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  • From: Duncan Murrell <dvmurrell AT nc.rr.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: CHTHONIC (PRONOUNCED KAH-TAH-NICK)
  • Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 14:53:43 -0400


On Jul 14, 2004, at 1:37 PM, Nathaniel Florin wrote:


--- Doctor Oakroot <doctor AT doctoroakroot.com> wrote:
That depends on whether you're speaking classical
Greek or modern English :o)



When I took ancient Greek (got a C-, I sucked at it), there were two native speakers of modern Greek in the class who took exception to the pronunciation of many words we were learning, some of which they recognized in some form. This prompted my professor to observe that no one really knows how ancient Greek was spoken, that most of the pronunciation guides were written by tweedy Oxbridge Brits who did a lot of guessing, and that there were only two reasons for trying to speak words and sentences: as an aid to memorizing words, and to get some idea of the rhythm of Hellenic speech.

My professor chain-smoked and on occasion had a beer while reciting long passages. He wore a Clash-meets-My-Aim-Is-True-era-Costello outfit constantly. (No coat, t-shirt rolled to the anterior deltoid, Costello from the neck up and the waist down.) Maybe he shouldn't have been trusted.

d





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