MODERN GREEK.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE "SPECTATOR:1
Pylarinos, in a letter which appeared in the Spectator of the 11th inst., ridicules Mr. Psicari and his dis- ciples by citing a few words borrowed from old Greek and exhibiting them in the form which these words are sup- posed to assume when used in a vernacular writing. ..am not sure that most of those words are not of Mr. Pylarinos's own creation ; but admitting for a moment that they are all genuine, they only show that the vernaculaaists when borrow- ing words transform them in accordance with the morpho- logical laws which govern modern .Greek. This is, however, exactly the process which all purists follow when in their turn they borrow from modern Greek. As an instance, the word for "smallpox" in modern Greek is i3xoaaa; and for the con- fusion of the purists this malady does not happen to have existed in old times, and therefore old Greek knows no term for " smallpox." This forces purists to borrow from the modern language, but in doing so they will say Etiaoyix, thus preferring to call one of the greatest curses of humanity by a word signifying " a blessing " rather than use a vernacular term in its humble form. But let us further admit for one moment that there • really exist great objections to using such words as Mr. Pylarinos denounces — which, I may add, are exceedingly few, and Mr. Pylarinos would find himself in difficulties if he were called upon to name twenty—will he kindly explain why he also ob• jects to innocent vernacular terms such as pekre, xipt, pet:rn,
potAAlci, 7rceripac, xpcsai, npO, farts, 'Laplace, rives (I take these words from Mr. W. Leaf's letter in the Times of the 10th inst.), which are the only ones which he as well as all his brother-savants pour out every instant of their lives, and he must instead write Jpda1,c66;, xElp, pis, xcpg, ilv7krnp, c101-0;, oiyee, GLip, atce, waVis. and so forth? If, as I anticipate, the answer is that the former words are far too universally known to show off a writer's learning, then I will put a second question,—namely, whether in the history of rational beings there has ever existed such whole- sale pedantry? There is another point in Mr. Pylarinos's letter upon which I may be permitted to say a few words. Mr. Pylarinos is surprised that Mr. Pallis has not considered it his duty to dissent from the view expressed in the Spectator to the effect that after the publication of his Iliad his life would scarcely have been safe in Athens; but Mr. Pylarinos must see that, after the recent display of intolerance and ferocity on the part of those loafers who in Athens are styled. " students " that view was and is only natural. Besides, why. could Mr. Pylarinos not have set an example in this question of the discharge of one's duty He had read and translated in the Greek newspaper Itnera—of which he is the editor—a letter which has appeared in the Daily News over the signa- ture of " A Greek Student of the Greek N.T.," and in which it was insinuated that Queen Olga had acted as a political instrument in the hands of Russia, and he has seen that that "Student" supported his views by an anneal to statements
made in the Imera. How is it that Mr.. Pylarinos has not seen fit to write a letter to the Daily News to refute that accusation, which I know he believes to be baseless ? It is highly desirable that he should do so even now, and I shill be anxious to see whether he will still neglect this duty.—I am,
Sir, 814., SIMPLEX. [We cannot publish any more letters on this subject unless Mr. Pylarinos should wish to reply to the above.—ED. Spectator.]
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