(Vol. viii., p. 469.)
Your correspondent does not, of course, inquire what is the proper Hebrew
pronunciation of the several _letters_, but rather what is the accented
syllable in each word. To pronounce in a manner nearly approaching to the
Hebrew might make the congregation stare, but would appear very pedantic to
a learned ear. The safest mode is to examine the Greek of the Septuagint,
or of the New Testament (if the reader does not understand Hebrew), and
observe the place of the acute accent. On that place, if it be on the
penultimate or antepenultimate, the accent should be laid in English. But
if the accent be on the last syllable, though it is strictly right to place
it there also in English, it is not worth while to do so, for fear of
making hearers talk about a strange sound, instead of attending to the
service. It will be safer to accent the penultimate in dissyllables, and
the antepenultimate in trisyllables, which in the Greek are acutitones; in
fact, to pronounce, as all clergymen used to pronounce, until a pedantic
and ignorant practice arose of lengthening, or rather accenting, every
syllable in the penultimate, which had or was supposed to have a long
quantity in Greek. Hence the comparatively new habit of pronouncing [Greek:
Sabaoth], [Greek: Zaboulon], [Greek: sabachthani], [Greek: Akeldama], with
a strong accent on the penultima; whereas the old-fashioned way of
accenting the antepenultima makes no one stare, and is a much nearer
approach to the true pronunciation. There is a curious inconsistency in the
common way of reading, in English, [Greek: Samareia] and [Greek:
Kaisareia]. Samar[=i]a is decidedly a Greek word; but yet, in this word, it
is usual to accent the antepenultima. Cesar[)e]a is decidedly a Latin word
Graecised, and yet it is usual to read this with an accent on the
penultima. I never observed any of those who read Sabaoth, Zabulon, and
sabachthani, read either Samaria or Cesarea. The Greek accents on Hebrew
words always accord, as Hebraists know, with the tonic accent in that
language.