Древнегреческий алфавит как пишется


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Everyone probably knows some of the letters of the Greek alphabet. We see them in certain phrases, in math and science equations, in the names of fraternities and sororities, and in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). In fact, the word «alphabet» itself is made up of the names of the first two Greek letters (alpha + beta).

But would you like to learn the entire Greek alphabet? Depending on how quickly you learn and how much time you have to practice, this could take you anywhere from one week to one month.

  1. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1

    1

    Write down the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet in order.[1] Write both the capital letters and the small letters (the list below shows the capital letters first):[1]

    • Α α = Alpha (al-fah)[2]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet1

    • Β β = Beta (bay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet2

    • Γ γ = Gamma (ga-mah)[3]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet3

    • Δ δ = Delta (del-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet4

    • Ε ε = Epsilon (ep-si-lon)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet5

    • Ζ ζ = Zeta (zay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet6

    • Η η = Eta (ay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet7

    • Θ θ = Theta (thay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet8

    • Ι ι = Iota (eye-o-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet9

    • Κ κ = Kappa (kap-pah)[4]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet10

    • Λ λ = Lambda (lamb-dah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet11

    • Μ μ = Mu (mew)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet12

    • Ν ν = Nu (new)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet13

    • Ξ ξ = Xi (zie)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet14

    • Ο ο = Omicron (om-e-cron)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet15

    • Π π = Pi (pie)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet16

    • Ρ ρ = Rho (row)[5]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet17

    • Σ σ = Sigma (sig-mah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet18

    • Τ τ = Tau (taw)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet19

    • Υ υ = Upsilon (up-si-lon)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet20

    • Φ φ = Phi (fy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet21

    • Χ χ = Chi (chy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet22

    • Ψ ψ = Psi (sy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet23

    • Ω ω = Omega (o-meh-ga)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet24

  2. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2

    2

    Practice learning four to six letters per day.[6]

    • Say them out loud, in order.[7]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet1

    • Write them down (don’t forget to write both capital and small letters).

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet2

    • Create flashcards with the letter on one side and the name of the letter on the other. Practice until you know them without thinking.[8]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet4

    Advertisement

  3. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 3

    3

    Each day, add four to six more letters. Continue to say them, write them, use them for spelling. Don’t forget to include the letters you learned previously!

  4. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 4

    4

    By the end of four to six days, you will have learned the entire Greek alphabet. But to get them into your long-term memory, you will have practice at least once a day (e.g. saying them in order, then in reverse order; going through your flashcards) for about a week, and then maybe once a week after that.

    5. Advertisement

Add New Question

  • Question

    Is the alphabet in order (from A-Z)?

    Community Answer

    Yes it is. Note that there are different letters, though. English has 26, but Greek has 24.

  • Question

    Does the Greek alphabet match ours?

    Community Answer

    No, it is very different than the Latin alphabet used by English speakers and Romance languages.

  • Question

    Is there a «v» in the Greek alphabet?

    Fay1

    No, there isn’t, but on the Greek keyboard ‘v’ key is ‘ω’ (omega) key.

See more answers

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Download Article


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Everyone probably knows some of the letters of the Greek alphabet. We see them in certain phrases, in math and science equations, in the names of fraternities and sororities, and in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). In fact, the word «alphabet» itself is made up of the names of the first two Greek letters (alpha + beta).

But would you like to learn the entire Greek alphabet? Depending on how quickly you learn and how much time you have to practice, this could take you anywhere from one week to one month.

  1. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1

    1

    Write down the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet in order.[1] Write both the capital letters and the small letters (the list below shows the capital letters first):[1]

    • Α α = Alpha (al-fah)[2]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet1

    • Β β = Beta (bay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet2

    • Γ γ = Gamma (ga-mah)[3]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet3

    • Δ δ = Delta (del-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet4

    • Ε ε = Epsilon (ep-si-lon)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet5

    • Ζ ζ = Zeta (zay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet6

    • Η η = Eta (ay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet7

    • Θ θ = Theta (thay-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet8

    • Ι ι = Iota (eye-o-tah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet9

    • Κ κ = Kappa (kap-pah)[4]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet10

    • Λ λ = Lambda (lamb-dah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet11

    • Μ μ = Mu (mew)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet12

    • Ν ν = Nu (new)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet13

    • Ξ ξ = Xi (zie)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet14

    • Ο ο = Omicron (om-e-cron)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet15

    • Π π = Pi (pie)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet16

    • Ρ ρ = Rho (row)[5]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet17

    • Σ σ = Sigma (sig-mah)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet18

    • Τ τ = Tau (taw)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet19

    • Υ υ = Upsilon (up-si-lon)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet20

    • Φ φ = Phi (fy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet21

    • Χ χ = Chi (chy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet22

    • Ψ ψ = Psi (sy)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet23

    • Ω ω = Omega (o-meh-ga)

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 1Bullet24

  2. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2

    2

    Practice learning four to six letters per day.[6]

    • Say them out loud, in order.[7]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet1

    • Write them down (don’t forget to write both capital and small letters).

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet2

    • Create flashcards with the letter on one side and the name of the letter on the other. Practice until you know them without thinking.[8]

      Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 2Bullet4

    Advertisement

  3. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 3

    3

    Each day, add four to six more letters. Continue to say them, write them, use them for spelling. Don’t forget to include the letters you learned previously!

  4. Image titled Write the Greek Alphabet Step 4

    4

    By the end of four to six days, you will have learned the entire Greek alphabet. But to get them into your long-term memory, you will have practice at least once a day (e.g. saying them in order, then in reverse order; going through your flashcards) for about a week, and then maybe once a week after that.

    5. Advertisement

Add New Question

  • Question

    Is the alphabet in order (from A-Z)?

    Community Answer

    Yes it is. Note that there are different letters, though. English has 26, but Greek has 24.

  • Question

    Does the Greek alphabet match ours?

    Community Answer

    No, it is very different than the Latin alphabet used by English speakers and Romance languages.

  • Question

    Is there a «v» in the Greek alphabet?

    Fay1

    No, there isn’t, but on the Greek keyboard ‘v’ key is ‘ω’ (omega) key.

See more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Advertisement

Video

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

References

About This Article

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 93,885 times.

Did this article help you?

Источник

Греческий алфавит

Гре­че­ский алфа­вит состо­ит из 24 букв1.

В круг­лых скоб­ках ука­за­но назва­ние бук­вы в тра­ди­ци­он­ном про­из­но­ше­нии, рекон­стру­и­ро­ван­ном для древ­не­гре­че­ско­го язы­ка гол­ланд­ским гума­ни­стом Эраз­мом Роттердамским.

бук­ва назва­ние бук­ва назва­ние
Α α άλφα аль­фа Ν ν νι ни (ню)
Β β βήτα вита (бета) Ξ ξ ξι кси
Γ γ γάμμα гам­ма Ο ο όμικρον омик­рон
Δ δ δέλτα дель­та Π π πι пи
Ε ε έψιλον эпси­лон Ρ ρ ρο, ρω ро
Ζ ζ ζήτα зита (дзе­та) Σ σ2 ς3 σίγμα сиг­ма
Η η ήτα ита (эта) Τ τ ταυ таф (тау)
Θ θ θήτα фита (тета) Υ υ ύψιλον ипси­лон
Ι ι γιώτα йота Φ φ φι фи
Κ κ κάππα кап­па Χ χ χι хи
Λ λ λάμ(β)δα лам­да (лямб­да) Ψ ψ ψι пси
Μ μ μι ми (мю) Ω ω ωμέγα оме­га

Допол­ни­тель­ные замечания

Точ­ка с запя­той (;) в гре­че­ском язы­ке, в отли­чие от рус­ско­го, слу­жит зна­ком вопро­са. Πού; Где? Πότε; Когда?4

Точ­ке с запя­той рус­ско­го язы­ка в гре­че­ском язы­ке соот­вет­ству­ет точ­ка ввер­ху стро­ки, η άνω τελεία (·).

Звуки современного греческого языка и их буквенное выражение

(не пред­на­зна­ча­ет­ся для чте­ния Сеп­ту­а­гин­ты, Ново­го Заве­та, отцов церк­ви и визан­тий­ской литературы)

Таблица соответствий «от написания к звуку»

