ADVERTISEMENT TO THE PRESENT EDITION. In this Edition of Walker's Supplementary "KEY," which is now published CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION. W. T. The pronunciation of Greek and Latin not so difficult as that of our own page V The ancient pronunciation of Greek and Latin, a subject of great con- The English, however faulty in their pronunciation of the Greek and Sufficient vestiges remain, to prove that the foreign pronunciation of the The English pronunciation of Greek and Latin injurious to quantity vi Probable conjecture why the termination tia and tio in Greek appellatives vii Importance of settling the English quantity with which we pronounce viii MAB own. INTRODUCTION. THE pronunciation of the learned languages is much more easily acquired than that of our Whatever might have been the variety of the different dialects among the Greeks, and the different provinces of the Romans, their languages, now being dead, are generally pronounced according to the respective analogies of the several languages of Europe, where those languages are cultivated, without partaking of those anomalies to which the living languages are liable. Whether one general uniform pronunciation of the ancient languages be an object of sufficient importance to induce the learned to depart from the analogy of their own language, and to study the ancient Latin and Greek pronunciation, as they do the etymology, syntax, and prosody of those languages, is a question not very easy to be decided. The question becomes still more difficult, when we consider the uncertainty we are in respecting the ancient pronunciation of the Greeks and Romans, and how much the learned are divided among themselves about it.' Till these points are settled, the English may well be allowed to follow their own pronunciation of Greek and Latin, as well as other nations, even though it should be confessed that it seems to depart more from what we can gather of the ancient pronunciation, than either the Italian, French, or German. For why the English should pay a compliment to the learned languages, which is not done by any other nation in Europe, it is not easy to conceive; and as the colloquial communication of learned individuals of different nations so seldom happens, and is an object of so small importance when it does happen, it is not much to be regretted that when they meet they are scarcely intelligible to each other.3 1 Middleton contends that the initial c before e and i ought to be pronounced as the Italians now pronounce it; and that Cicero is neither Sisero, as the French and English pronounce it, nor Kikero as Dr. Bentley asserts, but Tchitchero, as the Italians pronounce it at this day. This pronunciation, however, is derided by Lipsius, who affirms that the c among the Romans had always the sound of k. Lipsius says, too, that of all the European nations, the British alone pronounce the i properly: but Middleton asserts, that of all nations they pronounce it the worst. Middleton De Lat. Liter. Pronun. Dissert. Lipsius, speaking of the different pronunciation of the letter G in different countries, says: Nos hodie quàm peccamus? Italorum enim plerique ut Z exprimunt, Galli et Belgiæ ut J consonantem. Itaque illorum est Lezere, Fuzere; nostrum, Leiere, Fuiere Lejere, Fujere.) Omnia imperité, ineptè. Germanos saltem audite, quorum sonus hic germanus, Legere, Tegere; ut in Lego, Tego, nec unquam variant: at nos ante I, E, E. Y, semper dicimusque Jemmam, Jatulos, Jinjivam, Jyrum; pro istis, Gemmam, Gætulos, Gingivam, Gyrum. Mutemus aut vapulemus.-Lipsius: De Rect. Pron. Ling. Lat. page 71.-[That Lipsius is correct, see note on Rule 9, infra,-Edit.] Hinc factum est, ut tanta in pronunciando varietas extiteret, ut pauci inter se in literarum sonis consentiant. Quod quidem mirum non esset, si indocti tantùm à doctis in eo, ac non ipsi etiam alioqui eruditi inter se magna contentione dissiderent.-Adolp. Meker. De Lin. Grac, vet. Pronun, cap. ii. page 15. 2 Monsieur Launcelot, the learned author of the Port Royal Greek Grammar, in order to convey the sound of the long Greek vowel, tells us, it is a sound between the e and the a, and that Eustathius, who lived towards the close of the twelfth century, says, that B, B, is a sound made in imitation of the bleating of sheep: quoting to this purpose this verse of an ancient writer called Cratinus: ̔Ο δ' ἠλίθιος ὥσπερ προβάτον, Β5, Βῦ, λέγων βαδίζει, Is fatuus perinde ac ovis, bê bê, dicens, incedit. Caninius has remarked the same, Hellen. p. 26. E longum, cujus sonus in oviam balatu sentitur, ut Cratinus et Varro tradiderunt. The sound of the e long may be perceived in the bleating of sheep, as Cratinus and Varro have handed down to us. Eustathius likewise remarks upon the 499 v. of Iliad I. that the word Βλάψ ἐτιν ὁ τὴς κλεπψύδρας ἦχος μιμητικῶς κατὰ τούς παλαιούς; βῆ ἔχει μίμησιν προβάτων φωνῆς. Κράτινος. Βλέψ est Clepsydra sonus, ex imitatione secundum veteres ; et Bi imitatur vocem ovium. Blops, according to the