Re: υ before ξ
Posted: August 13th, 2012, 7:42 am
What do you think: supposing that the correct prononciation is [tevksis] or [tefksis], would the ε in the original greek word be a short vowel, or a long one?
I know that ε is always short, but in such circumstance the circumflex accent would have no meaning unless ευ is pronounced as a diphtongue, rather than a short vowel followed by a consonant. And if it is true that the accents started to be used at in a period of time which was relatively close (or perhaps overlapping) to the NT times, then the writers who applied the circumflex on words such as τεῦξις did so precisely as an indication that ευ was to be pronounced as a diphtongue.
I know that ε is always short, but in such circumstance the circumflex accent would have no meaning unless ευ is pronounced as a diphtongue, rather than a short vowel followed by a consonant. And if it is true that the accents started to be used at in a period of time which was relatively close (or perhaps overlapping) to the NT times, then the writers who applied the circumflex on words such as τεῦξις did so precisely as an indication that ευ was to be pronounced as a diphtongue.