Бук­ва или буквосоч. Рус­ская транс­крипция и описание При­ме­ры, транс­крипция, перевод
Α      α
[а] άλφα [´алфа] аль­фа,
ακουστική [акустик´и] аку­сти­ка,
άθεος [´аθэос] без­бож­ник,
παραλληλισμός [паралилизм´ос] парал­ле­лизм,
ακαδημία [акаðим´иа] ака­де­мия,
αεροδρόμιο [аэроðр´омио] аэро­дром,
Αναστασία [анастас´иа] Ана­ста­сия,
Ασία [ас´иа] Азия
ΑΙ      αι
[э] αισθητική [эсθитик´и] эсте­ти­ка,
Αιθιοπία [эθиоп´иа] Эфи­о­пия,
γεωδαισία [йэоðэс´иа] гео­де­зия,
παιδαγωγική [пэðаγойк´и] педа­го­ги­ка,
δαιμονικός [ðэмоник´ос] демо­ни­че­ский,
Αίγυπτος [´эйип­тос] Еги­пет,
αρχαιολογία [архэолой´иа] архео­ло­гия
ΑΥ      αυ
[ав] перед глас­ным и звон­ким согласным παύω [п´аво] пре­кра­щаю,
τραυματισμός [травматизм´ос] ране­ние,
Αύγουστος [´авγустос] август,
υδραυλική [иðравлик´и] гид­рав­ли­ка,
Παύλος [п´авлос] Павел
[аф] перед глу­хим согласным παύση [п´афси] пре­кра­ще­ние, пау­за,
αυτόματο [афт´омато] авто­мат,
αυτοκράτωρ [афтокр´атор] само­дер­жец,
ναυτικός [нафтик´ос] мор­ской,
Αυστραλία [афстрал´иа] Австра­лия,
Αυστρία [афстр´иа] Австрия
Β      β
[в] βιογραφία [виоγраф´иа] био­гра­фия,
βιζαβί [визав´и] виза­ви,
βιταμίνες [витам´инес] вита­ми­ны,
βιβλιοθηκάριος [вивлиоθик´ариос] биб­лио­те­карь,
δισκοβολία [ðис­ковол´иа] дис­ко­ме­та­ние,
σερβιτόρος [сервит´орос] офи­ци­ант,
Βασίλειος ο Βουλγαροκτόνος [вас´илиос ο вулγарокт´онос] Васи­лий Болгаробойца
Γ      γ
[γ]: фри­ка­тив­ное г,
как в укра­ин­ском языке		 λόγος [л´оγос] сло­во,
λογοτεχνία [лоγотехн´иа] лите­ра­ту­ра,
Γαλλία [γал´иа] Фран­ция, Гал­лия,
γαλήνη [γал´ини] спо­кой­ствие,
Γαλήνη Гали­на,
Βουλγαρία [Вулγар´иа] Бол­га­рия,
γαστρικός [γастрик´ос] желу­доч­ный,
γεωγραφία [йэоγраф´иа] гео­гра­фия
[й],
близ­кое сред­не­языч­но­му г; перед ι,
ε,
η,
υ,
αι,
ει,
οι,
υι		 Γενάρης [йэн´арис] январь,
Γερμανία [йэрман´иа] Гер­ма­ния,
γενεαλογία [йэнэа­лой´иа] родо­слов­ная,
γύψινος [й´ипси­нос] гип­со­вый,
γυναίκα [йин´эка] жен­щи­на,
γυναικολογία [йинэко­лой´иа] гине­ко­ло­гия,
γεωγραφία [йэоγраф´иа] гео­гра­фия,
ευγενής [эвйэн´ис] бла­го­род­ный,
Ευγένιος [эвй´эниос] Евге­ний,
Αγία Σοφία [ай´иа соф´иа] свя­тая София,
ΓΓ      γγ
[ŋг]: ‘зад­не­языч­ное н+ г’ αγγούρι [аŋг´ури] огу­рец,
αγγλικός [аŋглик´ос] англий­ский,
εγγράμματος [эŋгр´аматос] гра­мот­ный,
πλάστιγγας [пл´астиŋгас] весы,
σπόγγος [сп´оŋгос] губ­ка
ΓΚ      γκ
[ŋг]: ‘зад­не­языч­ное н+ г’; в искон­ных словах άγκυρα [´аŋгира] якорь,
αγκυροβολώ [аŋгировол´о] бро­саю якорь,
αγκώνας [аŋг´онас] локоть,
αγκίστρι [аŋг´истри] крю­чок, удоч­ка,
εγκαρδιότητα [эŋгарðи´отита] сер­деч­ность,
εγκλιματισμός [эŋглиматизм´ос] аккли­ма­ти­за­ция
[г]; обыч­но в заим­ство­ван­ных сло­вах и/или в нача­ле слова γκαζόζα [газ´оза] гази­ро­ван­ная вода,
γκαρσόνι [гарс´они] офи­ци­ант,
γκιρλάντα [гирл´анда] гир­лян­да,
γκάζι [г´ази] газ,
γκαράζ [гар´аз] гараж,
γκαλερί [галэр´и] гале­рея,
γκαρνταρόμπα [гардар´оба] гар­де­роб,
Γιουγκοσλάβος [йугосл´авос] юго­слав
[ŋк]: ‘зад­не­языч­ное н+ к’; толь­ко в ино­стран­ных словах ιγκόγνιτο [иŋк´огни­то] инког­ни­то,
Φραγκφούρτη [фраŋкф´урти] Франк­фурт,
Ουάσιγκτον [у´асиŋктон] Вашинг­тон
ΓΧ      γχ
[ŋх]: ‘зад­не­языч­ное н+ х’ έγχρωμος [´эŋхромос] цвет­ной,
έγχορδος [´эŋхорðос] струн­ный,
αγχόνη [аŋх´они] пет­ля,
σύγχρονος [с´иŋхронос] совре­мен­ный
ΓΙ      γι
[й]; перед гласным Γιουγκοσλάβος [йугосл´авос] юго­слав,
Γιούλης [й´улис] июль,
Γιαπωνέζος [йапон´эзос] япо­нец,
Γιάννινα [й´ани­на] Яни­на,
άγιος [´айос] свя­той,
αγιοβασίλης [айовас´илис] дед-мороз,
αγιοβασιλιάτικος [айовасили´атикос] ново­год­ний
Δ      δ
[ð],
звон­кое меж­зуб­ное д,
как в сло­вах this,
there,
than англий­ско­го языка		 δέντρο [ð´энд­ро] дере­во,
δυάδα [ðи´аðа] пара,
δελφίνι [ðэлф´ини] дель­фин,
καθεδρικός ναός [каθэðрик´ос на´ос] кафед­раль­ный собор,
τετράδιο [тэтр´аðйо] тет­радь,
δημοκρατία [ðимократ´иа] рес­пуб­ли­ка,
εφημερίδα [эфимэр´иðа] еже­днев­ная газе­та,
δερμάτινος [ðэрм´атинос] кожа­ный,
δίπλωμα [ð´ипло­ма] диплом,
δραχμή [ðрахм´и] драх­ма,
ιδέα [иð´эа] идея,
ορθόδοξος [орθ´оðоксос] пра­во­слав­ный,
ιδιωτισμός [иðиотизм´ос] свое­об­ра­зие,
Δαρδανέλλια [ðарðан´элиа] Дар­да­нел­лы,
Δημήτριος [ðим´итриос] Дмит­рий
Ε      ε
[э] εκκλησία [экклис´иа] цер­ковь,
θερμόμετρο [θэрм´омэтро] теп­ло­из­ме­ри­тель,
Ελένη [эл´эни] Еле­на,
Ελβετία [элвэт´иа] Швей­ца­рия,
μετέωρος [мэт´эорос] паря­щий,
μετεωρολογικός [мэтэоролойик´ос] метео­ро­ло­ги­че­ский,
Μελίτη [мэл´ити] Маль­та
ΕΙ      ει
[и] ειρήνη [ир´ини] мир, спо­кой­ствие,
Ειρήνη Ири­на,
Ειρηνικός ωκεανός [ириник´ос окэан´ос] Тихий оке­ан,
ειρωνεία [ирон´иа] иро­ния,
εικόνα [ик´она] изоб­ра­же­ние, ико­на,
εικονογραφημένος [иконоγрафим´энос] иллю­стри­ро­ван­ный
ΕΥ      ευ
[эв] перед глас­ным и звон­ким согласным Ευρώπη [эвр´опи] Евро­па,
εύρηκα [´эврика] я нашел, эври­ка,
ευδοξία [эвðокс´иа] хоро­шая репу­та­ция,
ευγενής [эвйэн´ис] бла­го­род­ный,
Ευγένιος [эвй´эниос] Евге­ний,
παρασκευή [параскэв´и] при­го­тов­ле­ние,
Παρασκευή пят­ни­ца,
Παρασκευή Прас­ко­вья,
θεραπεύω [θэрап´эво] исце­ляю,
Εύα [´эва] Ева
[эф] перед глу­хим согласным ευκάλυπτος [эфк´алиптос] эвка­липт,
Εύξεινος πόντος [´эфкси­нос п´ондос] Госте­при­им­ное море (Чер­ное море),
θεραπευτικός [θэрапэфтик´ос] лечеб­ный
Ζ      ζ
[з] ζώνη [з´они] пояс, зона,
Ζάκυνθος [з´акин­фос] Зак­инф,
ζωή [зо´и] жизнь,
Ζωή Зоя,
ζωολόγος [зоол´оγос] зоо­лог,
ζωγραφική [зоγрафик´и] живо­пись
Η      η
[и] Ιησούς [иис´ус] Иисус,
Κρήτη [кр´ити] Крит,
αριθμητική [ариθмитик´и] ариф­ме­ти­ка,
ήπειρος [´ипирос] мате­рик,
Ήπειρος Эпир,
ηχώ [их´о] эхо,
ήλεκτρο [´илэк­тро] янтарь,
ηλεκτρονικός [илэктроник´ос] элек­три­че­ский,
ήρωας [´ироас] герой,
ηρωισμός [ироизм´ос] геро­изм,
κάμηλος [к´амилос] вер­блюд,
πάρδαλη [п´арðали] лео­пард,
καμηλοπάρδαλη [камилоп´арðали] жираф
Θ      θ
[θ],
глу­хое меж­зуб­ное т,
как в сло­вах three,
throw,
theatre англий­ско­го языка		 Θεσσαλία [θэсал´иа] Фес­са­лия,
Θράκη [θр´аки] Фра­кия,
Θήβαι [θ´ивэ] Фивы,
Θεσσαλονίκη [θэсалон´ики] Фес­са­ло­ни­ки,
αριθμός [ариθм´ос] чис­ло,
θήκη [θ´ики] хра­ни­ли­ще, футляр,
βιβλιοθήκη [вив­лиоθ´ики] кни­го­хра­ни­ли­ще,
αποθήκη [апоθ´ики] хра­ни­ли­ще (ср. апте­ка),
άρθρο [´арθро] сустав, артикль,
θεός [θэ´ос] бог,
θεολογία [θэолой´иа] бого­сло­вие,
Θεόδωρος [θэ´оðорос] Федор (дар Божий),
Τιμόθεος [тим´оθэос] Тимо­фей (почи­та­тель Бога),
ήθος [´иθос] нрав,
ηθικός [иθик´ос] эти­че­ский,
θεωρώ [θэор´о] рас­смат­ри­ваю,
θεωρία [θэор´иа] тео­рия, рас­смот­ре­ние,
πάθος [п´аθос] стра­да­ние, болезнь,
παθολόγος [паθол´оγос] врач-тера­певт
Ι      ι
[и] ιατρός [иатр´ос] врач,
παιδίατρος [пэð´иатрос] дет­ский врач,
ιππος [´ипос] конь,
Φίλιππος [ф´илипос] Филипп (коне­люб),
ιπποδρομία [ипоðром´иа] скáч­ки,
ιππική [ипик´и] кон­ный спорт,
ιστορία [истор´иа] исто­рия,
καλαμάρι [калам´ари] чер­ниль­ни­ца, каль­мар5,
συρτάκι[сирт´аки] сир­та­ки,
Ισραήλ [изра´ил] Изра­иль
Κ      κ
[к] κύκλος [к´иклос] круг,
Κυκλάδες [кикл´аðэс] Кикла­ды,
κόσμος [к´озмос] миро­по­ря­док,
κοσμητική [козми­тик´и] искус­ство наря­да,
κέραμος [к´эра­мос] чере­пи­ца,
κεραμική [кэра­мик´и] кера­ми­ка,
κροκόδειλος [крок´оðи­лос] кро­ко­дил,
άκακος [´акакос] незло­би­вый,
Ακάκιος [ак´акиос] Ака­кий
Λ      λ
[л] Λήμνος [л´имнос] Лем­нос,
λύρα [л´ира] лира,
λυρικός [лирик´ос] лири­че­ский,
λύση [л´иси] раз­вяз­ка,
παράλυση [пар´алиси] пара­лич,
κατακλύζω [катакл´изо] смы­ваю,
κατακλυσμός [катаклизм´ос] потоп, ката­клизм,
κλύσμα [кл´изма] про­мы­ва­ние, клиз­ма,
Λεωνίδας [лэон´иðас] Лео­нид
Μ      μ
[м] μορφή [морф´и] образ,
μούσα [м´уса] муза,
μουσική [мусик´и] музы­ка,
μουσείο [мус´ио] музей,
μιμούμαι [мим´умэ] под­ра­жаю,
Μακεδονία [макэðон´иа] Маке­до­ния,
Μαραθών [мараθ´он] Мара­фон,
Μόσχα [м´осха] Москва
ΜΠ    μπ
[б]; в нача­ле слова μπουφές [буф´эс] буфет,
μπότα [б´ота] сапог,
μπροσούρα [брос´ура] бро­шю­ра,
μπόμπα [б´омба] бом­ба
[мб]; в сере­дине сло­ва перед глас­ным или звон­ким согласным μπόμπα [б´омба] бом­ба,
εμπειρία [эмбир´иа] опыт,
λάμπω [л´амбо] све­чу,
λάμπα [л´амба] лам­па
[мп]; в сере­дине сло­ва перед глу­хим согласным άμεμπτος [´амемптос] без­упреч­ный,
σύμπτωμα [с´имптома] при­знак, симптом
Ν      ν
[н] νάρκη [н´арки] спяч­ка,
νάρκωση [н´арко­си] усып­ле­ние,
νικώ [ник´о] побеж­даю,
νικητής [никит´ис] побе­ди­тель,
Νικήτας [ник´итас] Ники­та,
Νεάπολις [нэ´аполис] Неа­поль,
Ναύπλιον [н´афп­лион] Нав­пли­он
ΝΤ      ντ
[д]; в нача­ле слова ντουζίνα [дуз´ина] дюжи­на,
ντιβάνι [див´ани] диван,
ντροπή [дроп´и] стыд
[нд]; в сере­дине сло­ва перед глас­ным или звон­ким согласным πέντε [п´энде] пять,
γέροντας [й´эрондас] ста­рик,
μαντίλι [манд´или] пла­ток,
πάντα [п´анда] все­гда,
μάντρα [м´андра] загон для ско­та,
αρχιμαντρίτης [архи­мандр´итис] архи­манд­рит
[нт]; в неко­то­рых ино­стран­ных словах κόντρα [к´онтра] про­тив,
κομπλιμέντο [комплим´энто] ком­пли­мент
Ξ      ξ
[кс] ξένος [кс´энос] чужой, гость,
Ξενία [ксэн´иа] Ксе­ния (госте­при­им­ная),
δόξα [ð´окса] сла­ва,
παράδοξος [пар´аðоксос] неве­ро­ят­ный,
Νάξος [н´аксос] Нак­сос,
Αλεξάνδρεια [алекс´анðриа] Алек­сан­дрия,
Αλέξης [ал´эксис] Алек­сей
Ο      ο
[о] ορθός [орθ´ос] пря­мой, пра­виль­ный,
ορθογραφία [орθоγраф´иа] пра­во­пи­са­ние,
Όλυμπος [´олимбос] Олимп,
όραση [´ораси] зре­ние,
πανόραμα [пан´орама] пано­ра­ма (букв. все­обо­зре­ние),
πόλεμος [п´олэмос] вой­на
ΟΙ      οι
[и] όμοιος [´омиос] подоб­ный,
ομοιοπαθητική [омиопаθитик´и] гомео­па­тия,
οίκος [´икос] дом,
οικονομία [иконом´иа] домо­хо­зяй­ство,
ποινή [пин´и] нака­за­ние (ср. пеня),
ποιητής [пиит´ис] поэт,
ποίηση [п´ииси] поэ­зия
ΟΥ      ου
[у] ουρανός [уран´ос] небо,
οικουμένη [икум´эни] мир (ойку­ме­на; насе­ля­е­мая зем­ля),
πλούτος [пл´утос] богат­ство,
ούζο [´узо] узо (сорт вод­ки),
νους [н´ус] ум,
Θεόδουλος [θэ´оðулос] Федул (раб Божий)
Π      π
[п] προπύλαια [проп´илэа] про­пи­леи,
πιπέρι [пип´эри] перец,
πολύκαρπος [пол´икарпос] мно­го­плод­ный,
Πολύκαρπος Поли­карп,
Παρνασσός [парнас´ос] Пар­нас,
Πέτρος [п´этрос] Петр
Ρ      ρ
[р] ρυθμός [риθм´ос] ритм, темп,
πρώτος [пр´отос] пер­вый,
δρώ [ðр´о] дей­ствую,
δράση [ðр´аси] дей­ствие,
δράμα [ðр´ама] дра­ма, дей­ство,
Ρόδος [р´оðос] Родос
Σ      σ,
ς
[с] Σάμος [с´амос] Самос,
στρατός [страт´ос] армия,
στρατηγός [страгиγ´ос] гене­рал,
σείω [с´ио] тря­су,
σεισμός [сизм´ос] зем­ле­тря­се­ние,
σοφία [соф´иа] муд­рость
[з]; перед звон­ким согласным σεισμός [сизм´ос] зем­ле­тря­се­ние,
κοσμητική [козмитик´и] кос­ме­ти­ка,
σχίσμα [сх´изма] рас­кол
Τ      τ
[т] τομή [том´и] раз­рез,
ανατομία [анатом´иа] ана­то­мия,
άτομο [´атомо] инди­ви­ду­ум, атом,
τροφή [троф´и] пита­ние,
στόμα [ст´ома] рот,
στήλη [ст´или] столб
ΤΖ      τζ
[дз] τζάκι [дз´аки] камин
ΤΣ      τσ
[ц] ρετσίνα [рэц´ина] реци­на (сорт вина),
τσίρκο [ц´ирко] цирк,
τσέπη [ц´эпи] кар­ман
Υ      υ
[и] τύπος [т´ипос] отпе­ча­ток,
τυπογραφικός [типоγрафик´ос] типо­граф­ский,
σύστημα [с´исти­ма] систе­ма,
μύθος [м´иθос] бас­ня, миф
Φ      φ
[ф] σφαίρα [сф´эра] шар,
φύση [ф´иси] при­ро­да,
φως [фос] свет,
φωτογραφία [фотоγ­раф´иа] све­то­пись, фото­гра­фия,
φιλώ [фил´о] целую
Χ      χ
[х] Χίος [х´иос] Хиос,
χρώμα [хр´ома] цвет,
χρωματισμός [хроматизм´ос] рас­цвет­ка,
χρηστομάθεια [христом´аθиа] хре­сто­ма­тия (букв. полез­ное для уче­ния),
χορός [хор´ос] танец
Ψ      ψ
[пс] ψυχή [псих´и] душа,
ψυχίατρος [псих´иатрос] пси­хи­атр (душе­це­ли­тель),
ψεύτης [пс´эфтис] обман­щик
Ω      ω
[о] ώρα [´ора] час,
άνθρωπος [´анθропос] чело­век,
συναγωγή [синаγой´и] сина­го­га (сон­ми­ще),
Ρώσος [р´осос] рус­ский,
Ρωσία [рос´иа] Рос­сия,
ρωσικά [росик´а] рус­ский язык
  1. В набо­ре UNICODE для гре­че­ско­го алфа­ви­та преду­смот­ре­ны сим­во­лы от U+0370 до U+03FF, для рас­ши­рен­но­го гре­че­ско­го алфа­ви­та от U+1F00 до U+1FFF, для древ­не­гре­че­ских цифр от U+10140 до U+1018F; есть так­же сим­во­лы для древ­них вари­ан­тов гре­че­ской пись­мен­но­сти — пись­ма Фест­ско­го дис­ка, крит­ско­го линей­но­го пись­ма B, карий­ско­го и кипр­ско­го сло­го­во­го письма.
  2. Началь­ное и сере­дин­ное написание.
  3. Конеч­ное написание.
  4. Для гре­че­ско­го вопро­си­тель­но­го зна­ка (;) в набо­ре UNICODE суще­ству­ет спе­ци­аль­ный сим­вол &#037E.
  5. Зна­че­ние раз­ви­лось бла­го­да­ря мета­фо­ре: каль­ма­ры выде­ля­ют чер­но­ва­тую жидкость.

