The English Language Part 40

The Greeks had, in all probability, sounds which were wanting in Palestine and Phoenicia. In Palestine and Phoenicia it is certain that there were sounds wanting in Greece.

Of the twenty-two Phoenician letters the Greeks took but twenty-one. The eighteenth letter, _tsadi_, [Hebrew: TS], was never imported into Europe.

-- 258. _Greek Period._--Compared with the Semitic, the _Old_ Greek alphabet ran thus:--

_Hebrew._ _Greek._ | _Hebrew._ _Greek._ | 1. [Alef] [Alpha]. | 13. [Mem] [Mu].

2. [Bet] [Beta]. | 14. [Nun] [Nu].

3. [Gimel] [Gamma]. | 15. [Samekh] [Sigma]?

4. [Dalet] [Delta]. | 16. [Ayin] [Omicron].

5. [He] [Epsilon]. | 17. [Pe] [Pi].

6. [Vav] [Digamma]. | 18. [Tsadi] -- 7. [Zayin] [Zeta]. | A letter called 8. [Khet] [Eta]. | 19. [Kuf] koppa, afterwards 9. [Tet] [Theta]. | ejected.

10. [Yod] [Iota]. | 20. [Resh] [Rho].

11. [Kaf] [Kappa]. | 21. [Shin] [San] afterwards [Sigma]?

12. [Lamed] [Lambda]. | 22. [Tav] [Tau].

Such the order and form of the Greek and Hebrew letters. Here it may be remarked, that, of each alphabet, it is only the modern forms that are compared; the likeness in the _shape_ of the letters may be seen by comparing them in their {202} older stages. Of these the exhibition, in a work like the present, is inconvenient. They may, however, be studied in the work already referred to in the _Phoenicia_ of Gesenius. The _names_ of the letters are as follows:--

_Hebrew._ _Greek._ | _Hebrew._ _Greek._ | 1. Aleph Alpha. | 12. Lamed Lambda.

2. Beth Baeta. | 13. Mem Mu.

3. Gimel Gamma. | 14. Nun Nu.

4. Daleth Delta. | 15. Samech Sigma?

5. He E, _psilon_ | 16. Ayn O.

6. Vaw _Digamma_. | 17. Pi Pi.

7. Zayn Zaeta. | 18. Tsadi ---- 8. Heth Haeta. | 19. Kof Koppa, _Archaic_.

9. Teth Thaeta. | 20. Resh Rho.

10. Yod Iota. | 21. Sin San, _Doric_.

11. Kaph Kappa. | 22. Tau Tau.

-- 259. The Asiatic alphabet of Phoenicia and Palestine is now adapted to the European language of Greece. The first change took place in the manner of writing. The Orientals wrote from right to left; the Greeks from left to right. Besides this, the following principles, applicable whenever the alphabet of one language is transferred to another, were recognised:--

1. Letters for which there was no use were left behind. This was the case, as seen above, with the eighteenth letter, _tsadi_.

2. Letters expressive of sounds for which there was no precise equivalent in Greek, were used with other powers. This was the case with letters 5, 8, 16, and probably with some others.

3. Letters of which the original sound, in the course of time, became changed, were allowed, as it were, to drop out of the alphabet. This was the case with 6 and 19.

4. For such simple single elementary articulate sounds as there was no sign or letter representant, new signs, or letters, were invented. This principle gave to the Greek alphabet the new signs [phi], [chi], [upsilon], [omega].

5. The new signs were not mere modifications of the older {203} ones (as was the case with [Hebrew: P], [Hebrew: P], [Hebrew: B], [Hebrew: B], &c.

in Hebrew), but new, distinct, and independent letters.

In all this there was an improvement. The faults of the newer Greek alphabet consisted in the admission of the compendium [psi]=_ps_, and the retention of the fifteenth letter (_samech_, _xi_), with the power of _ks_, it being also a compendium.

-- 260. _The Italian or old Latin period._--That it was either from the original Phoenician, or from the _old_ Greek, that the Italian alphabets were imported, we learn from the existence in them of the letters _f_ and _q_, corresponding respectively to the sixth and nineteenth letters; these having, in the second stage of the Greek alphabet, been ejected.

-- 261. The first alphabet imported into Italy was the Etruscan. In this the [beta], [delta], and [omicron] were ejected, their sounds (as it is stated) not being found in the Etruscan language. Be it observed, that the sounds both of [beta] and [delta] are _flat_. Just as in the Devonshire dialect the flat sounds (_z_, _v_, &c.) have the preponderance, so, in the Etruscan, does there seem to have been a preponderating quant.i.ty of the sharp sounds. This prepares us for a change, the effects whereof exist in almost all the alphabets of Europe. In Greek and Hebrew the third letter (_gimel_, _gamma_) had the power of the flat mute _g_, as in _gun_. In the Etruscan it had the power of _k_. In this use of the third letter the Romans followed the Etruscans: but, as they had also in their language the sound of _g_ (as in _gun_), they used, up to the Second Punic War, the third letter (_viz._ _c_), to denote both sounds. In the Duillian column we have MACESTRATOS, CARTHACINIENSES.[36] Afterwards, however, the separate sign (or letter) _g_ was invented, being originally a mere modification of c. The _place_ of _g_ in the alphabet is involved in the history of _z_.

