Plato's Theory of Letters and Excerpts from Plato's Cratylus
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~ : INTRODUCTION : ~
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TO
T H E
L E T T E R S
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T H E
C R A T Y L U S
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. Socrates:~ Hermogenes, ... there is an ancient saying [384b] that knowledge of high things ~~~~
~~~~~~ ~. is hard to gain;
and surely knowledge of names is no small matter. ~~~
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.... Hermogenes: ... ; but, Socrates,
what sort of an imitation is a name? .
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]
Hermogenes: Certainly.
Having compiled my research into letters and words
in 1999, I returned to the literature.
I found that single letter sounds were emphasized
only in the context of learning to read.
Then, at the end of 2011, I found an essay which
explained why my search came up empty.
. ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~ . (BACK TO THE MUSEUM) .
"[D]ismissing" ... [the] "naturalistic etymological decodings of words, ...
....... has been the majority
position among interpreters for well over a century." .
.
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But, Dr. Sedley also explained that, in Plato's Cratylus,
Socrates gives a 'theory of letters.'
The point here is to show a complementary position to the research
given in the TABLES.
Socrates evaluates the sense of fourteen Greek
'letter sounds' to 'make sense' of meaning.
ρ : r || ι : i ||
φ : ph | ψ : ps | σ : s |
ζ : z || δ : d | τ : t ||
λ : l || γ : g || ν : n ||
α : a | η : E || ο : Oh
"TO THE LETTERS" links to the
evaluation of: 'r' | 'i' | 'g' | 'ph'. The TABLE for each is given.
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