Автор-соста­ви­тель таб­ли­цы чте­ния букв и бук­во­со­че­та­ний гре­че­ско­го язы­ка:
Егор А. Поли­кар­пов, про­све­ти­тель­ский про­ект «ZAUMNIK.RU — Уро­ки латы­ни и древнегреческого»

Бук­ва Назва­ние Про­из­но­ше­ние на русском Латин­ская транслитерация Чис­ло­вое значение
совр. греч. рус­ское др.-греч. совр. греч.
Α, α άλφα аль­фа а a 1
Β, β βήτα бета (вита) в b v 2
Γ, γ γάμμα
γάμα		 гам­ма глу­хая, шипя­щая Г, типа укра­ин­ской в сло­ве Гривна g gh, g, j 3
Δ, δ δέλτα дель­та д d d, dh 4
Ε, ε έψιλον эпси­лон э e 5
Ζ, ζ ζήτα дзе­та (зита) з z 7
Η, η ήτα эта (ита) и e, e i 8
Θ, θ θήτα тета (фита) как в англ. th th 9
Ι, ι ιώτα
γιώτα		 йота и/й i 10
Κ, κ κάππα κάπα кап­па к k 20
Λ, λ λάμδα λάμβδα лям­да (лямб­да) л l 30
Μ, μ μι
μυ		 мю (ми) м m 40
Ν, ν νι
νυ		 ню (ни) н n 50
Ξ, ξ ξι кси кс x x, ks 60
Ο, ο όμικρον омик­рон о o 70
Π, π πι пи п p 80
Ρ, ρ ρω ро р r (ῥ: rh) r 100
Σ, σ, ς σίγμα сиг­ма с s 200
Τ, τ ταυ тау (тав) т t 300
Υ, υ ύψιλον ипси­лон и/й/в/ф u, y y, v, f 400
Φ, φ φι фи ф ph f 500
Χ, χ χι хи х ch ch, kh 600
Ψ, ψ ψι пси пс ps 700
Ω, ω ωμέγα оме­га о o, o o 800

