Author: Walter W. Skeat

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9781330546079

Excerpt from A Primer of Classical and English Philology The object of the present little book is to exhibit some of the more elementary principles of modern philology as applied to the etymology of Greek, Latin, and English words. In Chapter I, I give the principal points that concern the proper pronunciation of Greek and Latin. For the pronunciation of Anglo-Saxon, the student is referred to Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer. In Chapter II, I show how Greek is usually transliterated, whenever Latin or English words are borrowed from that language. I next state a few laws that govern the combination of letters in Greek; and note the chief vowel-changes in Latin arising from the prefixing of prepositions to verbs. In Chapter III, I explain what is meant by 'cognate'; with some examples of Grimm's Law as applied to cognate words in Greek, Latin, and English. In Chapter IV, I note some characteristics of Greek and Latin that are exemplified at every turn when it is desired to compare them with English. The remaining Chapters are wholly occupied with an exemplification of the principles of gradation; because without a sound knowledge of such principles it is impossible to compare the vowel-sounds in the three languages (Greek, Latin, and English); and until such vowel-changes are rightly understood, no true comparison of cognate words can he made. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.