Re: equinox

Nik Taylor wrote:

> Tom Wier wrote:
> > I think I just remembered the fourth word in the Greek phrase, "Huios",
> > but I could still be wrong here.  Ray?
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the fourth word have to begin with
> "y".  Isn't <th> a single letter?  As is <ch>?
/h/ in Ancient and modern Greek orthography was marked by a right facing
li'l "aspiratio mark" which resembled an apostrophe.  Very often, the word
itself was considered to begin with the first actual letter, rather than with
the first phoneme /h/.  The lack of the "breathing" mark indicated the lack
of /h/, pure and simple. So, anyways, to get to the point, "huios" was spelled
ypsilon - iota - omicron - sigma.

/th/ in Ancient Greek was indeed one letter, as was /kh/.  During the classical
period (very roughly 500 to 323 BC), each represented the phonemically aspirated
version of /t/ and /k/, respectively. Sometime around the beginning of the Roman
Empire (if I am correct) the whole series of phonemic aspirates shifted to fricatives
in the same location, to /f/, /T/, and /x/.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

We look at [the Tao], and do not see it;
  Its name is the Invisible.
                 - Lao Tsu, _Tao Te Ching_

Nature is wont to hide herself.
                 - Herakleitos
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