Eu

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Eu est adverbium grecum significat bene recte pure componitur multimode et significat ut bonus bona bonum: non autem proferunt greci ut nos sed ut sit .u. consonans ac si aliquis proferat eve vel eva ablata ultima vocali, ita namque retinet vocem consonantis in fine syllabe quod multi ex ipsis proferunt ef ut efcharistia a quo infrascripta componuntur.


Apparatus:

vltima AC e | vltĩa f | ultiɯa B {'m' printed upside down}

syllabe AC | silabe B | si͞l͞b͞e f | sim͞l͞e ms. e

quod ABC f | quã e

efcharistia ABC | ef caristia ms. e | escharistia f {'f' misread as "long s"}


Translation:

Eu is a Greek adverb meaning "well or good, right, pure". It is used in many ways in compounds and it means as much as Latin bonus bona bonum {"good"}. However, the Greeks do not pronounce it like we do but as if the 'u' was a consonant {i.e. /v/} as if someone says /eve/ or /eva/ with the last vowel not pronounced, in that way s/he preserves the pronunciation of the consonant at the end of that syllable. In some of these words many speakers also pronounce eu like /ef/ as e.g. in /efcharistia/. The subsequent entries are compounds containing initial "eu".


Commentary:

Greek εὖ /eû/ is an adverb meaning "well, good, etc." which then in the shape of ἐυ /eu/ is also used as a first element in compounds. It was originally pronounced like Portuguese eu {"I, me"}, but it changed its pronunciation in later Greek to /ev/ and when followed by a voiceless consonant to /ef/ as Simon explains. As a churchman he chose the example εὐχαριστία /eukharistía/, lit. "giving thanks; Eucharist", to demonstrate the case of ἐυ /eu/ + χ /kh/, a voiceless consonant, which triggers the pronunciation /ef/.

WilfGunther 18:12, 23 July 2014 (BST)


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