ancients, is a sound in imitation of the Clepsydra, as baa is expressive of the voice of sheep. It were to be wished that the sound of every Greek vowel had been conveyed to us by as faithful a testimony as the ra; we should certainly have had a better idea of that harmony for which the Greek language was so famous, and in which respect Quintilian candidly yields it the preference to the Latin. Aristophanes has handed down to us the pronunciation of the Greek diphthong av a by making it expressive of the barking of a dog. This pronunciation is exactly like that preserved by nurses and children among us to this day in bow-wow. This is the sound of the same letters in the Latin tongue; not only in proper names derived from Greek, but in every other word where this diphthong occurs. Most nations in Europe, perhaps all but the English, pronounce audio and laudo, as if written owdio and lowdo; the diphthong sounding like ou in oud. Agreeable to this rule, it is presumed that we formerly pronounced the apostle Paul nearer the original than at present. In Henry the Eighth's time it was written St. Poule's, and sermons were preached at Poule's Cross. The vulgar, generally the last to alter, either for the better or worse, still have a jingling proverb with this pronunciation, when they say, As old as Poules. The sound of the letter u is no less sincerely preserved in Plautus, in Menæch. (page 622, edit. Lambin.) in making use of it to imitate the cry of an owl "MEN, Egon' dedi? PEN. Tu, tu, istic, inquam, vin' afferri noctuam, "It appears here," says Mr. Forster, is his defence of the Greek accents, page 129, "that an owl's cry was tu, tu, to a Roman ear, as it is too, too, to an English." Lambin, who was a Frenchman, observes on the passage," Alludit ad noctuæ vocem seu cantum, tu, tu, seu tou, tou." He here alludes to the voice or noise of an owl. It may be farther observed, that the English have totally departed from this sound of the u in their own language, as well as in their pronunciation of Latin. 3 Erasmus se adfuisse olim commemorat, cum die quodam solenni complures principum legati ad Maximilianum Imperatorem salutandi causâ advenissent; singulosque, Gallum, Germanum, Danum, Scotum, &c. orationem Latinam ita barbarè ac vasté pronunciàsse, ut Italis quibusdam nihil nisi risum moverint, qui eos non Latinè, sed suâ quemque linguâ. locutos jurâssent.-Middleton, De Lit. Lat. Pronun. The love of the marvellous prevails over truth and I question if the greatest diversity in the pronunciation of Latin exceeds that of English at the capital, and in some of the counties of Scotland, and yet the inhabitants of both have no great difficulty in understanding each other. But the English are accused not only of departing from the genuine sound of the Greek and Latin vowels, but of violating the quantity of these languages more than the people of any other nation in Europe, The author of the Essay upon the Harmony of Language, gives us a detail of the particulars by which this accusation is proved; and this is so true a picture of the English pronunciation of Latin, that I shall quote it at length, as it may be of use to those who are obliged to learn this language without the aid of a teacher. 66 The falsification of the harmony by English scholars in their pronunciation of Latin, with regard to essential points, arises from two causes only: first, from a total inattention to the length of vowel sounds, making them long or short merely as chance directs; and secondly, from sounding double consonants as only one letter. The remedy of this last fault is obvious. With regard to the first, we have already observed, that each of our vowels hath its general long sound, and its general short sound, totally different. Thus the short sound of e lengthened is expressed by the letter a, and the short sound of i lengthened is expressed by the letter e: and with all these anomalies usual in the application of vowel characters to the vowel sounds of our own language, we proceed to the application of vowel sounds to the vowel characters of the Latin. Thus in the first syllable of sidus and nomen, which ought to be long; and of miser and onus, which ought to be short; we equally use the common long sound of the vowels; but in the oblique cases, sideris, nominis, miseri, oneris, &c., we use quite another sound, and that a short one. These strange anomalies are not common to us with our southern neighbours the French, Spaniards, and Italians. They pronounce sidus, according to our orthography, seedus, and in the oblique cases preserve the same long sound of the i: nomen they pronounce as we do, and preserve in the oblique cases the same long sound of the o. The Italians also, in their own language, pronounce doubled consonants as distinctly as the two most discordant mutes of their alphabet. Whatever, therefore, they may want of expressing the true harmony of the Latin language, they certainly avoid the most glaring and absurd faults in our manner of pronouncing