Особенности произношения

Ряд гре­че­ских букв в зави­си­мо­сти от сво­е­го поло­же­ния пере­да­ёт несколь­ко звуков:

γ – про­из­но­сит­ся как укра­ин­ское Г (глу­хое), но перед глас­ны­ми ε, ι, η, υ ста­но­вит­ся похо­же на Й:
γίνομαι (йи́номэ) – ста­нов­люсь
γιὲν (йе́н) – йен,
а перед соглас­ны­ми γ, κ, χ, ξ (т.е. в соче­та­ни­ях γγ, γκ, γχ, γξ) про­из­но­сит­ся как Н:
άγγλος (а́нглос) – англи­ча­нин
Αγκόλα (Анго́ла) – Анго­ла
άγχος (а́нхос) – стресс

η, ι, υ – про­из­но­сят­ся как рус­ское И, но в без­удар­ном поло­же­нии (после глас­ных и перед глас­ны­ми) как рус­ское Й:
Μάιος (Ма́йос) – Май

υ – меж­ду глас­ны­ми и звон­ки­ми соглас­ны­ми а так­же меж­ду дву­мя глас­ны­ми зву­чит как рус­ское В:
αυγό (авго́) – яйцо
αυλή (авли́) – двор
αλιέυω (алиэ́во) – рыба­чу,
а перед глу­хи­ми соглас­ны­ми как рус­ское Ф:
αυτό (афто́) – это
ευκαιρία (эфкери́я) – шанс

κ – про­из­но­сит­ся как рус­ское К, но после букв γ и ν зву­чит как Г:
ανάγκη (ана́нги) – необ­хо­ди­мость
Звук Г в сло­вах ино­стран­но­го про­ис­хож­де­ния обыч­но пере­да­ёт­ся соче­та­ни­ем γκ:
γκολ (гол) – гол

σ – про­из­но­сит­ся как рус­ское С, а перед звон­ки­ми соглас­ны­ми как З:
πλάσμα (пла́зма) – суще­ство
(σ пишет­ся в нача­ле и в сере­дине сло­ва, в кон­це сло­ва пишет­ся ОБЯЗАТЕЛЬНО ς)

π – про­из­но­сит­ся как рус­ское П, но после μ зву­чит как Б:
έμπορος (э́мборос) – торговец

τ – про­из­но­сит­ся как рус­ское Т, но после ν зву­чит как Д:
έντονος (э́ндонос) – яркий

ξ и ψ – про­из­но­сят­ся как КС и ПС, но когда пред­ше­ству­ю­щее сло­во окан­чи­ва­ет­ся на Н, то зву­чат более звон­ко, при­мер­но как ГЗ и БЗ:
τον ξέρω (тон кзе́ро) – я его знаю

Бук­вы δ и θ не име­ют точ­но­го соот­вет­свия в рус­ском язы­ке.
δ – как англий­ское th в сло­вах this, they, далее буду обо­зна­чать в тран­скрип­ции как [д]
θ – как англий­ское th в сло­вах think, thin, далее буду обо­зна­чать в тран­скрип­ции как [ф]

λ – про­из­но­сит­ся мяг­ко, как Л в назва­нии ноты Ля

Сочетания букв

Соче­та­ния μπ и ντ в НАЧАЛЕ слов чита­ют­ся как Б и Д соот­вет­ствен­но:
μπορώ (боро́) – могу
ντύνω (ди́но) – одеваю

Соче­та­ние τσ – пере­да­ёт звук Ц:
έτσι (э́ци) – так 

Соче­та­ние τζ – пере­да­ёт звук ДЗ:
τζάμι (дза́ми) – стекло

Соче­та­ния ει, οι, υι пере­да­ют звук И:
κείμενο (ки́мено) – текст

Соче­та­ние ου про­из­но­сит­ся как У:
Άγια Πετρούπολη (А́йя Петру́поли) – Санкт Петербург

Соче­та­ние αι про­из­но­сит­ся как Э или Е:
αίμα (э́ма) – кровь

Соче­та­ния αυ, ευ, ηυ в неко­то­рых слу­ча­ях про­из­но­сят­ся как АВ или АФ, ЕВ или ЕФ, ИВ или ИФ (смот­ри­те выше – бук­ва υ)

Соче­та­ние ντ чита­ет­ся, как НД.

Соче­та­ние γχ чита­ет­ся, как НХ.

Нет раз­ни­цы в про­из­но­ше­нии удво­ен­ных соглас­ных (исклю­че­ние γγ – см. выше). Напри­мер: ββ чита­ет­ся, как β, κκ = κ, μμ = μ, νν = ν, ππ = π, σσ = σ, ττ = τ.

Источник

Ελληνικό αλφάβητο [элинико́ алфа́вито] — греческий алфавит используется в греческом языке и в довольно малочисленной языковой греческой группе. Несмотря на это он является одним из самых древних (предположительно IX век) и изученных. Слово «Алфавит», заимствованное нами у греков состоит из названий двух первых букв: «альфа» и «вита» (по аналогии была названа и наша «Азбука»: «аз» и«буки»). Как современный, так и древнегреческий греческий алфавит состоит из 24 букв: гласных и согласных.

Греческий алфавит история

Буквы греческого алфавита были частично заимствованы из финикийского письма консонантного типа записи слов (с использованием только согласных звуков). В связи с особенностью греческого языка некоторые символы, обозначающие согласные, стали употребляться для записи гласных звуков. Таким образом греческий алфавит можно считать первым в истории письменности, который состоял из гласных и согласных. Финикийские буквы изменили не только свои начертания, но и наименования. Изначально все символы финикийской системы записи имели названия, обозначающие какое-либо слово и обозначали начальную букву этого слова. В греческой транскрипции слова немного изменили свое звучание, и смысловая нагрузка была утрачена. Также были добавлены новые символы для обозначения недостающих гласных звуков.

Современный греческий алфавит с транскрипцией

(новогреческий язык)

Буква Греческое название Русское название Произношение
Α α άλφα альфа [a]
Β β βήτα бета (вита) [β]
Γ γ γάμμα
γάμα		 гамма [ɣ], [ʝ]
Δ δ δέλτα дельта [ð]
Ε ε έψιλον эпсилон [e]
Ζ ζ ζήτα дзета (зита) [z]
Η η ήτα эта (ита) [i]
Θ θ θήτα тета (фита) [θ]
Ι ι ιώτα
γιώτα		 йота [i], [j]
Κ κ κάππα
κάπα		 каппа [k], [c]
Λ λ λάμδα
λάμβδα		 лямбда (лямда) [l]
Μ μ μι
μυ		 мю (ми) [m]
Ν ν νι
νυ		 ню (ни) [n]
Ξ ξ ξι кси [ks]
Ο ο όμικρον омикрон [o]
Π π πι пи [p]
Ρ ρ ρω ро [r]
Σ σ ς σίγμα сигма [s]
Τ τ ταυ тау (тав) [t]
Υ υ ύψιλον ипсилон [i]
Φ φ φι фи [ɸ]
Χ χ χι хи [x], [ç]
Ψ ψ ψι пси [ps]
Ω ω ωμέγα омега [o]

Древний греческий алфавит с транскрипцией

(древнегреческий язык)

Буква Др. -греческое название Русское название Произношение
Α α ἄλφα альфа [a] [aː]
Β β βῆτα бета (вита) [b]
Γ γ γάμμα гамма [g]/[n]
Δ δ δέλτα дельта [d]
Ε ε εἶ эпсилон [e]
Ζ ζ ζῆτα дзета (зита) [dz], позже [zː]
Η η ἦτα эта (ита) [ɛː]
Θ θ θῆτα тета (фита) [tʰ]
Ι ι ἰῶτα йота [i] [iː]
Κ κ κάππα каппа [k]
Λ λ λάμδα лямбда (лямда) [l]
Μ μ μῦ мю (ми) [m]
Ν ν νῦ ню (ни) [n]
Ξ ξ ξεῖ кси [ks]
Ο ο οὖ омикрон [o]
Π π πεῖ пи [p]
Ρ ρ ῥῶ ро [r], [r̥]
Σ σ ς σῖγμα сигма [s]
Τ τ ταῦ тау (тав) [t]
Υ υ ὖ ипсилон [y], [yː]
(ранее [u], [uː])
Φ φ φεῖ фи [pʰ]
Χ χ χεῖ хи [kʰ]
Ψ ψ ψεῖ пси [ps]
Ω ω ὦ омега [ɔː]

Цифры греческого алфавита

Символы греческого алфавита использовались также в системе записи чисел. Буквами по порядку обозначались цифры с 1 до 9, затем числа от 10 до 90, кратные 10, а затем числа от 100 до 900, кратные 100. В связи с тем, что знаков алфавита для записи чисел было недостаточно, систему счисления дополнили символами:

  • ϛ (стигма)
  • ϟ (коппа)
  • ϡ (сампи)
Буква Значение Название
Α α 1 альфа
Β β 2 бета (вита)
Γ γ 3 гамма
Δ δ 4 дельта
Ε ε 5 эпсилон
Ϛ ϛ 6 стигма
Ζ ζ 7 дзета (зита)
Η η 8 эта (ита)
Θ θ 9 тета (фита)
Ι ι 10 йота
Κ κ 20 каппа
Λ λ 30 лямбда (лямда)
Μ μ 40 мю (ми)
Ν ν 50 ню (ни)
Ξ ξ 60 кси
Ο ο 70 омикрон
Π π 80 пи
Ϙ ϙ или Ϟ ϟ 90 ко́ппа
Ρ ρ 100 ро
Σ σ ς 200 сигма
Τ τ 300 тау (тав)
Υ υ 400 ипсилон
Φ φ 500 фи
Χ χ 600 хи
Ψ ψ 700 пси
Ω ω 800 омега
Ϡ ϡ 900 сампи


Источник
Greek alphabet
Greekalphabet.svg

Ellinikó alfávito
«Greek alphabet» in the modern Greek language
Script type

Alphabet

Time period

 c. 800 BC – present[1][2]
Direction left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
Official script  Greece

 Cyprus

 European Union
Languages Greek
Related scripts

Parent systems

Egyptian hieroglyphs

  • Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
    • Phoenician alphabet
      • Greek alphabet

Child systems
  • Gothic
  • Glagolitic
  • Cyrillic
  • Coptic
  • Armenian
  • Old Italic and thus Latin
  • Georgian
  • Anatolian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924 Grek (200), ​Greek
Unicode

Unicode alias

 Greek

Unicode range
  • U+0370–U+03FF Greek and Coptic
  • U+1F00–U+1FFF Greek Extended

The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE.[3][4] It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet,[5] and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic and early Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in many local variants, but, by the end of the 4th century BCE, the Euclidean alphabet, with 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega, had become standard and it is this version that is still used for Greek writing today.

