Re: USAGE: Ancient Greek 'eu'

Ray Brown scripsit:

> >Various people are telling me that 'eu' in Ancient Greek was [Ev]/[Ef]
>
> i.e. phonemically /ev/. It seems to have acquired that sound by the
> Byzantine period, i.e. about 4th cent CE, and has kept it ever since.
[much philological learning snipped]

Unfortunately, there is a sect of modern Greeks who hold it as an
article of faith that Classical -- nay, Homeric -- Greek had exactly
the same pronunciation as modern Greek, and that all reconstructions
are nothing but Farangi attempts to mangle the glorious Greek language.

--
"We are lost, lost.  No name, no business, no Precious, nothing.  Only empty.
Only hungry: yes, we are hungry.  A few little fishes, nassty bony little
fishes, for a poor creature, and they say death.  So wise they are; so just,
so very just."  --Gollum        jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan