397 478 (8) Prepositions with the Genitive and Accusative 481 (e) Preposition with the Dative and Accusative 509 General Rules respecting the Use of the Moods in Conditional Propositions 545 513 The Subjunctive and Optative in Conditional Propositions INTRODUCTION. THE GREEK LANGUAGE AND ITS DIALECTS. Art. 1 THE GREEK LANGUAGE (pwvǹ) Exλnvikń) is that which was anciently spoken throughout the whole extent of Greece or Hellas (Exλás), a term which included all the Greek colonies (Herod. II. 182). But there were two countries to which this name was applied, that which still bears the name, and which was distinguished as ʼn ȧpxaía 'Exλás (Plut. Timol. c. 37), or Græcia Antiqua; and the south-east of Italy with Sicily, which was called μeyaλn 'Exλás (Strabo, p. 253), or Græcia Magna. The former of these countries was also termed "continuous Greece" (Exλàs ouvexýs, Scylax, p. 12; Dicæarchus, v. 32 sqq.), as opposed to "discontinuous " " or sporadic Greece” (Ἑλλὰς σποραδική), which included all the scattered colonies. 66 2 It was in the former of these, or Greece Proper, as it is sometimes designated, that this language was formed by a fusion of different tribes; and though the colonists in Asia Minor and Magna Græcia contributed largely to the development of Greek literature, the intellectual energies of the people, and consequently the living excellence of the language, were always most conspicuous in the mother-country; and, in the end, all the scattered Greeks had learned to speak the language of Attica. 3 The ancient Greek language is a member of the great IndoGermanic family, and is therefore intimately connected with the old languages of the Indians, Persians, Celts, Sclavonians, Germans, and Italians. It belongs to the science of Comparative Philology to point out the nature and extent of this connexion'. 1 The ethnography of the ancient Greeks has been fully discussed in the New Cratylus, book I. chap. 4. οπες, 4 Confining our attention to the Greek language, we find that this language, as we have it, consists of two elements—the Pelasgian and the Hellenic; and Herodotus has informed us, that the Hellenes or Greeks owed their greatness to a coalition with the Pelasgians (I. 58; Varronianus, pp. 11, 12). The Pelasgians (IIeX-aσyoí, or ПéλOTES, "Swarthy Asiatics," or "Dark-faced men;" Varron. p. 29; Kenrick, Phil. Mus. 11. 353) were the original occupants and civilizers of the Peloponnese, which was called after their name, and also of many districts in northern Greece. These were afterwards. incorporated with the Hellenes ("EXλnves, "the Warriors:" comp. the name of their god 'Améλov, Müller, Dor. II. 6, § 6), a cognate martial tribe from the mountains in the north of Thessaly. In proportion as the Hellenic or Pelasgian element in this admixture predominated in particular districts, the tribes were called Dorians (Awpieîs," Highlanders," from da- and opos; Kenrick, Herod. p. LXI.), or Ionians (Ἴωνες, “Men of the coast,” Ηιονία; also Αἰγιαλεῖς, "Beach-men," or 'Axauoi, "Sea-men;" Kenrick, Phil. Mus. II. p. 367). And these appear in historical times as the two grand subdivisions of the Hellenic race (Herod. 1. 56). 5 When, however, the Dorians or "Highlanders" first descended from their mountains in the north of Thessaly, and incorporated themselves with the Pelasgians of the Thessalian plains, they were called Æolians (Aioλeîs, “Mixed men1"), and this name was retained by the Thessalians and Boeotians long after the opposition of Dorian and Ionian had established itself in other parts of Greece. The legend states this fact very distinctly, when it tells us that "Hellen left his kingdom to Æolus, his eldest son, while he sent forth Dorus, and Xuthus, the father of Ion, to make conquests in distant lands" (Apollod. 1. 7, 3, 1; Thirlwall, 1. p. 101). 6 Hence we find that of the Greek colonists settled on the western coast of Asia Minor, the earliest and most northerly, who started from Boeotia, called themselves Eolians; that those who subsequently proceeded from Attica, and occupied the central dis 1 The proper meaning of alóλos is "particoloured," and the adjective is used especially to designate alternations of black and white in stripes: thus, the cat is called at oupos (alóλoupos) from the stripes on its tail: and for the same reason alóλos is a constant epithet of the serpent. It is the opposite of ἁπλοῦς : SO Athen. ΧΙV. 622 C. ἁπλοῦν ῥυθμὸν χέοντες αιόλῳ μέλει. We do not agree therefore with Dr Thirlwall (1. p. 102), that Alólos is a by form of "Eλλŋ". |