The uppercase and lowercase forms of the 24 letters are:

Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.

The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.[6] Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between uppercase and lowercase in parallel with Latin during the modern era. Sound values and conventional transcriptions for some of the letters differ between Ancient and Modern Greek usage because the pronunciation of Greek has changed significantly between the 5th century BCE and today. Modern and Ancient Greek also use different diacritics, with modern Greek keeping only the stress accent (acute) and the diaeresis.

Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of technical symbols and labels in many domains of mathematics, science, and other fields.

Letters

Sound values

In both Ancient and Modern Greek, the letters of the Greek alphabet have fairly stable and consistent symbol-to-sound mappings, making pronunciation of words largely predictable. Ancient Greek spelling was generally near-phonemic. For a number of letters, sound values differ considerably between Ancient and Modern Greek, because their pronunciation has followed a set of systematic phonological shifts that affected the language in its post-classical stages.[7]

Letter Name Ancient pronunciation Modern pronunciation
IPA[8] Approximate western European equivalent IPA[9] Approximate western European equivalent[10]
Α α alpha, άλφα Short: [a]
Long: [aː]		 Short: first a as in English await[11]
Long: a as in English father[11]		 [a] a as in English father, but short
Β β beta, βήτα [b][12][11] b as in English better[13][12][11] [v] v as in English vote
Γ γ gamma, γάμμα [ɡ]
[ŋ] when used before γ, κ, ξ, χ, and possibly μ		 g as in English get[12][11]
ng as in English sing when used before γ, κ, ξ, χ, and possibly μ[12][11][ex 1]		 [ɣ] ~ [ʝ],
[ŋ][ex 2] ~ [ɲ][ex 3]		 g as in Spanish lago or y as in English yellow, ng as in English long
Δ δ delta, δέλτα [d] d as in English delete[13][12][11] [ð] th as in English then
Ε ε epsilon, έψιλον [e] e as in English pet[11]
Ζ ζ zeta, ζήτα [zd], or possibly [dz] sd as in English wisdom,
or possibly dz as in English adze[14][15][note 1]		 [z] z as in English zoo
Η η eta, ήτα [ɛː] ê as in French tête[16] [i] i as in English machine, but short
Θ θ theta, θήτα [tʰ] t as in English top[16][11][note 2] [θ] th as in English thin
Ι ι iota, ιώτα Short: [i]
Long: [iː]		 Short: i as in French vite,[16]
Long: i as in English machine[10]		 [i], [ç],[ex 4] [ʝ],[ex 5] [ɲ][ex 6] i as in English machine, but short
Κ κ kappa, κάππα [k] k as in English,[16][11] but completely unaspirated[16] [k] ~ [c] k as in English make
Λ λ la(m)bda, λά(μ)βδα[note 3] [l] l as in English lantern[13][18][11]
Μ μ mu, μυ [m] m as in English music[13][18][11]
Ν ν nu, νυ [n] n as in English net[18]
Ξ ξ xi, ξι [ks] x as in English fox[18]
Ο ο omicron, όμικρον [o] o as in German ohne
Π π pi, πι [p] p as in English top[18][11]
Ρ ρ rho, ρώ [r] trilled r as in Italian or Spanish[18][11][13]
Σ σ/ς, Ϲ ϲ[note 4] sigma, σίγμα [s]
[z] before β, γ, or μ		 s as in English soft[11]
s as in English muse when used before β, γ, or μ[18]
Τ τ tau, ταυ [t] t as in English coat[18][11]
Υ υ upsilon, ύψιλον Short: [y]
Long: [yː]		 Short: u as in French lune
Long: u as in French ruse[18]		 [i] i as in English machine, but short
Φ φ phi, φι [pʰ] p as in English pot[22][note 2] [f] f as in English five
Χ χ chi, χι [kʰ] c as in English cat[11][note 2] [x] ~ [ç] ch as in Scottish loch ~ h as in English hue
Ψ ψ psi, ψι [ps] ps as in English lapse[22][11]
Ω ω omega, ωμέγα [ɔː] aw as in English saw[11][note 5] [o] o as in German ohne, similar to British English soft
Examples
  1. ^ For example, ἀγκών.
  2. ^ For example, εγγραφή.
  3. ^ For example, εγγεγραμμένος.
  4. ^ For example, πάπια.
  5. ^ For example, βια.
  6. ^ For example, μια.
Notes
  1. ^ By around 350 BC, zeta in the Attic dialect had shifted to become a single fricative, [z], as in modern Greek.[16]
  2. ^ a b c The letters theta ⟨θ⟩, phi ⟨φ⟩, and chi ⟨χ⟩ are normally taught to English speakers with their modern Greek pronunciations of [θ], [f], and [x] ~ [ç] respectively, because these sounds are easier for English speakers to distinguish from the sounds made by the letters tau ([t]), pi ([p]), and kappa ([k]) respectively.[17][15] These are not the sounds they made in classical Attic Greek.[17][15] In classical Attic Greek, these three letters were always aspirated consonants, pronounced exactly like tau, pi, and kappa respectively, only with a blast of air following the actual consonant sound.[17][15]
  3. ^ Although the letter Λ is almost universally known today as lambda (λάμβδα), the most common name for it during the Greek Classical Period (510–323 BC) appears to have been labda (λάβδα), without the μ.[11]
  4. ^ The letter sigma ⟨Σ⟩ has two different lowercase forms in its standard variant, ⟨σ⟩ and ⟨ς⟩, with ⟨ς⟩ being used in word-final position and ⟨σ⟩ elsewhere.[15][18][19] In some 19th-century typesetting, ⟨ς⟩ was also used word-medially at the end of a compound morpheme, e.g. «δυςκατανοήτων», marking the morpheme boundary between «δυς-κατανοήτων» («difficult to understand»); modern standard practice is to spell «δυσκατανοήτων» with a non-final sigma.[19] The letter sigma also has an alternative variant, the lunate sigma (uppercase Ϲ, lowercase ϲ), which is used in all positions.[15][18][20] This form of the letter developed during the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) as a simplification of the older Σ σ/ς variant.[20] Thus, the word stasis can either be written στάσις or ϲτάϲιϲ.[21] In modern, edited Greek texts, the lunate sigma typically appears primarily in older typesetting.[18]
  5. ^ The letter omega ⟨ω⟩ is normally taught to English speakers as [oʊ], the long o as in English go, in order to more clearly distinguish it from omicron ⟨ο⟩.[22][15] This is not the sound it actually made in classical Attic Greek.[22][15]

Among consonant letters, all letters that denoted voiced plosive consonants (/b, d, g/) and aspirated plosives (/pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/) in Ancient Greek stand for corresponding fricative sounds in Modern Greek. The correspondences are as follows:

  Former voiced plosives Former aspirates
Letter Ancient Modern Letter Ancient Modern
Labial Β β /b/ /v/ Φ φ /pʰ/ /f/
Dental Δ δ /d/ /ð/ Θ θ /tʰ/ /θ/
Dorsal Γ γ /ɡ/ [ɣ] ~ [ʝ] Χ χ /kʰ/ [x] ~ [ç]

Among the vowel symbols, Modern Greek sound values reflect the radical simplification of the vowel system of post-classical Greek, merging multiple formerly distinct vowel phonemes into a much smaller number. This leads to several groups of vowel letters denoting identical sounds today. Modern Greek orthography remains true to the historical spellings in most of these cases. As a consequence, the spellings of words in Modern Greek are often not predictable from the pronunciation alone, while the reverse mapping, from spelling to pronunciation, is usually regular and predictable.

The following vowel letters and digraphs are involved in the mergers:

Letter Ancient Modern
Η η ɛː > i
Ι ι i(ː)
ΕΙ ει eː
Υ υ u(ː) > y
ΟΙ οι oi > y
ΥΙ υι yː > y
Ω ω ɔː > o
Ο ο o
Ε ε e > e
ΑΙ αι ai

Modern Greek speakers typically use the same, modern symbol–sound mappings in reading Greek of all historical stages. In other countries, students of Ancient Greek may use a variety of conventional approximations of the historical sound system in pronouncing Ancient Greek.

Digraphs and letter combinations

Several letter combinations have special conventional sound values different from those of their single components. Among them are several digraphs of vowel letters that formerly represented diphthongs but are now monophthongized. In addition to the four mentioned above (⟨ει, οι, υι⟩, pronounced /i/ and ⟨αι⟩, pronounced /e/), there is also ⟨ηι, ωι⟩, and ⟨ου⟩, pronounced /u/. The Ancient Greek diphthongs ⟨αυ⟩, ⟨ευ⟩ and ⟨ηυ⟩ are pronounced [av], [ev] and [iv] in Modern Greek. In some environments, they are devoiced to [af], [ef] and [if] respectively.[23] The Modern Greek consonant combinations ⟨μπ⟩ and ⟨ντ⟩ stand for [b] and [d] (or [mb] and [nd]) respectively; ⟨τζ⟩ stands for [d͡z] and ⟨τσ⟩ stands for [t͡s]. In addition, both in Ancient and Modern Greek, the letter ⟨γ⟩, before another velar consonant, stands for the velar nasal [ŋ]; thus ⟨γγ⟩ and ⟨γκ⟩ are pronounced like English ⟨ng⟩. In analogy to ⟨μπ⟩ and ⟨ντ⟩, ⟨γκ⟩ is also used to stand for [g]. There are also the combinations ⟨γχ⟩ and ⟨γξ⟩.

