Note 53 — Chapter XXXI · KRATYLUS.
Reading edition
Plato, Kratyl. p. 426 D-E. κρούειν, θραύειν, ἑρείκειν, &c. Leibnitz (Nouveaux Essais sur l’Entendement Humain, Book iii. ch. 2, p. 300 Erdm.); and Jacob Grimm (in his Dissertation Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache, Berlin, 1858, ed. 4) give views very similar to those of Plato, respecting the primordial growth of language, and the original significant or symbolising power supposed to be inherent in each letter (Kein Buchstabe, “ursprünglich steht bedeutungslos oder ueberflüssig,” pp. 39-40). Leibnitz and Grimm say (as Plato here also affirms) that Rho designates the Rough — Lambda, the Smooth: see also what he says about Alpha, Iota, Hypsilon. Compare, besides, M. Renan, Orig. du Langage, vi. p. 137.
The comparison of the Platonic speculations on the primordial powers of letters, with those of a modern linguistic scholar so illustrious as Grimm (the earliest speculations with the latest) are exceedingly curious — and honourable to Plato. They serve as farther reasons for believing that this dialogue was not intended to caricature Protagoras.