GRE
 

AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF
 

it affords many display faces. Great primer is double
bourgeois, or four lines diamond in size, and is a little
smaller than three-line nonpareil, with which, however,
it is equivalent on the point system, which reckons this
as eighteen points. Four lines and a quarter make an
inch. In French it is known as gros Remain or gros texte,
the bodies of which differ, the former being a long primer
and a brevier, which is a true great primer, and the latter
two breviers, which is a Columbian. In German it is
called Tertia, in Dutch text, in Italian teste and in Span¬
ish gros remain or doble breviario (sixteen points).
Eighteen point is called petit parangon.

This line is in Great Primer.

Greek, Composition in.—This is the only Western
language having much literature in which the charac¬
ters are formed in a manner unlike the Roman. Ger¬
man and the other tongues which use black-letter also
employ Roman, and the difference between the Fraktur
and the ordinary characters is slight compared with that
which exists between either of them and the Greek. In
form most Greek is like Italic ; it is inclining. In lower
case there is very little appearance of anything like a
serif, although the capitals are provided with them. As
a rule the body marks are heavier than for the corre¬
sponding size in Roman.

The Greek language is in capitals and small letters,
like the English, there being seven vowels and seven¬
teen consonants. Some of these have two or more
forms, and many of the letters are modified by accents
or breathings. The following are the characters, with
their English equivalents and their power:
 

Forms.
 

Names in
 

Greek and
 

English
 

Numerical
 

English.
 

Equivalent.
 

Value.
 

A       a
 

"AXq)a. .
 

.    Alpha
 

a
 

1
 

B   /36
 

Brjra   '.
 

.   Beta
 

b
 

2
 

r    r
 

Fafif-i a
 

.    Gamma
 

g
 

3
 

A      d
 

AeXrcx .
 

.    Delta
 

d
 

4
 

E           8
 

''EjpiXov
 

.    Epsilon
 

short e
 

5
 

z    c
 

Zijra   .
 

.    Zeta
 

z
 

7
 

H      ?/
 

'lira     .
 

.    Eta
 

long e
 

8
 

e ^Q
 

Qijra   .
 

.    Theta
 

th
 

9
 

I     I
 

''lajva   .
 

.    Iota
 

i
 

10
 

K         K
 

KditTta
 

.    Kappa
 

k
 

20
 

A      A
 

Adjii/3da
 

.    Lambda
 

1
 

80
 

M     }x
 

Mv  .    .
 

.    Mu
 

m
 

40
 

N      V
 

Nd  .    .
 

.    Nu
 

n
 

50
 

A        k
 

3;r  .   .
 

.   Xi
 

X
 

60
 

0       o
 

'^OjdiKpoy
 

.    Omicroii
 

short 0
 

70
 

n   Tt
 

nr .   .
 

.    Pi
 

P
 

80
 

p     p
 

'Pm .   .
 

.    Rho
 

r
 

100
 

:e 6 i
 

^iyficx
 

.    Sigma
 

s
 

200
 

T      r
 

Tav
 

.    Tau
 

t
 

300
 

1          V
 

TipiXov
 

.    Upsilon
 

u
 

400
 

$      cp
 

m   .   .
 

.    Phi
 

ph
 

500
 

X      X
 

Xi    .    .
 

.    Chi
 

ch
 

600
 

W     if)
 

wr .   .
 

.    Psi
 

ps
 

700
 

Di          GO
 

Dj^tsya
 

.    Omega
 

long 0
 

800
 

Sixteen of these letters are said to have come from
the Phoenician Cadmus (about 1500 B. C). These are
A, B, r, A, E, I, K, A, M, N,0, iJ, P, ^, Tand T. Four,
according to Pliny, were added by Palamedes at the time

238
 

of the Trojan war, being 0, 3J, ^ and X; and four by
Simonides of Cos during the Persian war, being Z, H, W,
Dj. The Q and X are also attributed to Epicharmus of
Sicily. The ancient letters were all uncial, or what we
should call capital; the present cursive or round letters
occur first in inscriptions of the time of Augustus, and re¬
semble the Coptic shapes. The cursive characters, with
a multitude of ligatures, have been in constant use since
the tenth century of the current era. The Greeks wrote
originally from right to left, afterwards alternately both
ways, and lastly from left to right.

