A Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek and Latin Proper Names; To Which Is Added, a Complete Vocabulary of Scripture Proper Names Concluding with Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1798 Excerpt: ...of Mordecal, from M-ox"'o 12. As we never accent a proper name from the Greek on the last syllable, not because the Greeks did not accent the last syllable; for they had many words accented in that manner, but because this accentuation was contrary to the Latin prosody: so it the Greek word be accented on any other syllable, we seldom pay any regard to it, unless it coincide with the Latin accent. Thus in the word Gederah, I have placed the accent on the penultimate, because it is graecised by Tax, where the accent is on the antepenultimate; and this because the penultimate is long, and this long penultimate has always the accent in Latin. See this farther exemplified, Rule 18, prefixed to the Greek and Latin proper names. It is confessed, indeed, that the Romans sometimes followed the Greeks in accenting words which they derived from them contrary to their own analogy (see Introduction); but this seems to have prevailed only for a time, and not very generally at any time. It was something like our pronouncing Italian and French words in the foreign manner, which justly exposes us to ridicule, and shows we are the same mimics of foreigners we were in Shakespeare's time: "Report of fashions in proud Italy; "Whose manners still onr tardy apish nation "Limps after in base awkward imitation." Richard the Second. Thus though it may seem at first sight absurd, to derive our pronunciation of Hebrew words from the Greek, and then to desert the Greek for the Latin; yet since we must have some rule, and, if possible, a learned one, it is very natural to lay hold of the Latin, because it is nearest at hand. For as language is a mixture of reasoning and convenience, if the true reason lie too remote from common apprehension, another more o...