-- 262. The Roman alphabet had a double origin. For the first two centuries after the foundation of the city the alphabet used was the Etruscan, derived directly from the Greek, and from the _old_ Greek. This accounts for the presence of _f_ and _q_.

{204}

Afterwards, however, the Romans modified their alphabet by the alphabet of the Italian Greeks; these Italian Greeks using the late Greek alphabet.

This accounts for the presence of _v_, originating in the Greek _ypsilon_.

In accommodating the Greek alphabet to their own language, the Latins recognised the following principles:--

I. The ejection of such letters as were not wanted. Thus it was that the seventh letter (_zayn_, _zaeta_) was thrown out of the alphabet, and the new letter, _g_, put in its place. Subsequently, _z_ was restored for the sake of spelling Greek words, but was placed at the end of the alphabet. Thus also it was, that _thaeta_, _kappa_ (_c_ being equivalent to _k_), and the fifteenth letter, were ejected, while [psi] and [chi] were never admitted.

In after-times the fifteenth letter (now _xi_) was restored, for the same reason that _z_ was restored, and, like _z_, was placed at the end of the alphabet.

II. The use of the imported letters with a new power. Hence the sixth letter took the sound, not of _v_ or _w_, but of _f_; and the eighth of _h_.

Beyond this the Romans made but slight alterations. In ejecting _kappa_, _thaeta_ and _chi_, they did mischief. The same in changing the power of c.

The representation of [phi] by _ph_, and of [theta] by _th_ was highly erroneous. The retention of _x_ and _q_ was unnecessary. _V_ and _j_, two letters whereby the alphabet was really enriched, were mere modifications of _u_ and _i_ respectively. _Y_ also seems a modification of _v_.

Neither the Latin, Greek, nor Hebrew orthographies were much warped to etymological purposes.

It should be observed, that in the Latin the letters have no longer any names (like _beth_, _baeta_), except such as are derived from their powers (_be_, _ce_).

It may now be seen that with a language containing such sounds as the _th_ in _thin_ and _thine_, and the _ch_ in the German _auch_, it is to their advantage to derive their alphabet from the Greek; whilst, with a language containing such sounds as _h_ and _v_, it is to their advantage to derive it from the Latin.

It may also be seen, that, without due alterations and {205} additions, the alphabet of one country will not serve as the alphabet of another.

-- 263. _The Moeso-Gothic alphabet._--In the third century the cla.s.sical alphabets were applied to a Gothic language. I use the word alphabets because the Moeso-Gothic letters borrowed from both the Latin and the Greek. Their form and order may be seen in Hickes' Thesaurus and in Lye's Grammar. With the Greek they agree in the following particulars.

1. In the sound of the third letter being not that of [kappa] (_c_), but of the _g_ in _gun_.

2. In retaining _kappa_ and _chi_.

3. In expressing the simple single sound of _th_ by a simple single sign.

This sign, however, has neither the shape nor alphabetical position of the Greek _thaeta_.

With the Latin they agree, 1. in possessing letters equivalent to _f_, _g_, _h_, _q_, _y_.

2. In placing _z_ at the end of the alphabet.

The Moeso-Gothic alphabet seems to have been formed on eclectic principles, and on principles sufficiently bold. Neither was its application traversed by etymological views. I cannot trace its influence, except, perhaps, in the case of the Anglo-Saxon letters __ and _[wynn]_, upon any other alphabet; nor does it seem to have been acted upon by any earlier Gothic alphabet.

-- 264. _The Anglo-Saxon alphabet._--What sort of an alphabet the Gothic languages possess we know: what sort of alphabet they require, we can determine. For the following sounds (amongst others) current in the Gothic, either one or both of the cla.s.sical languages are deficient in corresponding signs.

1. The _th_ in _thin_.--A sign in Greek ([theta]), but none in Latin.

2. The _th_ in _thine_.--A sign neither in Greek nor Latin.

3. The _ch_ in the German _auch_.--A sign in Greek ([chi]), but none in Latin.

4. The flat sound of the same, or the probable sound of the _h_ in _urh_, _leoht_, _&c_., Anglo-Saxon.--A sign neither in Greek nor Latin. {206}

5. The _sh_ in _shine_.--A sign neither in Greek nor Latin.