Βρεκεκεξ, κοαξ, κοαξ.
This is, to say the least of it, very ingenious, and, in its way, beautiful, because true.
2. The same principle seems to apply in the πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης (poluphloisboio thalassēs) of Homer, where the first word was probably intended to represent the roaring of the wave mounting on the sea-shore; and the second, the hissing sound which accompanies a receding billow.
3. Another example of onomatopœia, in Virgil’s Æneid, viii. 452, has been often quoted:
‘Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum;’
where the succession of dactyls is admirably adapted to represent the sound of the hoofs of a galloping horse.
4. Several examples of the same figure may be found in Milton. Describing the thronging of the fallen angels in Pandemonium:
Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air,
Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings.
5. Also, speaking of the gates of hell: