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The Pronunciation of Greek in Christian Egypt

Author(s): S. GaseleeSource: The Classical Review, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1916), pp. 6-7Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/699200

Accessed: 24/01/2010 15:08

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r

THE CLASSICAL REVIEWHE CLASSICAL REVIEW

the meaning s ' he gave them one and

all a shake-up.' If anyone wishes to

knowmoreprecise ywhat happened o

the venturesomeallorswho approached

the dolphin, let him read what befel

Bill, the lizardyn A

ice ift Woxderlazd.

The voyage hey madethroughthe air

to rejoin their comradeswas probably

shorter than Bill's, who says very

movingly, ' I'm better now . . . all I

know s, something omes at me like a

Jack-in-thebox, and up I goes like a

sky-rocket.' The consternation aused

by their landingwas even greater han

that createdby Bill's. In the srordsof

the poet (404-7):

the meaning s ' he gave them one and

all a shake-up.' If anyone wishes to

knowmoreprecise ywhat happened o

the venturesomeallorswho approached

the dolphin, let him read what befel

Bill, the lizardyn A

ice ift Woxderlazd.

The voyage hey madethroughthe air

to rejoin their comradeswas probably

shorter than Bill's, who says very

movingly, ' I'm better now . . . all I

know s, something omes at me like a

Jack-in-thebox, and up I goes like a

sky-rocket.' The consternation aused

by their landingwas even greater han

that createdby Bill's. In the srordsof

the poet (404-7):

oT 8' aveZ evs vG EcaSrRaTo 8ezHatvovTes,

ovS' oy' 07r)t' axeeyou fCOs\V ava vrRa

,

esaLvalo,

ov3' 'Xvoz}

al^+oS

vnos cuavo7rpcopon0

aB\' xs so qrpst)Tsva creT?7ff>rO

Roevvr,

.S ,, \

zs er&sov

Irl these lines I have made three

alterations ve? forEceZv forwhich see

Hometica

?

I93 * ezov

(405) ' they

bOthered abOUt,' 4 attended tO,' fOre'XVOZt

and T0 i.e. ka^fos fOr

TA

(407) WhiCh

I maY 1eaVetO defend themSe1VeS.

T. T_. AGAR

oT 8' aveZ evs vG EcaSrRaTo 8ezHatvovTes,

ovS' oy' 07r)t' axeeyou fCOs\V ava vrRa

,

esaLvalo,

ov3' 'Xvoz}

al^+oS

vnos cuavo7rpcopon0

aB\' xs so qrpst)Tsva creT?7ff>rO

Roevvr,

.S ,, \

zs er&sov

Irl these lines I have made three

alterations ve? forEceZv forwhich see

Hometica

?

I93 * ezov

(405) ' they

bOthered abOUt,' 4 attended tO,' fOre'XVOZt

and T0 i.e. ka^fos fOr

TA

(407) WhiCh

I maY 1eaVetO defend themSe1VeS.

T. T_. AGAR

THE PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK IN CHRISTIAN EGYPT.HE PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK IN CHRISTIAN EGYPT.

IT iS

well known that Coptic incor-

porated in itself a large numberof

Greek words with little or no change;

and some conclusionsas to their pro-

nunciation n Egypt in Christian imes

may be drawnfrom the way these are

written in our earliest Coptic MSS.

Classicalscholars may easily overlook

matters of interest to them if it is

hidden n the worksof Orientalists, nd

I thereforemakeno apology or calling

attention to some recent publications

in which there are allusions to this

subject.

ProfessorA.Rahlfs,ofGottingen,has

takenl some of the Greek words oc-

curring in the Coptic Biblical texts

published by the British Museum n

I9IX, of which the papyrus seems to

have been writtenas earlyas the fourth

century,and has come to the following

conclusions: a) C before , , or

cz

(not

beforeothervowels) s oftenwrittennot

with the Coptic letter k, but with the

ciona:although his letter now has the

sound of sh or (English) c1t,we know

that its vallle in earlier imes was that

of a palatal k'; from which we may

conclude hatthis,bythe fourthcentury,

had begun o be the valueof fCn such

a position.2 (b) In Ne+da\et, a 7r is

1 Sitzungsb. der Kon. Preuss. Akad. der

Wissenschaften (PhiV.-his{*Z>sse), I9I 2, xlv.