It will be noticed that the order is not the same as in
English, g, z and x being transposed forward, two o's,
long and short, being used, th, ch, ph and ps being added,
and c, f, V, w and y being omitted, although in our older
books the upsilon is nearly always transliterated as y.
There are no Italics or small capitals. There is an as¬
tonishing number of accents, or what are commonly
called such by the English reader, which are however
entitled by Greek grammarians accents and breathings.
These are very minute, and are usually cast upon the
body, but under some circumstances may precede or go
over the letter. The use of all of them is governed by
strict rules.

The accents and aspirates are showm on a magnified
scale in the lines below given. Their explanation is as
shown in the table herewith:
 

A
 

/   \   y  A   ^/
 

*?
 

T
 

GREEK ACCENTS AND ASPIRATES.
 

Lenis.
Asper.
Acute.
Grave.
Lenis acute.
 

Lenis grave.
Asper acute.
Asper grave.
Circumflex.
Circumflex lenis.
 

Circumflex asper.
Diseresis.
Diseresis acute.
Diseresis grave.
 

In combination with the various letters the accents are
thus shown by Caslon, the eminent British type-founder;
 

I  a
 

29   8
 

57 *
 

85  €
 

113 6
 

141 V
 

169 w
 

2  (i
 

30 «r
 

58 X
 

86 a
 

114 0
 

142 V
 

170 w
 

3 €
 

31 P
 

59 ^
 

S7'i
 

115 0
 

143 i)
 

171 a>
 

4 r
 

32 p
 

60 Q
 

88 £
 

116 J
 

H4 V
 

172 io
 

5 ^
 

33 ^
 

61  a
 

89 €
 

117 0
 

145 Y
 

173"'
 

6   F.
 

34 y
 

62 d
 

90 €
 

118 0
 

146 V
 

174 '
 

7 ^
 

35 H^
 

63 a
 

91?
 

119 0
 

1475
 

175 *
 

8 V
 

36   Kj
 

64 a
 

92 e
 

120 0
 

148 V
 

176 ••
 

9 9
 

37 A
 

65 a
 

93 t
 

121 6
 

149 V
 

177 '
 

10 3-
 

38 B
 

66 d
 

941
 

122 0
 

150 V
 

178  '
 

II I
 

39 r
 

67 A
 

95 t
 

123 0
 

151 V
 

179'-
 

12   K
 

40, A
 

68 ^
 

96 t
 

124 6
 

152 V
 

180"
 

13 X
 

41  E
 

69 a
 

97 t
 

125 V
 

153 ^
 

181 "
 

14 ^l
 

42 Z
 

70 d
 

98 I
 

126 fj
 

154 V
 

182 ",
 

15  V
 

43 H
 

71 a
 

99 T
 

127 //
 

155 y
 

183 "'
 

16 ?
 

44 ©
 

72 a
 

100 I
 

128 rj
 

10 ij
 

184 •'
 

17 0
 

45 I
 

73 a
 

lOI   t
 

129 r)
 

157 ^
 

185 •"
 

18   TT
 

46 K
 

74 a
 

102 t
 

130 7)
 

158 <^
 

186 •^•
 

19   p
 

47 A
 

75 d
 

103 t
 

131 ^
 

159 ch
 

187"
 

20  p
 

48 M
 

76 d
 

104 I
 

132 ^
 

160 w
 

188;
 

21   (T
 

49 >f
 

77 2
 

los I
 

133 >)
 

161 w
 


 

22  g
 

50 S
 

78 6
 

106 I
 

134 V
 

162 w
 


 

23  T
 

51 0
 

79 t
 

107 I
 

135 ^
 

163 w
 

Kerned
 

24 V
 

52  11
 

80 €
 

108 I
 

1367)
 

164 U)
 

189 a
 

25   0
 

53 P
 

81 k
 

109 0
 

137 rj
 

165 w
 

190 w
 

26   Y

27   ;//
 

54 2
 

82 t
 

no 6
 

138^
 

166 lij
 

191 ^
 

55 T
 

83 i
 

III 6
 

139^
 

167 ib
 

192 <p
 

28 w    S6 T
 

84   €'
 

U2 0
 

140 ri
 

168 w
 

1939
 

LIST OF GREEK CHARACTERS AND ACCENTS, AS SHOWN BY OASLON.

Most of the diacritical marks are used with vowels,
either alone or combined together as diphthongs. The
vowels are a, e, ?/, i, o, v and go, the proper diphthongs