it. “It is a matter of curiosity to observe with what regularity we use these solocisms in the pronunciation of Latin. When the penultimate is accented, its vowel, if followed but by a single consonant, is always long, as in Dr. Forster's examples. When the antepenultimate is accented, its vowel is, without any regard to the requisite quantity, pronounced short, as in mirabile, frigidus; except the vowel of the penultimate be followed by a vowel, and then the vowel of the antepenultimate is, with as little regard to true quantity, pronounced long, as in maneo, redeat, odium, imperium. Quantity is however vitiated to make i short, even in this case, as in oblivio, vinea, virium. The only difference we make in pronunciation between vinea and venia is, that to the vowel of the first syllable of the former, which ought to be long, we give a short sound; to that of the latter, which ought to be short, we give the same sound, but lengthened. U accented is always before a single consonant pronounced long, as in humerus, fugiens. Before two consonants no vowel sound is ever made long, except that of the diphthong au; so that whenever a doubled consonant occurs, the preceding syllable is short.1 Unaccented vowels we treat with no more ceremony in Latin than in our own language." Essay upon the Harmony of Language, page 224. Printed for Robson, 1774. 66 This, it must be owned, is a very just state of the case; but though the Latin quantity is thus violated, it is not, as this writer observes in the first part of the quotation, merely as chance directs, but, as he afterward observes, regularly, and he might have added, according to the analogy of English pronunciation, which, it may be observed, has a genius of its own; and which, if not so well adapted to the pronunciation of Greek and Latin as some other modern languages, has as fixed and settled rules for pronouncing them as any other. The learned and ingenious author next proceeds to shew the advantages of pronouncing our vowels so as to express the Latin quantity. We have reason to suppose," says he, "that our usual accentuation of Latin, however it may want of many elegances in the pronunciation of the Augustan age, is yet sufficiently just to give with tolerable accuracy that part of the general harmony of the language, of which accent is the efficient. We have also pretty full information from the poets what syllables ought to have a long, and what a short quantity. To preserve, then, in our pronunciation, the true harmony of the language, we have only to take care to give the vowels a long sound, or a short sound, as the quantity may require; and, when doubled consonants occur, to pronounce each distinctly." Ib. page 228.2 1 This corruption of the true quantity is not, however, peculiar to the English: for Beza complains in his Country: "Hinc enim fit ut in Græca oratione vel nullum, vel prorsus corruptum numerum intelligas, dum multæ breves producuntur, et contrâ plurimæ longæ corripiuntur." Beza de Germ. Pron. Græcæ Linguæ, p. 50, 2 By what this learned author has observed of our vicious pronunciation of the vowels, by the long and short sound of them, and from the instances he has given, he must mean that length and shortness which arises from extending and contracting them, independently of the obstruction which two consonants are supposed to occasion in In auswer to this plea for alteration, it may be observed, that if this mode of pronouncing Latin be that of foreign nations, and were really so superior to our own, we certainly must perceive it in the pronunciation of foreigners, when we visit them, or they us: but I think I may appeal to the experience of every one who has had an opportunity of making the experiment, that so far from a superiority on the side of the foreign pronunciation, it seems much inferior to our own. I am aware of the power of habit, and of its being able, on many occasions, to make the worse appear the better reason: but if the harmony of the Latin language depended so much on a preservation of the quantity as many pretend, this harmony would surely overcome the bias we have to our own pronunciation; especially if our own were really so destructive of harmony as it is said to be. Till, therefore, we have a more accurate idea of the nature of quantity, and of that beauty and harmony of which it is said to be the efficient in the pronunciation of Latin, we ought to preserve a pronunciation which has naturally sprung up in our own soil, and is congenial to our native language. Besides, an alteration of this kind would be attended with so much dispute and uncertainty, as must make it highly impolitic to attempt it. The analogy, then, of our own language being the rule for pronouncing the learned languages, we shall have little occasion for any other directions for the pronunciation of the Greek and Latin proper names, than such as are given for the pronunciation of English words. The general rules are followed almost without exception. The first and most obvious