THE ELEMENTS OF GREEK GRAMMAR. OF THE GREEK LETTERS, THEIR PRONUNCIATION AND NAMES. § 1. THE Greek Alphabet consists of twenty-four letters, of which seventeen are consonants, and seven are vowels. These letters must be learnt in the following order: § 2. Of the Consonants, (i) Three are double, , §, : & is equivalent to Ko; is equivalent to πσ. (ii) Three are aspirated, o, x, 0: is equivalent to ph; x equivalent to kh; e equivalent to th. (iii) The letters λ, μ, v, p, are called liquids. (iv) The letter y when before y, K, X, and §, is sounded like ng in angle, nk in ink, nch in Anchises; as ayyeλos, a messenger; eyxos, a spear. § 3. Of the seven Vowels, two are long vowels, and w, η two are short vowels, e and 0, three are common, a, i, v. § 4. When the vowels or v are added to any of the others the two vowels so united are pronounced in one breath, and are then called Diphthongs, as at pronounced like ai in aisle, αυ ευ ει οι ου au in cause, eu in eulogy, ei in eider down, These six are the proper diphthongs. There are also two other improper diphthongs, nu the pronunciation of which is identical with that of ev, v which is pronounced like whi in white, or like ui in languish. § 5. Every word beginning with a vowel has over that vowel a breathing' either rough or smooth. (i) The smooth breathing or 'lenis' is represented by a comma, as ȧvýp, a man; oμμa, an eye. (ii) The rough breathing or aspirate' is denoted by a reverted comma (), as nuépa, a day; iππоs, a horse. (iii) All words beginning with v and p take the P rough breathing, as vdwp, water; vμeîs, you; vπó, under; piyéw, I am cold; péw, I flow. § 6. The Greek stops are (i) the comma (,), (ii) the colon (•), (iii) the full stop (.), (iv) the mark of interrogation (;). § 7. There are three 'Numbers' in Greek; (i) The Singular which speaks of one, as кpiτýs, a judge; Kpiтoû, of a judge. (ii) The Dual which speaks of two, as λóyw, two words; Xóyou, of or for two words. (iii) The Plural which speaks of more than one or two, as espai, seats; ¿dpŵv, of seats. § 8. There are five 'Cases' in Greek; The Nominative, which is sometimes termed § 9. THE DECLENSION OF THE ARTICLE. The Distinctive Pronoun or Definite Article is thus declined: ὁ, ἡ, τό the [person or thing.] Masc. Fem. Neut. § 10. It is to be observed in the above, (i) That the accusative and vocative cases of the neuter gender are the same as the nominative (sing. τό, plur. τά, dual τώ). (ii) That these cases in the plural end in -a. (iii) That in the dative case, of all genders and numbers, an is found, tậ, tŷn, tậ1, toîv, taîv, τοῖν, τοῖς, ταῖς, τοῖς. (iv) The genitive plural of all genders ends in -ων. The above four rules hold good for all declensions of Greek substantives, adjectives, pronouns and participles. The apparent exception which occurs in the case of some neuter plurals will be noticed presently. 1 In the dative singular of the first two declensions the is written under the last vowel, and is thus called subscript. § 11. THE DECLENSION OF SUBSTANTIVES. There are three declensions of Substantives; (i) The first or -a declension. (ii) The second or -o declension. (iii) The third or consonant declension. (i) The nominative case of nouns of the first de- (iii) The third declension has various endings and genders. § 12. The declensions in Latin are usually distinguished by the endings of the genitive case. No such distinction holds good for the Greek declensions. They are distinguished according to the different terminations of the crude or uninflected form. (1) Thus the crude form of κριτής is κριτέα; of ταμίας, ταμία; and so both κριτής and ταμίας are referred to the 1st or -a declension. (2) The crude form of λόγος is λογο, of νόσος is νοσο, of λέως is λão, and so these are referred to the 2nd or -o declension. (3) The crude form of σῶμα is σωματ-, of μέλι ig μέλιτο, of γόνυ is γοῦνατ-, and these are therefore referred to the 3rd or consonant declension. This is a subject into which it is not intended to enter in the present Grammar. |