Combination Pronunciation Devoiced pronunciation
⟨αυ⟩ [av] [af]
⟨ευ⟩ [ev] [ef]
⟨ηυ⟩ [iv] [if]
⟨μπ⟩ [b] –
⟨ντ⟩ [d] –
⟨γκ⟩ [ɡ] –
⟨τζ⟩ [d͡z] –
⟨τσ⟩ [t͡s] –

Diacritics

In the polytonic orthography traditionally used for ancient Greek, the stressed vowel of each word carries one of three accent marks: either the acute accent (ά), the grave accent (ὰ), or the circumflex accent (α̃ or α̑). These signs were originally designed to mark different forms of the phonological pitch accent in Ancient Greek. By the time their use became conventional and obligatory in Greek writing, in late antiquity, pitch accent was evolving into a single stress accent, and thus the three signs have not corresponded to a phonological distinction in actual speech ever since. In addition to the accent marks, every word-initial vowel must carry either of two so-called «breathing marks»: the rough breathing (ἁ), marking an /h/ sound at the beginning of a word, or the smooth breathing (ἀ), marking its absence. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, also carries rough breathing in a word-initial position. If a rho was geminated within a word, the first ρ always had the smooth breathing and the second the rough breathing (ῤῥ) leading to the transliteration rrh.

The vowel letters ⟨α, η, ω⟩ carry an additional diacritic in certain words, the so-called iota subscript, which has the shape of a small vertical stroke or a miniature ⟨ι⟩ below the letter. This iota represents the former offglide of what were originally long diphthongs, ⟨ᾱι, ηι, ωι⟩ (i.e. /aːi, ɛːi, ɔːi/), which became monophthongized during antiquity.

Another diacritic used in Greek is the diaeresis (¨), indicating a hiatus.

This system of diacritics was first developed by the scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 257 – c. 185/180 BC), who worked at the Musaeum in Alexandria during the third century BC.[24] Aristophanes of Byzantium also was the first to divide poems into lines, rather than writing them like prose, and also introduced a series of signs for textual criticism.[25] In 1982, a new, simplified orthography, known as «monotonic», was adopted for official use in Modern Greek by the Greek state. It uses only a single accent mark, the acute (also known in this context as tonos, i.e. simply «accent»), marking the stressed syllable of polysyllabic words, and occasionally the diaeresis to distinguish diphthongal from digraph readings in pairs of vowel letters, making this monotonic system very similar to the accent mark system used in Spanish. The polytonic system is still conventionally used for writing Ancient Greek, while in some book printing and generally in the usage of conservative writers it can still also be found in use for Modern Greek.

Although it is not a diacritic, the comma has a similar function as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι (ó,ti, «whatever») from ότι (óti, «that»).[26]

Romanization

There are many different methods of rendering Greek text or Greek names in the Latin script.[27] The form in which classical Greek names are conventionally rendered in English goes back to the way Greek loanwords were incorporated into Latin in antiquity.[28] In this system, ⟨κ⟩ is replaced with ⟨c⟩, the diphthongs ⟨αι⟩ and ⟨οι⟩ are rendered as ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (or ⟨æ,œ⟩) respectively; and ⟨ει⟩ and ⟨ου⟩ are simplified to ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ respectively.[29] Smooth breathing marks are usually ignored and rough breathing marks are usually rendered as the letter ⟨h⟩.[30] In modern scholarly transliteration of Ancient Greek, ⟨κ⟩ will usually be rendered as ⟨k⟩, and the vowel combinations ⟨αι, οι, ει, ου⟩ as ⟨ai, oi, ei, ou⟩ respectively.[27] The letters ⟨θ⟩ and ⟨φ⟩ are generally rendered as ⟨th⟩ and ⟨ph⟩; ⟨χ⟩ as either ⟨ch⟩ or ⟨kh⟩; and word-initial ⟨ρ⟩ as ⟨rh⟩.[31]

Transcription conventions for Modern Greek[32] differ widely, depending on their purpose, on how close they stay to the conventional letter correspondences of Ancient Greek-based transcription systems, and to what degree they attempt either an exact letter-by-letter transliteration or rather a phonetically-based transcription.[32] Standardized formal transcription systems have been defined by the International Organization for Standardization (as ISO 843),[32][33] by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names,[34] by the Library of Congress,[35] and others.

Letter Traditional Latin transliteration[31]
Α α A a
Β β B b
Γ γ G g
Δ δ D d
Ε ε E e
Ζ ζ Z z
Η η Ē ē
Θ θ Th th
Ι ι I i
Κ κ C c, K k
Λ λ L l
Μ μ M m
Ν ν N n
Ξ ξ X x
Ο ο O o
Π π P p
Ρ ρ R r, Rh rh
Σ σ/ς S s
Τ τ T t
Υ υ Y y, U u
Φ φ Ph ph
Χ χ Ch ch, Kh kh
Ψ ψ Ps ps
Ω ω Ō ō

History

Origins

Dipylon inscription, one of the oldest known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet, c. 740 BC

During the Mycenaean period, from around the sixteenth century to the twelfth century BC, Linear B was used to write the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known as Mycenaean Greek. This writing system, unrelated to the Greek alphabet, last appeared in the thirteenth century BC. In the late ninth century BC or early eighth century BC, the Greek alphabet emerged.[2] The period between the use of the two writing systems, during which no Greek texts are attested, is known as the Greek Dark Ages. The Greeks adopted the alphabet from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, one of the closely related scripts used for the West Semitic languages, calling it Φοινικήια γράμματα ‘Phoenician letters’.[36] However, the Phoenician alphabet is limited to consonants. When it was adopted for writing Greek, certain consonants were adapted to express vowels. The use of both vowels and consonants makes Greek the first alphabet in the narrow sense,[6] as distinguished from the abjads used in Semitic languages, which have letters only for consonants.[37]

Greek initially took over all of the 22 letters of Phoenician. Five were reassigned to denote vowel sounds: the glide consonants /j/ (yodh) and /w/ (waw) were used for [i] (Ι, iota) and [u] (Υ, upsilon) respectively; the glottal stop consonant /ʔ/ (aleph) was used for [a] (Α, alpha); the pharyngeal /ʕ/ (ʿayin) was turned into [o] (Ο, omicron); and the letter for /h/ (he) was turned into [e] (Ε, epsilon). A doublet of waw was also borrowed as a consonant for [w] (Ϝ, digamma). In addition, the Phoenician letter for the emphatic glottal /ħ/ (heth) was borrowed in two different functions by different dialects of Greek: as a letter for /h/ (Η, heta) by those dialects that had such a sound, and as an additional vowel letter for the long /ɛː/ (Η, eta) by those dialects that lacked the consonant. Eventually, a seventh vowel letter for the long /ɔː/ (Ω, omega) was introduced.

Greek also introduced three new consonant letters for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters: Φ (phi) for /pʰ/, Χ (chi) for /kʰ/ and Ψ (psi) for /ps/. In western Greek variants, Χ was instead used for /ks/ and Ψ for /kʰ/. The origin of these letters is a matter of some debate.

Three of the original Phoenician letters dropped out of use before the alphabet took its classical shape: the letter Ϻ (san), which had been in competition with Σ (sigma) denoting the same phoneme /s/; the letter Ϙ (qoppa), which was redundant with Κ (kappa) for /k/, and Ϝ (digamma), whose sound value /w/ dropped out of the spoken language before or during the classical period.

Greek was originally written predominantly from right to left, just like Phoenician, but scribes could freely alternate between directions. For a time, a writing style with alternating right-to-left and left-to-right lines (called boustrophedon, literally «ox-turning», after the manner of an ox ploughing a field) was common, until in the classical period the left-to-right writing direction became the norm. Individual letter shapes were mirrored depending on the writing direction of the current line.

Archaic variants

Distribution of «green», «red» and «blue» alphabet types, after Kirchhoff.

There were initially numerous local (epichoric) variants of the Greek alphabet, which differed in the use and non-use of the additional vowel and consonant symbols and several other features. Epichoric alphabets are commonly divided into four major types according to their different treatments of additional consonant letters for the aspirated consonants (/pʰ, kʰ/) and consonant clusters (/ks, ps/) of Greek.[38] These four types are often conventionally labelled as «green», «red», «light blue» and «dark blue» types, based on a colour-coded map in a seminal 19th-century work on the topic, Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Alphabets by Adolf Kirchhoff (1867).[38]

The «green» (or southern) type is the most archaic and closest to the Phoenician.[39] The «red» (or western) type is the one that was later transmitted to the West and became the ancestor of the Latin alphabet, and bears some crucial features characteristic of that later development.[39] The «blue» (or eastern) type is the one from which the later standard Greek alphabet emerged.[39] Athens used a local form of the «light blue» alphabet type until the end of the fifth century BC, which lacked the letters Ξ and Ψ as well as the vowel symbols Η and Ω.[39][40] In the Old Attic alphabet, ΧΣ stood for /ks/ and ΦΣ for /ps/. Ε was used for all three sounds /e, eː, ɛː/ (correspondinɡ to classical Ε, ΕΙ, Η respectively), and Ο was used for all of /o, oː, ɔː/ (corresponding to classical Ο, ΟΥ, Ω respectively).[40] The letter Η (heta) was used for the consonant /h/.[40] Some variant local letter forms were also characteristic of Athenian writing, some of which were shared with the neighboring (but otherwise «red») alphabet of Euboia: a form of Λ that resembled a Latin L (Greek Lambda Athenian.svg) and a form of Σ that resembled a Latin S (Greek Sigma Z-shaped.svg).[40]

Phoenician model Phoenician aleph.svg Phoenician beth.svg Phoenician gimel.svg Phoenician daleth.svg Phoenician he.svg Phoenician waw.svg Phoenician zayin.svg Phoenician heth.svg Phoenician teth.svg Phoenician yodh.svg Phoenician kaph.svg Phoenician lamedh.svg Phoenician mem.svg Phoenician nun.svg Phoenician samekh.svg Phoenician ayin.svg Phoenician pe.svg Phoenician sade.svg Phoenician qoph.svg Phoenician res.svg Phoenician sin.svg Phoenician taw.svg
Southern «green» Greek Alpha 03.svg Greek Beta 16.svg Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg Greek Delta 04.svg Greek Epsilon archaic.svg Greek Digamma oblique.svg Greek Zeta archaic.svg Greek Eta archaic.svg — Greek Theta archaic.svg Greek Iota normal.svg Greek Kappa normal.svg Greek Lambda 09.svg Greek Mu 04.svg Greek Nu 01.svg — Greek Omicron 04.svg Greek Pi archaic.svg Greek San 02.svg Greek Koppa normal.svg Greek Rho pointed.svg Greek Sigma normal.svg Greek Tau normal.svg Greek Upsilon normal.svg* — — — — —
Western «red» Greek Chi normal.svg Greek Phi archaic.svg Greek Psi straight.svg
Eastern «light blue» — Greek Chi normal.svg
«dark blue» Greek Xi archaic.svg Greek Psi straight.svg
Classic Ionian — — Greek Eta normal.svg — — Greek Omega normal.svg
Modern alphabet Α Β Γ Δ Ε — Ζ — Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π — — Ρ Σ Τ Υ — Φ Χ Ψ Ω
Sound in Ancient Greek a b g d e w zd h ē tʰ i k l m n ks o p s k r s t u ks pʰ kʰ ps ō

*Upsilon is also derived from waw (Phoenician waw.svg).

