Re: YAEPT: uu/ii (< Quick Latin pronunciation question)

caeruleancentaur wrote:
>> ROGER MILLS <rfmilly@...> wrote:
>
>> That's almost more fun than the Latin.....Is (Class.Gk)
>> epsilon-lambda-beta-iota-sigma a possible Gk. word (I'm thinking of
>> that -lb- cluster) > modern Gk ['Elvis].  Could it be spelled eps-l-
>> _upsilon_-is in modern?? I suspect not, IIRC upsilon is pronounced as
>> [v] only between vowels.
>
> No such word, to my knowledge, as "elbis" or "elvis" in Greek.
> However, there is a similar word "elpis, elpidos" which means 'hope.'
I think Roger was asking if "elvis"/"elbis" would be valid according to
the phonotactic rules of Greek. Is "lb" (lamda-beta) a valid sequence?
The question is analogous to "Is 'strill' a possible word in English?"
--- yes it is; the fact that it isn't an actual word is pure chance.
Contrasted against the question "Is 'rtsill' a possible word in
English?" --- no it's not, and it couldn't be. No word in English begins
with r+consonant.

--
Tristan.