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Plato's Letters
Socrates: Well, ..., if anyone could imitate th[e] essential nature
of each thing by means of letters and syllables, he would show
what each thing really is, would he not? [424a]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[426c]
Socrates: First, then, the letter rho seems to me to be an
instrument expressing all motion. We have not as yet said why motion
has the name kinêsis; but it evidently should be iesis, for in old
times we did not employ eta, but epsilon. And the beginning of kinêsis
is from kiein, a foreign word equivalent to ienai (go). So we should
find that the ancient word corresponding to our modern form would be
iesis; but now by the employment of the foreign word kiein, change of
epsilon to eta, and the insertion of nu it has become kinêsis, though it
ought to be kieinesis or eisis.
[426d]
And stasis (rest) signifies the negation of motion, but is called stasis for euphony.
Well, the letter rho, as I was saying, appeared to be a fine instrument
expressive of motion to the name-giver who wished to imitate rapidity,
and he often applies it to motion.
In the first place, in the words
rhein (flow / {?}) and rhoê (current / {flow}) he imitates their rapidity by this letter,
[426e]
then in tromos (trembling), trachus (rugged), {trechein ('running')}; and again, in words
such as krouein (strike), thrauein (break / {crush}), ereikein (rend / {bruise}),
thruptein (crush / {break}, kermatizein (crumble), rhumbein (whirl), he expresses the
action of them all chiefly by means of the letter rho; for he observed, I suppose,
that the tongue is least at rest and most agitated in pronouncing this letter, and that
is probably the reason why he employed it for these words.
Iota again, he employs for everything subtle, which can most readily pass
through all things.
[427a]
Therefore he imitates the nature of ienai (go) and
hiesthai (hasten) by means of iota, just as he has imi- tated all such
notions as psuchron (cold, shivering), zeon (seething), seiesthai
(shake), and seismos (shock) by means of phi, psi, sigma, and zeta,
because those letters are pronounced with much breath. Whenever he
imitates {what is phusodes (windy), or} that which resembles blowing,
the giver of names always appears
to use for the most part such letters.
And again he appears to have
thought that the compression and pressure of the tongue in the
pronunciation of delta and tau was naturally fitted
[427b]
to imitate the notion of binding and rest.
And perceiving that the tongue has a gliding movement most in
the pronunciation of lambda {and in this he found the expression
of smoothness}, he made the words leia (level) {or in leios
(level)}, olisthanain (glide / to slip) itself, liparon (sleek),
{leion ('smooth'),} kollôdes (glutinous?/{gluey?}/{viscous}),
and the like to conform to it.
Where the gliding of the tongue is stopped by the sound of gamma he
reproduced the nature of glischron (glutinous? / {gluey}), glukus
([sticky] sweet), {{that is,} the heavier sound of gamma detained
the slipping tongue, and the union of the two gave the notion of a
glutinous clammy nature, {or, as something cloying} as in glischros
{gluey}, glukus {[sticky] sweet}, gloiodes {clammy}.
The nu he observed to be sounded from within, and therefore to have a notion
of inwardness; hence he introduced the sound in endos and entos (within),
assimilating the meanings to the letters,
and alpha again he assigned to greatness, {or to {large} size}
and eta to length, because the letters are large; {because they are great letters}.
He needed the sign O for the expression of gongulon (round), and made it the chief
element of the word {because omicron was the sign of roundness, and therefore there
is plenty of omicron mixed up in the word goggulon (round)}.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And in this way the lawgiver appears to
apply the other letters, making by letters and syllables a name for each
and every thing, and from these names he compounds all the rest by
imitation.
[427d]
This, Hermogenes, appears to me to be the theory
of the correctness of names, unless, indeed, Cratylus has some other
view.
[428c]
Cratylus: ... , Socrates, your oracular utterances seem to me to be much
to my mind, whether you are inspired by Euthyphro or some other Muse has
dwelt within you all along without our knowing it.
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