The classical twenty-four-letter alphabet that is now used to represent the Greek language was originally the local alphabet of Ionia.[41] By the late fifth century BC, it was commonly used by many Athenians.[41] In c. 403 BC, at the suggestion of the archon Eucleides, the Athenian Assembly formally abandoned the Old Attic alphabet and adopted the Ionian alphabet as part of the democratic reforms after the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants.[41][42] Because of Eucleides’s role in suggesting the idea to adopt the Ionian alphabet, the standard twenty-four-letter Greek alphabet is sometimes known as the «Eucleidean alphabet».[41] Roughly thirty years later, the Eucleidean alphabet was adopted in Boeotia and it may have been adopted a few years previously in Macedonia.[43] By the end of the fourth century BC, it had displaced local alphabets across the Greek-speaking world to become the standard form of the Greek alphabet.[43]

Letter names

When the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, they took over not only the letter shapes and sound values but also the names by which the sequence of the alphabet could be recited and memorized. In Phoenician, each letter name was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus ʾaleph, the word for «ox», was used as the name for the glottal stop /ʔ/, bet, or «house», for the /b/ sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, ʾaleph, bet, gimel became alpha, beta, gamma.

The Greek names of the following letters are more or less straightforward continuations of their Phoenician antecedents. Between Ancient and Modern Greek, they have remained largely unchanged, except that their pronunciation has followed regular sound changes along with other words (for instance, in the name of beta, ancient /b/ regularly changed to modern /v/, and ancient /ɛː/ to modern /i/, resulting in the modern pronunciation vita). The name of lambda is attested in early sources as λάβδα besides λάμβδα;[44][11] in Modern Greek the spelling is often λάμδα, reflecting pronunciation.[11] Similarly, iota is sometimes spelled γιώτα in Modern Greek ([ʝ] is conventionally transcribed ⟨γ{ι,η,υ,ει,οι}⟩ word-initially and intervocalically before back vowels and /a/). In the tables below, the Greek names of all letters are given in their traditional polytonic spelling; in modern practice, like with all other words, they are usually spelled in the simplified monotonic system.

The names of the letters in spoken Standard Modern Greek

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek Phoenician original English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Α ἄλφα aleph alpha [alpʰa] [ˈalfa] (listen)
Β βῆτα beth beta [bɛːta] [ˈvita] , US:
Γ γάμμα gimel gamma [ɡamma] [ˈɣama]
Δ δέλτα daleth delta [delta] [ˈðelta]
Η ἦτα heth eta [hɛːta], [ɛːta] [ˈita] , US:
Θ θῆτα teth theta [tʰɛːta] [ˈθita] , US: (listen)
Ι ἰῶτα yodh iota [iɔːta] [ˈʝota] (listen)
Κ κάππα kaph kappa [kappa] [ˈkapa] (listen)
Λ λάμβδα lamedh lambda [lambda] [ˈlamða] (listen)
Μ μῦ mem mu [myː] [mi] (listen); occasionally US:
Ν νῦ nun nu [nyː] [ni]
Ρ ῥῶ reš rho [rɔː] [ro] (listen)
Τ ταῦ taw tau [tau] [taf]

In the cases of the three historical sibilant letters below, the correspondence between Phoenician and Ancient Greek is less clear, with apparent mismatches both in letter names and sound values. The early history of these letters (and the fourth sibilant letter, obsolete san) has been a matter of some debate. Here too, the changes in the pronunciation of the letter names between Ancient and Modern Greek are regular.

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek Phoenician original English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ζ ζῆτα zayin zeta [zdɛːta] [ˈzita] , US:
Ξ ξεῖ, ξῖ samekh xi [kseː] [ksi]
Σ σίγμα šin siɡma [siɡma] [ˈsiɣma]

In the following group of consonant letters, the older forms of the names in Ancient Greek were spelled with -εῖ, indicating an original pronunciation with -ē. In Modern Greek these names are spelled with -ι.

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ξ ξεῖ, ξῖ xi [kseː] [ksi]
Π πεῖ, πῖ pi [peː] [pi]
Φ φεῖ, φῖ phi [pʰeː] [fi]
Χ χεῖ, χῖ chi [kʰeː] [çi] (listen)
Ψ ψεῖ, ψῖ psi [pseː] [psi] , (listen)

The following group of vowel letters were originally called simply by their sound values as long vowels: ē, ō, ū, and ɔ. Their modern names contain adjectival qualifiers that were added during the Byzantine period, to distinguish between letters that had become confusable.[11] Thus, the letters ⟨ο⟩ and ⟨ω⟩, pronounced identically by this time, were called o mikron («small o») and o mega («big o») respectively.[11] The letter ⟨ε⟩ was called e psilon («plain e») to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph ⟨αι⟩, while, similarly, ⟨υ⟩, which at this time was pronounced [y], was called y psilon («plain y») to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph ⟨οι⟩.[11]

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek (Ancient) Greek (Medieval) Greek (Modern) English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ε εἶ ἐ ψιλόν ἔψιλον epsilon [eː] [ˈepsilon] , some UK:
Ο οὖ ὀ μικρόν ὄμικρον omicron [oː] [ˈomikron] , traditional UK:
Υ ὖ ὐ ψιλόν ὔψιλον upsilon [uː], [yː] [ˈipsilon] , also UK: , US:
Ω ὦ ὠ μέγα ὠμέγα omega [ɔː] [oˈmeɣa] US: , traditional UK:

Some dialects of the Aegean and Cypriot have retained long consonants and pronounce [ˈɣamːa] and [ˈkapʰa]; also, ήτα has come to be pronounced [ˈitʰa] in Cypriot.[45]

Letter shapes

Theocritus Idyll 1, lines 12–14, in script with abbreviations and ligatures from a caption in an illustrated edition of Theocritus. Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer: Carmina bucolica, Leiden 1779.

Like Latin and other alphabetic scripts, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter, without a distinction between uppercase and lowercase. This distinction is an innovation of the modern era, drawing on different lines of development of the letter shapes in earlier handwriting.

The oldest forms of the letters in antiquity are majuscule forms. Besides the upright, straight inscriptional forms (capitals) found in stone carvings or incised pottery, more fluent writing styles adapted for handwriting on soft materials were also developed during antiquity. Such handwriting has been preserved especially from papyrus manuscripts in Egypt since the Hellenistic period. Ancient handwriting developed two distinct styles: uncial writing, with carefully drawn, rounded block letters of about equal size, used as a book hand for carefully produced literary and religious manuscripts, and cursive writing, used for everyday purposes.[46] The cursive forms approached the style of lowercase letter forms, with ascenders and descenders, as well as many connecting lines and ligatures between letters.

In the ninth and tenth century, uncial book hands were replaced with a new, more compact writing style, with letter forms partly adapted from the earlier cursive.[46] This minuscule style remained the dominant form of handwritten Greek into the modern era. During the Renaissance, western printers adopted the minuscule letter forms as lowercase printed typefaces, while modeling uppercase letters on the ancient inscriptional forms. The orthographic practice of using the letter case distinction for marking proper names, titles, etc. developed in parallel to the practice in Latin and other western languages.

Inscription Manuscript Modern print
Archaic Classical Uncial Minuscule Lowercase Uppercase
Greek Alpha 03.svg Greek Alpha classical.svg Greek uncial Alpha.svg Greek minuscule Alpha.svg α Α
Greek Beta 16.svg Greek Beta classical.svg Greek uncial Beta.svg Greek minuscule Beta.svg β Β
Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg Greek Gamma classical.svg Greek uncial Gamma.svg Greek minuscule Gamma.svg γ Γ
Greek Delta 04.svg Greek Delta classical.svg Greek uncial Delta.svg Greek minuscule Delta.svg δ Δ
Greek Epsilon archaic.svg Greek Epsilon classical.svg Greek uncial Epsilon.svg Greek minuscule Epsilon.svg ε Ε
Greek Zeta archaic.svg Greek Zeta classical.svg Greek uncial Zeta.svg Greek minuscule Zeta.svg ζ Ζ
Greek Eta archaic.svg Greek Eta classical.svg Greek uncial Eta.svg Greek minuscule Eta.svg η Η
Greek Theta archaic.svg Greek Theta classical.svg Greek uncial Theta.svg Greek minuscule Theta.svg θ Θ
Greek Iota normal.svg Greek Iota classical.svg Greek uncial Iota.svg Greek minuscule Iota.svg ι Ι
Greek Kappa normal.svg Greek Kappa classical.svg Greek uncial Kappa.svg Greek minuscule Kappa.svg κ Κ
Greek Lambda 09.svg Greek Lambda classical.svg Greek uncial Lambda.svg Greek minuscule Lambda.svg λ Λ
Greek Mu 04.svg Greek Mu classical.svg Greek uncial Mu.svg Greek minuscule Mu.svg μ Μ
Greek Nu 01.svg Greek Nu classical.svg Greek uncial Nu.svg Greek minuscule Nu.svg ν Ν
Greek Xi archaic.svg Greek Xi classical.svg Greek uncial Xi.svg Greek minuscule Xi.svg ξ Ξ
Greek Omicron 04.svg Greek Omicron classical.svg Greek uncial Omicron.svg Greek minuscule Omicron.svg ο Ο
Greek Pi archaic.svg Greek Pi classical.svg Greek uncial Pi.svg Greek minuscule Pi.svg π Π
Greek Rho pointed.svg Greek Rho classical.svg Greek uncial Rho.svg Greek minuscule Rho.svg ρ Ρ
Greek Sigma normal.svg Greek Sigma classical.svg Greek uncial Sigma.svg Greek minuscule Sigma.svg σς Σ
Greek Tau normal.svg Greek Tau classical.svg Greek uncial Tau.svg Greek minuscule Tau.svg τ Τ
Greek Upsilon normal.svg Greek Upsilon classical.svg Greek uncial Upsilon.svg Greek minuscule Upsilon.svg υ Υ
Greek Phi 03.svg Greek Phi archaic.svg Greek uncial Phi.svg Greek minuscule Phi.svg φ Φ
Greek Chi normal.svg Greek Chi classical.svg Greek uncial Chi.svg Greek minuscule Chi.svg χ Χ
Greek Psi straight.svg Greek Psi classical.svg Greek uncial Psi.svg Greek minuscule Psi.svg ψ Ψ
Greek Omega normal.svg Greek Omega classical.svg Greek uncial Omega.svg Greek minuscule Omega.svg ω Ω

