Raymond A. Brown wrote:
> At 1:59 pm -0600 24/9/99, Ed Heil wrote:
> >Actually, if eta and epsilon had the same quality, there would have
> >been no need to use the "spurious diphthongs" ou =3D o: and ei =3D e:.
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> And there wasn't!
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> In the pre-Eucleidean alphabet _long_ closed /e:/ and /o:/ are simply
> written epsilon & omicron respectively; it is for this reason we assume=
the
> short sounds were high also. The original use of EI and OY was, it se=
ems,
> to denote _diphthongs_ (this is shown by comparison with cognate ablaut
> forms in Greek & with comparative forms in other IE languages).
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> The whole drift of Greek pronounciation from ancient times has seen
> diphthongs give way to simple vowels; EI and OY just happen to have bee=
n
> the first to do so. When, and only when, /ei/ and /e:/ fell together, =
did
> the Greeks begin using EI for /e:/; similarly OY for /o:/ began only af=
ter
> /ou/ --> /o:/.
> Actually having short sounds tense & high as opposed to longer, drawled=
lax
> sounds which are lower is not all that uncommon in natlangs. I know La=
tin
> & German did/do things differently; but we shouldn't set them as the no=
rms.
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> >These would have been identical to omega and eta respectively.
> Sorry - I don't follow this.
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> That the Greeks found it necessary to add the vowels eta & omega is
> obviously because, as in Middle English, there were _two_ long vowels
> corresponding to _one_ short vowel in the mid position for both front
> vowels and back vowels. That separate symbols were created for the lo=
ng
> low varieties whereas the same symbols were used for the short vowels a=
s
> for the long high varieties must surely mean that the short vowels were
> high (and probably tense).
You're right. On this point I was misremembering W. Sidney Allen's
_Vox Graeca._
> >> >Oh, to top it all off, eta represented two different values too. I=
n
> >> >addition to [E:] it represented a long version of the "a" sound in
> >> >English "hat" [&:] --
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> Oh? What proof have you of that?
So I was taught by my historical linguistics professor, Michael
Weiss. Allen mentions this on p. 73 of _Vox Graeca_, though he
doesn't assert that [&:] persisted till historical times.
I don't still have my notes and so could not cite for you the reasons
Weiss gave for claiming this.
> >> By the way, German converts Greek ai/Latin ae to a-umlaut, and oi/La=
tin
oe
> >> to o-umlaut. Examples: Ge <=C4gypt> 'Egypt' from Gk <Aigyptos>, and
> >> <=F6kumenisch> 'ecumenical' from <oikumene:> 'household'. How did t=
hese
> >> fronted vowels (especially the latter, the front mid round) come abo=
ut?
> >
> >I do not know, but I would guess that this is a spelling
> >pronunciation --
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> ...and you guess correctly :)
Glad I was right about something!
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Boxcars are pulling an Ed of sorts out of town.
edheil@postmark.net
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