Aspirates

Stops (or mutes). Stopped consonants are so called because in sounding them the breath passage is for a moment completely closed. The stops are divided into three classes (according to the part of the mouth chiefly active in sounding them) and into three orders (according to the degree of force in the expiratory effort).

a. The dentals are sometimes called linguals. The rough stops are also called aspirates (lit. breathed sounds) because they were sounded with a strong emission of breath (26). The smooth stops are thus distinguished from the rough stops by the absence of breathing. ( (h) is also an aspirate. The middle stops owe their name to their position in the above grouping, which is that of the Greek grammarians.

Consonants.—Most of the consonants were sounded as in English (1). Before ι, κ, γ, τ, ς never had a sh (or zh) sound heard in Lycia (Λυκίᾱ), Asia (Ἀσίᾱ). ς was usually like our sharp s; but before voiced consonants (15 a) it probably was soft, like z; thus we find both κόζμος and κόσμος on inscriptions. —ζ was probably = zd, whether it arose from an original σδ (as in Ἀθήναζε, from Ἀθηνα(ν)σ-δε Athens-wards), or from dz, developed from dy (as in ζυγόν, from (d)yυγόν, cp. jugum). The z in zd gradually extinguished the d, until in the Hellenistic period (p. 4) ζ sank to z (as in zeal), which is the sound in Modern Greek.—The aspirates φ, θ, χ were voiceless stops (15 b, 16 a) followed by a strong expiration: π^{h}, τ^{h}, κ^{h} as in upheaval, hothouse, backhand (though here h is in a different syllable from the stop). Thus, φεύγω was π̔εύγω, θέλω was τ̔έλω, ἔχω was ἔ-κ̔ω. Cp. ἐφ᾽ ᾧ for ἐπ(ὶ) ᾧ, etc. Probably only one h was heard when two aspirates came together, as in ἐχθρός (ἐκτ̔ρός). After 300 A.D. (probably) φ, θ, and χ became spirants, φ being sounded as f (as in Φίλιππος Philip), θ as th in theatre, χ as ch in German ich or loch. The stage between aspirates and spirants is sometimes represented by the writing πφ (= pf), τθ, κχ, which are affricata.—The neglect of the h in Latin representations of φ, θ, χ possibly shows that these sounds consisted of a stop + h. Thus, Pilipus = Φίλιππος, tus = θύος, Aciles = Ἀχιλλεύς. Modern Greek has the spirantic sounds, and these, though at variance with classical pronunciation, are now usually adopted. See also 108.

An initial aspirate is reduplicated by the corresponding smooth stop: φονεύω murder, πε-φόνευκα; θῡ́ω sacrifice, τέ-θυκα; χορεύω dance, κε-χόρευκα.