2 I would add that parallel indications may

be found in the case of ; in the method of

IT iS

well known that Coptic incor-

porated in itself a large numberof

Greek words with little or no change;

and some conclusionsas to their pro-

nunciation n Egypt in Christian imes

may be drawnfrom the way these are

written in our earliest Coptic MSS.

Classicalscholars may easily overlook

matters of interest to them if it is

hidden n the worksof Orientalists, nd

I thereforemakeno apology or calling

attention to some recent publications

in which there are allusions to this

subject.

ProfessorA.Rahlfs,ofGottingen,has

takenl some of the Greek words oc-

curring in the Coptic Biblical texts

published by the British Museum n

I9IX, of which the papyrus seems to

have been writtenas earlyas the fourth

century,and has come to the following

conclusions: a) C before , , or

cz

(not

beforeothervowels) s oftenwrittennot

with the Coptic letter k, but with the

ciona:although his letter now has the

sound of sh or (English) c1t,we know

that its vallle in earlier imes was that

of a palatal k'; from which we may

conclude hatthis,bythe fourthcentury,

had begun o be the valueof fCn such

a position.2 (b) In Ne+da\et, a 7r is

1 Sitzungsb. der Kon. Preuss. Akad. der

Wissenschaften (PhiV.-his{*Z>sse), I9I 2, xlv.

2 I would add that parallel indications may

be found in the case of ; in the method of

substituted or the

8/12/2019 The Pronunciation of Greek in Christian Egypt

3/3

THE

CLASSICAL

REVIEW

HE

CLASSICAL

REVIEW

7

haustively

treated

by

Doctor

K.

Wessely,

who

has

made

analytical

ists

of

all

the

Greek

words

occurring n

the

Coptic

Psalms

in

both

dialects:

his

accounts

of

the

vowel

and

consonant

changesshow howmuchmightbe ex-

pected

froma

close

investigation

f

the

subject.

Quite

recently

Mr.

Crum

has

published2

a

papyrus n

the

Phillipps

collection,

probably

written

ate

in

the

sixth

century,

which

exhibits

the

peculiarity

perhaps

hared

only

by

one

other

known

Coptic

MS.)

that

a

con-

siderable

number

of

the

Greek

words

occurringn

it

are

accented.

There

are

about

seventy

such

words,

and

the

ac-

centuations remarkablyorrect,3ven

1

Denkschriften

der

Kaiserl.

Akad.

der

Wissenschaften

n

Wien

(PhiE.-hist.

K>sse),

I910,

liV.

2

Der

Papyruscodex

aec.

vi-vii

der

Phillipps-

bibliothek n

Cheltenham

SchrzjZener

Wis-

senschaf/Zichen

eseShchafZ

n

Nfrassb?4rg,8

Heft), K.

J.

Trubner,

9I5.

3

The

circumflex

s

not

employed,

perispo-

menon

and

properispomenon

words

being

haustively

treated

by

Doctor

K.

Wessely,

who

has

made

analytical

ists

of

all

the

Greek

words

occurring n

the

Coptic

Psalms

in

both

dialects:

his

accounts

of

the

vowel

and

consonant

changesshow howmuchmightbe ex-

pected

froma

close

investigation

f

the

subject.

Quite

recently

Mr.

Crum

has

published2

a

papyrus n

the

Phillipps

collection,

probably

written

ate

in

the

sixth

century,

which

exhibits

the

peculiarity

perhaps

hared

only

by

one

other

known

Coptic

MS.)

that

a

con-

siderable

number

of

the

Greek

words

occurringn

it

are

accented.

There

are

about

seventy

such

words,

and

the

ac-

centuations remarkablyorrect,3ven

1

Denkschriften

der

Kaiserl.

Akad.

der

Wissenschaften

n

Wien

(PhiE.-hist.

K>sse),

I910,

liV.

2

Der

Papyruscodex

aec.

vi-vii

der

Phillipps-

bibliothek n

Cheltenham

SchrzjZener

Wis-

senschaf/Zichen

eseShchafZ

n

Nfrassb?4rg,8

Heft), K.

J.

Trubner,

9I5.

3

The

circumflex

s

not

employed,

perispo-

menon

and

properispomenon

words

being

to

changes

when

a

word

is

inflected

(

c g . '

A