'the,' masculine and feminine nominative plural; ei (ee), ‘if;' is (awss), 'as;' où, oùk, and oux (oo, ook, ookh), 'not;' èk and g 'out of '—all words in Greek are accented.

The accents are three in kind :—

(a) The acute, ogeîa (awksee'ah), which indicates that the syllable so marked has the principal stress-a stress which is given much as in English, but usually with a more distinct elevation of tone.

(b) The grave, Bapeîa (vahree'ah), which indicates that the syllable has a more decided stress than any unaccented syllable, yet less than one which has the acute accent.

(c) The circumflex, πeρiστwμén (pehreespawmeh'nee), in practice no longer distinguishable from the acute, though in theory and origin it is compounded of the acute and the grave. It was held by the ancient Greek grammarians that every unaccented syllable had in reality the grave accent; consequently a word like ȧyaжάeɩ (ahghahpah'ee), 'he loves,' might be regarded as if written ayàrácì. When άyarácì was contracted to ἀγαπᾷ, the accents were supposed to coalesce, and form a kind of musical wave or transition from a higher to a lower key. Hence arose the circumflex, first written ^, and afterwards in cursive manuscript rounded into or ̃. It may be assumed that so long as the subscriptum was heard in ȧyarâ, so long would the grave accent be heard; and then, when this was no longer audible, only the acute would be so.

し

"

The acute accent may stand over either of the two last syllables but one in a word, or on the last syllable when it comes at the end of a sentence or clause; or over a monosyllable interrogative, as rís, Tí.

The grave accent can only stand over the last syllable of a word, or over monosyllables, as τὸ μικρὸν πτηνὸν ἄδει, “the little bird sings.' At the end of a clause or sentence the grave becomes acute, as ᾄδει τὸ μικρὸν πτηνόν, or ᾄδει τὸ πτηνὸν τὸ μικρόν. In writing, the acute is frequently used throughout in place of the grave.

The circumflex accent from the nature of the case cannot stand farther back than the last syllable but one; otherwise we should have to assume before contraction the existence of an acute accent on the last syllable but three, which is inadmissible: thus such a form as ήμεθα would presuppose ἔέμεθα, which is impossible. In the case of an accented diphthong, the accent like the breathing goes with the last vowel, and in case of an initial diphthong is written, if a grave or acute, after, if a circumflex, over the breathing; as αὕτη, αἷμα, αἳ, οἶνος, που, παῖ, avraí. The relative position of the accent and breathing is the same in the case of the simple vowel, as av, v, v, s. In the case of initial capital vowels the accent and the breathing are written before the vowel, as 'Avaɩ, "ṣdŋs, 'N; but when a whole word or sentence is printed, both accents and breathings are usually omitted.

STOPS.

§ 8. These are the comma, κóupa (kaw'mah) or vπоσтiуμý (eepawsteeghmee'), as in English.

Full stop, Teλeía (tehlee'ah), as in English.

Semicolon, μíkwλov (eemee'kawlawn), which serves the purposes both of the colon and semicolon in English; it is also called ἄνω στιγμὴ (ahnaw steeghmee) or μέση στιγμὴ (men'ssee steeghmee'), and consists of a dot placed at the top of the line, as ἡ ἐκδίκησις εἶναι γλυκεῖα· ἐν τούτοις ἡ συγχώρησις είναι γλυκυTépa (ee ehkdhee'keesseess ee'neh ghleekee'ah; ehndoo'teess ee seengkhaw'reesseess ee'neh ghleekeeteh'rah), 'Revenge is sweet; notwithstanding, forgiveness is sweeter.'

The sign of interrogation is the English semicolon, e. g. Tís; 'who?'

OTHER SIGNS.

The apostrophe, nåróσтpоpos (ee ahpaw'strawfawss), does not differ in form or use from our own, as v' èμoû (eep' ehmoo') for Vлò éμоû (eeрaw-ehmoo') 'by me.'

§ 9. The coronis, Kopwvís (ee kawrawnee'ss), is really the smooth breathing written over a vowel which is no longer initial, simply because two words have coalesced into one, e. g. τουλά XOTOV (toolah'kheestawn) for rò èλáxiorov (taw-ehlah'kheestawn), ' at least.'

The diæresis, or as it is more usually called, tò diaλvtikòv (taw-dheeahleeteekaw'n), is sometimes used to distinguish two vowels separately pronounced from a diphthong, as kaïμévos (kah-eemeh'nawss), 'poor,' from Kavμévos (kahvmeh'nawss),

'burnt.'

This sign is indispensable where the syllable has neither accent nor breathing, otherwise these are sufficient to prevent confusion, as we have seen above. It is, however, generally written even where superfluous.

The diastole or hypodiastole, Staσroλǹ (dheeahstawlee') or vπodiaστodǹ (eepawdheeahstawlee'), is simply a comma used not to indicate an appreciable pause, but to distinguish the relative pronoun 8,τ (aw ́-tee) from the conjunction or (aw'tee).

N.B. The marking of every accent, and the fact that every syllable of which the sound has once been learnt, is always pronounced with uniform identity and distinctness wherever it may occur, renders the acquirement of a correct pronunciation of the language by the foreigner easier than that of any other European tongue.

We conclude this introductory chapter by a sample of the Greek alphabet as written, with a sentence in cursive characters, which will be found on the following page.

O Vios idelo lovs avvors Ins Zycapias is exarojovonua tns ir In quaplia wapappoovrns. App • ärdewwos colis civar· éjcvdepos vä enjezin uclass tov nazov nai tov varior, quap laver, oinciodezés vão bazzes cavitor lais overais.

Table of the Regular Changes which the Sounds of Words undergo in passing from one Language to another of the Aryan Family of Speech.

1 k' ch in church: ç= 8 palatal sometimes heard in the mouths of
children who cannot pronounce our sh.

2 c (Zend) k' Sanscrit, and & Slavonic, while Slav. c = German z pron. ts.
3 g' = j in English and in Zend. The Albanian k' and g' respectively
are similar.

4 zh, z = sound of s in pleasure; or French j: s in Slav. and Albanian, and sz in Lithuanian = sh in English and Zend.

French u, German ü.

10 l' and n' like Spanish ll and ñ respectively: i. e. liquid. 11 r rough r.

These various transliterations might easily be made more consistent, but only at the expense of disturbing existing usage.