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Untitled Article
vowel , seems to be decisively proved to be a vowel . Permit me , Sir , to explain the reasons which at present induce me to differ from my correspondent . 1 st . With respect to the position of y ain , in the alphabet , it must be admitted that it corresponds with O omicrcm , in Greek , and the languages derived from it . In like manner $ Hje corresponds with E epsilon , and fT Hheth with H eta ; and if I recollect right , for I have not the work to refer to , Masclef , on this ground , contends that n is a vowel . But though H was
latterly the representative of a Greek vowel , it was not so at an early period ; and whilst it represented an aspirate , before the invention of a comma for that purpose , it was adopted by the Latins , and has been retained as an aspirate in the languages derived from the Latin , though its sound is very frequently neglected . When it ceased to be used as an aspirate in Greek , the character was adopted to represent long e , and may not the place of another neglected aspirate or gutteral have been taken for o in like manner ? In the Arabic and Syriac languages , which are spoken to this day , the letters
corresponding to n , f 7 and y which may be ascertained by their numerical value , as well as by other circumstances , are aspirated consonants and not vowels . This is the case also in the Rabbinical dialect , which , however corrupted , is derived from the Hebrew , nor is there any ground whatever from Origen , ar any other source , for attaching to these characters any uniform , or indeed similar , vowel sound . The position of the letters n and # , therefore , is not , I conceive , in itself a sufficient reason for considering them vowels . 2 d . With respect to Origen , the only part of his representation of
Hebrew in Greek characters which 1 have had an opportunity of examining is the quotation in Dr . Wilson ' s Hebrew Grammar , from which it appears that ain occurs eleven times in it , and is represented by alpha nine times , and by epsilon twice . But as these are the sounds of the vowel ppints which accompany ain 9 it is begging the question to say that Origen considered it as a vowel . In the Greek translation of the Seventy nin is represented in
proper names by a much greater variety of sounds , which usually correspond with those denoted by the vowel points ; and it is also sometimes represented by the palatines < j or k 9 which is a natural change , considering it as a gutter ^) , 3 d . Origen , in the passage referred to , denotes avti by a nine times out of eleven , and not once by o , the sound of the corresponding letter in Greek , and the sound , the want of which , it is urged , should be supplied .
The Jew 3 , who may be considered as at least as likely to know the language of their ancestors , as any other persons , consider 1 vau as the representative of o , not y ; and with respect to derivations , I believe that ou examination they will be found to add little to the argument in favour of y ' s claim to the rank of a vowel . Dr . Wilson adduces as an example , " ei&v , video * root y * v < ido 9 to know . " Now the « of * & *> is not radical , but merely a termination of the first person , probably derived from the pronoun * y « , whilst y is a radical part of . the Hebrew word- Besides , *»§» and «*< W seem to « be creatures of the imagination , deduced by analogy from «* & » v and ei 8 « ,
the former of which is only used in the sense of seeing , and the latter of knowing . If we deem the word of Hebrew origin , we certainl y can draw no inference from it respecting the sound of y . When \ iy oden is given as the root of ijWr ? , it would rather shew that ain was sounded e ; and as it is pointed Eden , and is aspirated in the Greek , this . derivation is rather against what it is brought to prove . ^ 2 $ Qbed 9 he laboured * he served * as the root of obedio , seems at first sight more plausible ; butParkmwst , and his follower Wilson , in their zeal to trace such derivations , forget that obedio is certainly a compound word , formed from the preposition 00 and audio , the origin of
Untitled Article
On the Hebrew Foweh . 4 } 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 419, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/27/
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