English pillaging Latin or Greek?

I refer to Mr. Piero Ronci's letter Latin or Greek origins (Dec. 16, 1997). Mr. Ronci is -- thinks he is -- an authority in every subject under the sun.

But as an Italian, he should think twice before setting himself up as a pundit on the English language, which, after all, is a foreign tongue to him.

I must confess that I missed Mr. Murphy's letter, with which Mr. Ronci takes such vehement issue, but he does himself a disservice by condemning the correct use of English. He should try to practice correct English himself.

For example, take the second paragraph of his letter. Languages do not "dawn," but they evolve or develop. Next, what does he mean by "words and verbs?" A verb is a word. Verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns etc. are all words.

As an erstwhile scholar of those wonderful, ancient languages, Greek and Latin, which I studied for 12 years through school and university, I reached a stage of proficiency that enabled me to translate into either of those languages, for example, a leading article from the Times newspaper. I therefore know very well how much English and other languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese) owe to the rich vocabularies and precise grammar of those ancient languages. They were like benefactors to the less sophisticated languages with which they came in touch. So there is not such thing as "pillaging" and "pilfering." Since when does a benefactor feel that he is being "pillaged" and "pilfered" by his beneficiaries?

My last point is: Leave English to English; I would not presume to pontificate on the use of Italian.

RB SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta