[32] The Germans and Dutch are exceptions: They use their old characters in their own language; but they use the Latin character and language in works of science.
[33] This may be supplied by uniting the two characters s and h in one, and naming the combination Esh.
[34] The Germans, who invented printing, had not proper types for the two Saxon or English characters; they therefore made use of th as a substitute for both, which defect we have not yet supplied.
[35] Or tsera, tsvilis.
[36] "Eundem olim (ph) sonum habuisse ac f inscriptiones veteres confirmant, in quibus alterum pro altero promiscue adhiberi cernimus: ut phidelis" (pro fidelis.)—— Middleton de Lat. Liter. Pron. Dis.
Our letter f has some degree of aspiration in its sound; but had its original Roman sound been precisely that of the Greek Φ phi, it is probable that f would have been wholly used in derivatives where the phi occurred. I suspect that ph in Latin must have been originally more strongly aspirated than f; but the transition from the sound of the one to that of the other was easy, and the distinction was gradually lost.
[37] We may except Kenrick, who has paid some regard to principles, in marking the pronunciation.