powers of the letters are adopted, and there is scarcely any difficulty but in the position of the accent; and this depends so much on the quantity of the vowels, that we need only inspect a dictionary to find the quantity of the penultimate vowel, and this determines the accent of all the Latin words; and it may be added, of almost all Greek words likewise.1 Now, in our pronunciation of Latin words, whatever be the quantity of the first syllable in a word of two syllables, we always place the accent on it: but in words of more syllables, if the penultimate be long, we place the accent on that; and if short, we accent the antepenultimate. The Rules of the Latin Accentuation are comprised in a clear and concise manner by Sanctius within four hexameters : Accentum in se ipsa monosyllaba dictio ponit. These Rules I have endeavoured to express in English verse: Each monosyllable has stress of course : Must on the last but two its force express. The only difference that seems to obtain between the pronunciation of the Greek and Latin languages is, that in the Latin ti and si, preceded by an accent, and followed by another vowel forming an improper diphthong, are pronounced as in English, like sh or zh, as natio, nation; persuasio, persuasion, &c.; and that in the Greek, the same letters retain their pure sound, as φιλαυτία, ἀγνωσία, προβάτιον, κ. τ. λ. This difference, however, with forming the long quantity. Thus we are to pronounce Manus as if written and divided into Man-nus; and Pannus as if written Paynus, or as we always hear the word Punis (bread); for in this sound of Pannus there seems to be no necessity for pronouncing the two consonants distinctly, or separately, which he seems to mean by distinctly, because the quantity is shewn by the long sound of the vowel: but if by distinctly he means separately, that is, as if what is called in French the sheva or mute e were to follow the first consonant, this could not be done without adding a syllable to the word: and the word Pannus would in that case certainly have three syllables, as if written Pan-eh-nus. See Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity, sect. 24. 1 That is, in the general pronunciation of Greek: for. let the written accent be placed where it will, the quantitative accent, as it may be called, follows the analogy of the Latin. 2 "The Greek language," says the learned critic Ainsworth, on the letter T, "was happy in not being understood by the Goths, who would as certainly have corrupted the in airía, riov, &c. into aloia, wolor, &c. as they did the Latin motio and doceo into moshio and dosheo." This, however, may be questioned: for if in Latin words this impure sound of t takes place only in those words where the accent is on the preceding vowel, as in natio, facio, &c.; but not when the accent follows the t, and is on the following vowel, as in sotietas, societas, &c. why should we suppose any other mode of pronunciation would have been adopted by the Goths in their pronouncing the Greek? Now, no rule of pronunciation is more uniform in the Greek language than that which places an acute on the iota at the end of words, when this letter is succeeded by a long vowel: and consequently if the accent be preserved upon the proper Petter, it is impossible the preceding t and s should go into the sound of sh: why, therefore, may we not suppose that the very frequent accentuation of a penultimate í before a final vowel preserved the preceding from going into the sound of sh, as it was a difference of accentuation that occasioned this impure sound of t in the Latin language? for though i at the end of words, when followed by a long vowel, or a vowel once long and afterward contracted, had always the accent on it in Greek; in Latin the accent was always on the preceding syllable in words of this termination: and hence seems to have arisen_ the corruption oft in the Gothic pronunciation of the Latin language. It is highly probable, that in Lucian's time the Greek, when followed by í and another vowel, had not assumed the sound of : for the Sigma would not have failed to accuse him of a usurpation of her powers, as he had done of her character: and if we have preserved the pure in this situation when we pronounce Greek, it is, perhaps, rather to be placed to the preserving power of the accented í in so great a number of words, than any adherence to the ancient rules of pronunciation: which invariably affirm, that the consonants had but one sound; unless we except the y before v, x, x, É; as ayyeλos, äуkupa, äуxíσтa, «. . . where they is sounded like; but this, says Henry Stephens, is an error of the copyists, who have a little extended the bottom of the , and made a y of it: for, says he, it is ridiculous to suppose that was changed into y, and at the same time that should be pronounced like On the contrary, Scaliger says, that where we find a before these letters, as avxup, it is an error of the very few exceptions, does not extend to proper names; which, coming to us through, and being mingled with, the Latin, fall into the general rule. In the same manner, though in Greek it was an established maxim, that if the last syllable was long, the accent could scarcely be higher than the penultimate; yet in our pronunciation of Greek, and particularly of proper names, the Latin analogy of the accent is adopted: and though the last syllable is long in Demosthenes, Aristophanes, Theramenes, and Deiphobe, yet as the penultimate is short, the accent is placed on the antepenultimate, exactly as if they were Latin.' As these languages have been long dead, they admit of no new varieties of accent like the living languages. The common accentuation of Greek and Latin may be seen in Lexicons and Graduses; and where the ancients indulged a variety, and the moderns are divided in their opinions about the most classical accentuation of words, it would be highly improper, in a work intended for general use, to enter into the thorny disputes of the learned; and it may be truly said, in the rhyming adage, When Doctors disagree, This, however, has not been entirely neglected. Where there has been any considerable diversity of accentuation among our prosodists, I have consulted the best authorities, and have sometimes ventured to decide: though, as Labbe says, Sed his de rebus, ut aliis multis, malo doctiorum judicium expectare, quam meam in medium proferre sententiam." But the most important object of the present work is settling the English quantity, (see Rules 20, 21, 22,) with which we pronounce Greek and Latin proper names, and the sounds of some of the consonants. These are points in a state of great uncertainty; and are to be settled, not so much by a deep knowledge of the dead languages, as by a thorough acquaintance with the analogies and general usage of our own tongue. These must, in the nature of things, enter largely into the pronunciation of a dead language; and it is from an attention to these that the Author hopes he has given to the Public a work not entirely unworthy of their acceptance. There is unquestionably much sound sense and solid argument in the remarks contained in our Author's Introduction, and the affectation, with which the Greek and Latin languages are sometimes pronounced, is, to say the least, extremely ridiculous. At the same time, it would not be amiss to adopt some uniform mode of pronunciation, by which the true quantity of the words, and some portion at least of their ancient character, might be retained. The chief defect in the English pronunciation consists in the false analogy of the vowel sounds, and the corrupt inflection of the consonants C, G, S, T, before some of the vowels. This cannot, of course, be remedied, without departing, in some slight degree, from the general rules of our own language; but if no sounds are introduced but those which are familiar to an English ear, though not perfectly in accordance with the usage of the English tongue, the trifling appearance of harshness or formality, which a closer approximation to the correct pronunciation might possess, would gradually wear away, and be amply compensated by its greater accuracy. Now, in order to attain this end, it will only be necessary to affix to each vowel its distinctive long and short quantity, and to confine the above-named consonants invariably to the same sound. The precise rules for the pronouncing these letters will be given in their proper places; without interfering, however, with those of Mr. Walker, which, with the exception alluded to, are clear, correct, and explicit; and, for those who prefer to adhere to the English pronunciation, the best, without any exception, that can be adopted.-Edit.] copyists, who imagined they better expressed the pronunciation by this letter, which, as Vossius observes, should seem to demand something particular and uncommon. It is reported of Scaliger, that when he was accosted by a Scotchman in Latin, he begged his pardon for not understanding him, as he had never learned the Scotch language. If this was the case with the pronunciation of a Scotchman, which is so near that of the Continent, what would he have said to the Latin pronunciatiou of an Englishman? I take it, however, that this diversity is greatly exaggerated. 1 This, however, was contrary to the general practice of the Romans: for Victorinus in his Grammar_says, Greca nomina, si iisdem literis proferuntur (Latine versa), Græcos accentus habebunt: nam cum dicimus Thyas, Nais, acutum habebit posterior accentum; et cum Themistio, Calypso, Theano, ultimam circumflecti videbimus, quod utrumque Latinus sermo non patitur, nisi admodum raro. "If Greek nouns turned into Latin are pronounced with the same letters, they have the Greek accent; for when we say Thyas, Nais, the latter syllable has the acute accent; and when we pronounce Themistio, Calypso, Theano, we see the last syllable is circumflexed; neither of which is ever seen in Latin words, or very rarely.' "-Servius. Forster's Reply, page 31. Notes 382, bott. |