rendered the Greek chi (x), just as by th they rendered 0, and by ph, p.

Χ

The faulty representation of the Greek x has given rise to a faulty representation of the Greek K, as in ascetic, from ἀσκήτικος.

G.—Where c is sounded as k, g is sounded as in gun.

Where c is sounded as s, g is sounded as j (dzh)—not always, though generally.

This engenders the use of u as an orthographic expedient. In words like prorogue, &c. its effect is to separate the g from the e, and (so doing) to prevent it being sounded as j (dzh).

The letter S.-In a very large class of words the letter s is used in spelling where the real sound is that of the letter z. Words like stags, balls, peas, &c. are pronounced stagz, ballz, peaz. It is very important to be familiar with this orthographical substitution of s for z.

The reason for it is as follows:

The words where it is so sounded are either possessive cases, or plural nominatives; as stag's, stags, slab's, slabs, &c.

Now in these words (and in words like them) the sounds of g (in stag) and of b (in slab) come in immediate contact with the sound of the letter s.

But the sound of the letter s is sharp, whilst those of g and bare flat, so that the combinations gs, bs, are unpronounceable. Hence s is sounded as z.

In the older stages of the English language a vowel was interposed between the last letter of the word and the letter s, and, when that vowel was sounded, s was sounded also.

Hence s is retained in spelling, although its sound is the sound of z.

This fact of the final s being so frequently sounded as z reduces the writer to a strait whenever he has to express the true sound of s at the end of a word. To write s on such an occasion would be to use a letter that would probably be mispronounced; that is, pronounced as z.

The first expedient he would hit upon would be to double. the s, and write ss. But here he would meet with the following difficulty:-A double consonant expresses the shortness of

the vowel preceding, toss, hiss, egg, &c. Hence a double 8 (ss) might be misinterpreted.

This throws the grammarian upon the use of c, which, as stated above, has, in certain situations, the power of s. To write, however, simply sinc, or onc, would induce the risk of the words being sounded sink, onk. To obviate this, e is added, which has the double effect of not requiring to be sounded (being mute), and of showing that the c has the sound of s (being small).

"It is the peculiar quality," writes Johnson, "of s that it may be sounded before all consonants, except x and z, in which s is compound, being only ks, and z only a hard [flat] or gross s. It is therefore termed by grammarians suæ potestatis litera; the reason of which the learned Dr. Clarke erroneously supposed to be, that in some words it might be doubled at pleasure." A reference to the current Greek Grammars will indicate another reason for a being called suæ potestatis litera. It will there be seen that, whilst π, ß, 4—k, Y, X—T, 8, 0—are grouped together, as tenues, mediæ, and aspiratæ, and as inter se cognatæ, o stands by itself; %, its media (flat sound), being treated as a double letter, and sh, its so-called aspirate, being non-existent in the Greek language.

H.—The reason for h appearing in combination with t and s, in words like thin and shine, is as follows:

The Greeks had in their language the sounds of both the t in tin, and of the th in thin.

These two sounds they viewed in a proper light; that is, they considered them both as simple single elementary sounds. Accordingly, they expressed them by signs, or letters, equally simple, single, and elementary. The first they denoted by the sign, or letter, 7, the second by the sign, or letter, 0.

They observed also the difference in sound between these two sounds.

To this difference of sound they gave names. The sound of (t) was called psilon (a word meaning bare). The sound of → (th) was called dasy (a word meaning rough).

In the Latin language, however, there was no such sound as that of the th in thin.

And, consequently, there was no simple single sign to represent it.

Notwithstanding this the Latins knew of the sound, and of its being in Greek; and, at times, when they wrote words of Greek extraction, they had occasion to represent it.

They also knew that the sound was called dasy, in opposition to the sound of t (r), which was psilon.

Now the Latins conceived that the difference between a sound called psilon, and a sound called dasy, consisted in the latter being pronounced with a stronger breath, or breathing.

In the Latin language the word aspiration means breathing; so that, according to the views just stated, the Greek word dasy was translated by the Latin word aspiratum (i. e. aspirated or accompanied by a breathing).

In Latin the letter h was not called a sound, but merely a breathing* (aspiratio).

This being the case, the addition of the letter h was thought a fit way of expressing the difference between the sounds of the t in tin and the th in thin.

As the influence of the Latin language was great, this view of the nature of the sound of th (and of sounds like it) became

common.

The Anglo-Saxons, like the Greeks, had a simple single sign for the simple single sound: viz. p (for the th in thin), and (for the th in thine).

But their Norman conquerors had neither sound nor sign, and so they succeeded in superseding the Anglo-Saxon by the Latin mode of spelling.

Add to this, that they treated the two sounds of th (thin and thine) as one, and spelt them both alike.

*The fact of asper = dasy has, probably, had something to do with the evolution of this term. If so, it has effected a catachresis.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.

§ 310. THE preceding chapters have exhibited the theory of a full and perfect alphabet; they have shown how far the English falls short of such a standard; and, besides this, they have exhibited some of the various conventional modes of spelling which the insufficiency of alphabets, combined with other causes, has engendered. The present chapter gives a history of our alphabet, whereby many of its defects are partially accounted for. These defects, it may be said, once for all, the English alphabet shares with those of the rest of the world; although, with the doubtful exception of the French, it possesses them in higher degree than any other.

With few, if any, exceptions, all the modes of writing in the world originate, directly or indirectly, from the Phœnician. This is easily accounted for when we call to mind, (1) the fact that the Greek, the Latin, and the Arabic alphabets, are all founded upon this; and (2) the great influence of the nations speaking those three languages. The present sketch, however, is given only for the sake of accounting for our chief defects and peculiarities.

§ 311. Phænician period.-At a certain period the alphabet of Palestine, Phoenicia, and the neighbouring languages of the so-called Semitic tribes, consisted of twenty-two separate and distinct letters.

The chances are, that, let a language possess as few elementary articulate sounds as possible, an alphabet of only twenty-two letters will be insufficient. Now, in the pticuarlar case of the languages in point, the number of elementary sounds, as we infer from the present Arabic, was above the average. Hence,

it may safely be asserted, that the original Phoenician alphabet was insufficient for even the Phoenician language.

It was, moreover, inconsistent; since sounds as like as those of teth and tau (mere variations of each other) were expressed by signs as unlike as and ; whilst sounds as unlike as those of beth with a point, and beth without a point (b and v), were expressed (if expressed at all) by signs as like as 2 and 2. This, however, was a subsequent change.

In its early state it was imported into Greece. Now, as it rarely happens that any two languages have precisely the same elementary articulate sounds, so it rarely happens that an alphabet can be transplanted from one tongue to another, and be found, at once, to coincide.

The Greeks had, in all probability, sounds which were wanting in Palestine and Phoenicia. In Palestine and Phoenicia it is certain that there were sounds wanting in Greece.

Of the twenty-two Phoenician letters, the Greeks appear to have taken but twenty-one. The eighteenth letter, tsadi, seems either never to have been introduced into Europe, or to have become obsolete immediately after its introduction.

§ 312. Greek period.-Compared with the Semitic, the Old Greek alphabet ran thus:

In a work specially devoted to the history of alphabetic writing, the so-called Semitic letters should appear in their very oldest form. They do not, however, do so in the foregoing * Or rather the letter out of which Q grew.