Addendum: More on Ethnocentrism in Greek Linguistic Scholarship

Greek Linguistic Scholarship 95 Joseph, B. The Synchrony and Diachrony of the Balkan Infinitive. A Study in Areal, General, and Historical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics , Supplementary Series, Vol. 1). 1983. Jowett, B. The Dialogues of Plato. New York: Random House. 1937. Larrabee, S. English Bards and Grecian Marbles. New York: Columbia University Press. 1942. Levy, H. "An Anatolian Language-Trait in Byzantios' Babylonia and Parallel Traits on Three Continents," MGSA Bulletin XII, 2(1980):47-55. Papadopoulos, A. "Orthografiká," Athiná 41(1929):25-33. Pedersen, H. The Discovery of Language. Linguistic Science in the Nineteenth Century. Translated by J. Spargo. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1959. Pedersen, H. A Glance at the History of Linguistics with Particular Regard to the Historical Study of Phonology. Translated by C. Henriksen. John Benjamins Publishing Company (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Series III—Studies in the History of Linguistics, Vol. 7). 1983. Robinson, D. "On Loanwords between Baltic and Slavic," American Contributions to the Ninth International Congress of Slavists, Vol. I, Linguistics, ed. M. Flier. Columbus: Slavica Publishers , Inc. 1983. Senn, A. "Die Beziehungen des Baltischen zum Slawischen und Germanischen," Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 72(1953): 162-188. Stern, B. The Rise of Romantic Hellenism in English Poetry, 1732-1786. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1940. Szemerényi, O. "The Problem of Balto-Slav Unity: A Critical Survey," Kratylos 2(1957):97123 . Tombaidis, D. "L'infinitif dans le dialecte grec du Pont Euxin," Balkan Studies 18(1977): 155174 . Webb, T. English Romantic Hellenism, 1700-1824. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1982. Zahos, E. Leksikó tis piátsas. Athens: Odiseas Hatzopulos. 1981. Addendum: More on Ethnocentrism in Greek Linguistic Scholarship A propos of my article on the effects of Greek nationalism on Greek linguistic scholarship in the 19th and early 20th centuries, I would like to draw attention to a methodological principle enunciated by the Greek linguist Konstantinos Amantos in 1916. In an article1 in which, among other things, he argues that the Chian place Simvoli is to toponimikón tis Hfu," Leksigrafikan Arhion tis Mésis ke Néas ElinikÃ-s, 2 (1916), 12-48. 96 Brian Joseph name AtsikÃ- derives not from Turkish açik 'open' (as proposed by Kanellakis) but instead from Greek atiki, Amantos states: "methodologik ós den epitrépetai na zitómen dánia, otan dinámetha ek tis elinikÃ-s na etimologÃ-somen orthós" (p. 15). Such a principle for deciding among competing etymologies, however, has no place in linguistic research, for it has no scientific or objective basis at all; etymology is a matter to be decided by facts not by policies. While many Greek scholars of the era, including Amantos himself, produced numerous careful and objective etymological discussions (evident for example in the pages of the journal Athinas or in the Leksikografikon Arhion), a statement such as the above provides prima facie evidence of the invasion of the domain of linguistic scholarship by ethnocentric feelings. ...