therefore called immutables. The mute consonants are nine, but contain only three primary sounds, each pronounced in three ways, called the smooth, the middle, and the rough. The primary sounds are distributed, according to the organs used in pronouncing them, into labials, π, ß, O, because pronounced with the lips; palatines, x, y, x, because pronounced with the palate; and dentals, 7, d, e, because pronounced with the teeth. The letters contained under each of these denominations are closely related to one another, and frequently substituted for one another: that is, one labial for another labial, as for ß, Aristophanes has handed down to us the pronunciation of the Greek diphthong a, a, by making or; one palatine for another palatine, as x for y, or x; or one dental for another dental, as for ò, or 8. The following arrangement of the mute consonants, will, when read perpendicularly, show the three primary sounds; when read horizontally, the three ways in which they are pronounced : The double consonants are three, formed from the three primary sounds of the mutes, with a subjoined siyμa; thus, In the flections of the language these double consonants are always liable to be resolved into the single ones of which they are composed. Except as a component part of the double consonants, iyμa stands alone in the arrangement of the letters. In the end of a word it is written and never .. S Such are the present letters of the Greek alphabet; but there was another character used in the most ancient times, viz. F, called Digamma, that is, double gamma, to represent a rougher guttural sound than I, and approaching the sound of the modern f. The Digamma gradually disappeared from among the Greek letters; but there still exist old inscriptions and coins on which it appears; as Foxía for oixía, a house; AIFI for A, to Jupiter. In Latin also we find the Digamma represented by v in many words; as alw, originally aiFv, ævum; Boss, BoFis, boves; Earía, Feoría, Vesta; ng, Fig, ver ; ̓Αχαιός, Αχαιός, Achivus ; οἶκος, Foῖκος, vicus ; ὠὸν, ὠFὸν, ovum. The Digamma was often also pronounced like our w. I before another, or any other palatine, or the double consonant formed from the palatines, is sounded like n before g in English; as yños, pronounced angelos, with the g hard; Qayna, pephanca; yxos, enchos; uyğ, lunx. When a word ending with a vowel is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the first vowel, or the short one, whether first or second, is frequently cut off, and its place has an apostrophe put over it; as, παρ' ἐμοῦ for παρὰ ἐμοῦ; ὦ γαθὲ for ὦ ἀγαθέ. When an apostrophe takes place, a smooth mute consonant, followed by a vowel with the rough aspirate, is changed into the rough mute of the same primary sound; thus, for ἀπὸ οὗ, instead of απ' ού, we have with the apostrophe ἀφ ̓ οὔ. The vowels and, when final, instead of being apostrophised, assume, when the nest word begins with a vowel : as ἐδίδαξεν αὐτὸν, for ἐδίδαξε αὐτόν; εἴκοσιν ἄνδρες, for εἴκοσι άνδρες; τίσιν ἡμῶν, for τίσι ἡμῶν. Besides letters, the Greeks use two marks called aspirates, spirits, or breathings: the one like a reversed comma, thus (), called the rough aspirate, and having the sound of the English H (the same character indeed by which it was anciently denoted) placed over a vowel beginning a word, or over g beginning a syllable, as vòwg, čoŘITTOV; the other like our apostrophe, thus (), called the smooth aspirate, and having no sound, as yo. ୧ The Greeks also use three marks called accents: the acute accent (') marks elevation of the voice; the grave (') depression of it; the circumflex (~) first elevation of the voice, then depression of it in the same syllable, (as its original mark (^) more distinctly signified,) and is placed only on long syllables. The Greek punctuation consists of four marks; the full stop and comma as in English; a dot placed towards the upper end of the word, serving both for colon and semicolon, as xóyos; and the mark of interrogation, resembling our semicolon; as, τι πρός σε ; The manner in which most Greek books are printed, makes it necessary to add a Table of some of the most usual Abbreviations and Connections of the Greek letters. WORDS are in Greek usually distinguished into eight kinds, called parts of speech: viz. Noun, Article, Pronoun, Verb, Participle, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition. A word is said to be declined, when it changes its termination. Of the parts of speech the first five are declinable, the three last are indeclinable. The Noun, Article, Pronoun, and Participle, are declined by Number, Case, and Gender. The Numbers are two, the singular which speaks of one, as λόγος, a word ; and the plural which speaks of more than one, as λόγοι, words. To these the Greeks have added another number called the dual, which speaks of two only, as λόγω, two words ; but this number is not much used in the profane writers, and never in the Septuagint, or New Testament. A Case is a termination, denoting certain relations which the word adopting that termination bears to other words, as of, to, &c. The Cases are five in each number, Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, and Vocative. Things are frequently spoken of, literally or figuratively, with relation to the distinction of Sex or Gender, as being Male, or Female, or Neither the one nor the other. Hence, the above mentioned declinable parts of speech are reckoned to be of the SECTION III. OF NOUNS. NOUNS, OF NAMES, are of two kinds, Substantive and Adjective, the first denoting a substance or thing, the second adjectitious or added to the first, denoting the quality of the thing. Thus in the phrase dévogov iya, a great tree, dévògov, tree, is the substantive, and piya, great, is the adjective noun. The variations of which substantive nouns are capable, in case and number, are called their declensions, and these variations are made in three ways. In each of these, the following Rules will be found to hold: 1. A singular Nominative always ends in a long vowel, in a doubtful taken for a long, or in », g, 5 2. The singular Vocative is generally, the plural Vocative always, like the Nomina tive. 3. The Accusative and Vocative of neuter nouns are always like the Nominative; and, in the plural, these cases end always in a. 4. The Dative singular always ends in ; either written in the line, or subscribed. 5. The Genitive plural is always in w: the Accusative plural of masculine and feminine nouns in 5. 6. In the dual number, the Nominative, Accusative, and Vocative are always alike; also the Genitive and Dative. FIRST DECLENSION. Nouns of the first declension have four terminations; two feminine, a, n; two masculine, 25, ns. Example of Nouns ending in ; tiμǹ, honour. Singular. Nouns ending in & are declined like those in, only they have a but a after a vowel, (which is commonly called a pure,) and after and in the genitive and dative; thus, Nom. Dat. Accus. Voc. Likewise a few words ending in da, x, and ã; as, Anda, Ahòas, Leda; and a very few in λa, και με ; 25, Φιλομήλα, Φιλομήλας, Philomela, 6 The termination της has a in the vocative : στης has n or a ; as, *Ανδρέαν, *Ανδρέα. Singular. Dual. Plural. Nom. μαθητής, a disciple. μαθητά, μαθηταί, Gen. μαθητοῦ, μαθηταῖν, μαθητών, Dat. μαθητή, μαθηταῖν, μαθηταῖς, Accus. μαθητήν, μαθητά, μαθητάς, Voc. μαθητά, μαθητά, μαθηταί. Plural. Nom. ληστής, a robber. ληστιά, λησταί, Gen. λῃστοῦ, λῃστ-αῖν, ληστών, Dat. ληστή, ληστ-αῖν, λῃσταῖς, ληστά, ληστάς, Voc. ληστή, οι ληστά, ληστά, λησταί.. * Some nouns in as have the genitive in ev, or a ; as, πατραλοίας, ων, or a, a parricide ; and some have a only ; as, Θωμάς, Θωμά, Thomas. + Also the names of countries and nations, as, Πέρσης, voc. Πέρσα, a Persian ; poetic words ending in πης, as, κυνώτης, impudent, voc. κινώτα; compounds derived from the verbs μετρέω, πωλέω, and τρίβω, 25, γεωμέτρης, a geometrician, βιβλιωτώλης, a bookseller, παιδοτρίβης, a schoolmaster. Examples of various dialects of the First Declension.-Without affirming that each will be actually found in the Greek authors, or that the distinctions are strictly observed in every instance, (the same peculiarities sometimes occurring in two, sometimes in three dialects,) we subjoin the folA. denotes Attic, I. Ionic, D. Doric, Æ. lowing examples, as useful to the advanced Student. Eolic. In like manner, μητιέτης, Ε. μητιέτα, a wise person ; Πηλείδου, 1. Πηλείδεω, of Pelides ; acc. Αἰνεία, 16 |