Derived alphabets

The earliest Etruscan abecedarium, from Marsiliana d’Albegna, still almost identical with contemporaneous archaic Greek alphabets

The Greek alphabet was the model for various others:[6]

  • The Etruscan alphabet;
  • The Latin alphabet, together with various other ancient scripts in Italy, adopted from an archaic form of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Greek colonists in the late 8th century BC, via Etruscan;
  • The Gothic alphabet, devised in the 4th century AD to write the Gothic language, based on a combination of Greek and Latin uncial models;[47]
  • The Glagolitic alphabet, devised in the 9th century AD for writing Old Church Slavonic;
  • The Cyrillic script, which replaced the Glagolitic alphabet shortly afterwards.
  • The Coptic Alphabet used for writing the Coptic language.

The Armenian and Georgian alphabets are almost certainly modeled on the Greek alphabet, but their graphic forms are quite different.[48]

Other uses

Use for other languages

Apart from the daughter alphabets listed above, which were adapted from Greek but developed into separate writing systems, the Greek alphabet has also been adopted at various times and in various places to write other languages.[49] For some of them, additional letters were introduced.

Antiquity

  • Most of the Iron Age alphabets of Asia Minor were also adopted around the same time, as the early Greek alphabet was adopted from the Phoenician Alphabet. The Lydian and Carian alphabets are generally believed to derive from the Greek alphabet, although it is not clear which variant is the direct ancestor. While some of these alphabets such as Phrygian had slight differences from the Greek counterpart, some like Carian alphabet had mostly different values and several other characters inherited from pre-Greek local scripts. They were in use c. 800–300 BC until all the Anatolian languages were extinct due to Hellenization.[50][51][52][53][54]
  • The original Old Italic alphabets was the early Greek alphabet with only slight modifications.
  • It was used in some Paleo-Balkan languages, including Thracian. For other neighboring languages or dialects, such as Ancient Macedonian, isolated words are preserved in Greek texts, but no continuous texts are preserved.
  • The Greco-Iberian alphabet was used for writing the ancient Iberian language in parts of modern Spain.
  • Gaulish inscriptions (in modern France) used the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest
  • The Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Bible was written in Greek letters in Origen’s Hexapla.
  • The Bactrian language, an Iranian language spoken in what is now Afghanistan, was written in the Greek alphabet during the Kushan Empire (65–250 AD). It adds an extra letter ⟨þ⟩ for the sh sound [ʃ].[55]
  • The Coptic alphabet adds eight letters derived from Demotic. It is still used today, mostly in Egypt, to write Coptic, the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. Letters usually retain an uncial form different from the forms used for Greek today. The alphabet of Old Nubian is an adaptation of Coptic.

Middle Ages

  • An 8th-century Arabic fragment preserves a text in the Greek alphabet,[56] as does a 9th or 10th century psalm translation fragment.[57]
  • An Old Ossetic inscription of the 10th–12th centuries found in Arxyz, the oldest known attestation of an Ossetic language.
  • The Old Nubian language of Makuria (modern Sudan) adds three Coptic letters, two letters derived from Meroitic script, and a digraph of two Greek gammas used for the velar nasal sound.
  • Various South Slavic dialects, similar to the modern Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, have been written in Greek script.[58][59][60][61] The modern South Slavic languages now use modified Cyrillic alphabets.

Early modern

18th-century title page of a book printed in Karamanli Turkish

  • Turkish spoken by Orthodox Christians (Karamanlides) was often written in Greek script, and called Karamanlidika.
  • Tosk Albanian was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500.[62] The printing press at Moschopolis published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the Monastir conference standardized a Latin orthography for both Tosk and Gheg. Greek spelling is still occasionally used for the local Albanian dialects (Arvanitika) in Greece.
  • Gagauz, a Turkic language of the northeast Balkans spoken by Orthodox Christians, was apparently written in Greek characters in the late 19th century. In 1957, it was standardized on Cyrillic, and in 1996, a Gagauz alphabet based on Latin characters was adopted (derived from the Turkish alphabet).
  • Surguch, a Turkic language, was spoken by a small group of Orthodox Christians in northern Greece. It is now written in Latin or Cyrillic characters.
  • Urum or Greek Tatar, spoken by Orthodox Christians, used the Greek alphabet.
  • Judaeo-Spanish or Ladino, a Jewish dialect of Spanish, has occasionally been published in Greek characters in Greece.[63]
  • The Italian humanist Giovan Giorgio Trissino tried to add some Greek letters (Ɛ ε, Ꞷ ω) to Italian orthography in 1524.[64]

In mathematics and science

Greek symbols are used as symbols in mathematics, physics and other sciences. Many symbols have traditional uses, such as lower case epsilon (ε) for an arbitrarily small positive number, lower case pi (π) for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, capital sigma (Σ) for summation, and lower case sigma (σ) for standard deviation. Formerly, the Greek letters were used for naming North Atlantic hurricanes if the normal list ran out. This happened only in the 2005 and 2020 hurricane seasons for a total of 15 storms, the last one being Hurricane Iota. In May 2021 the World Health Organization announced that the variants of SARS-CoV-2 of the virus would be named using letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid stigma and simplify communications for non-scientific audiences.[65][66]

Astronomy

Greek letters are used to denote the brighter stars within each of the eighty-eight constellations. In most constellations, the brightest star is designated Alpha and the next brightest Beta etc. For example, the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus is known as Alpha Centauri. For historical reasons, the Greek designations of some constellations begin with a lower ranked letter.

International Phonetic Alphabet

Several Greek letters are used as phonetic symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).[67] Several of them denote fricative consonants; the rest stand for variants of vowel sounds. The glyph shapes used for these letters in specialized phonetic fonts is sometimes slightly different from the conventional shapes in Greek typography proper, with glyphs typically being more upright and using serifs, to make them conform more with the typographical character of other, Latin-based letters in the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, in the Unicode encoding standard, the following three phonetic symbols are considered the same characters as the corresponding Greek letters proper:[68]

β beta U+03B2 voiced bilabial fricative
θ theta U+03B8 voiceless dental fricative
χ chi U+03C7 voiceless uvular fricative

On the other hand, the following phonetic letters have Unicode representations separate from their Greek alphabetic use, either because their conventional typographic shape is too different from the original, or because they also have secondary uses as regular alphabetic characters in some Latin-based alphabets, including separate Latin uppercase letters distinct from the Greek ones.

Greek letter Phonetic letter Uppercase
φ phi U+03C6 ɸ U+0278 Voiceless bilabial fricative –
γ gamma U+03B3 ɣ U+0263 Voiced velar fricative Ɣ U+0194
ε epsilon U+03B5 ɛ U+025B Open-mid front unrounded vowel Ɛ U+0190
α alpha U+03B1 ɑ U+0251 Open back unrounded vowel Ɑ U+2C6D
υ upsilon U+03C5 ʊ U+028A near-close near-back rounded vowel Ʊ U+01B1
ι iota U+03B9 ɩ U+0269 Obsolete for near-close near-front unrounded vowel now ɪ Ɩ U+0196

The symbol in Americanist phonetic notation for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is the Greek letter lambda ⟨λ⟩, but ⟨ɬ⟩ in the IPA. The IPA symbol for the palatal lateral approximant is ⟨ʎ⟩, which looks similar to lambda, but is actually an inverted lowercase y.

Use as numerals

Greek letters were also used to write numbers. In the classical Ionian system, the first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the numbers from 1 to 9, the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 10, from 10 to 90, and the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 100, from 100 to 900. For this purpose, in addition to the 24 letters which by that time made up the standard alphabet, three otherwise obsolete letters were retained or revived: digamma ⟨Ϝ⟩ for 6, koppa ⟨Ϙ⟩ for 90, and a rare Ionian letter for [ss], today called sampi ⟨Ͳ⟩, for 900. This system has remained in use in Greek up to the present day, although today it is only employed for limited purposes such as enumerating chapters in a book, similar to the way Roman numerals are used in English. The three extra symbols are today written as ⟨ϛ⟩, ⟨ϟ⟩ and ⟨ϡ⟩ respectively. To mark a letter as a numeral sign, a small stroke called keraia is added to the right of it.

Use by student fraternities and sororities

In North America, many college fraternities and sororities are named with combinations of Greek letters, and are hence also known as «Greek letter organizations».[69] This naming tradition was initiated by the foundation of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the College of William and Mary in 1776.[69] The name of this fraternal organization is an acronym for the ancient Greek phrase Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs), which means «Love of wisdom, the guide of life» and serves as the organization’s motto.[69] Sometimes early fraternal organizations were known by their Greek letter names because the mottos that these names stood for were secret and revealed only to members of the fraternity.[69]

Different chapters within the same fraternity are almost always (with a handful of exceptions) designated using Greek letters as serial numbers. The founding chapter of each respective organization is its A chapter. As an organization expands, it establishes a B chapter, a Γ chapter, and so on and so forth. In an organization that expands to more than 24 chapters, the chapter after Ω chapter is AA chapter, followed by AB chapter, etc. Each of these is still a «chapter Letter», albeit a double-digit letter just as 10 through 99 are double-digit numbers. The Roman alphabet has a similar extended form with such double-digit letters when necessary, but it is used for columns in a table or chart rather than chapters of an organization.[citation needed]

Glyph variants

Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval minuscule handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in Unicode.

  • The symbol ϐ («curled beta») is a cursive variant form of beta (β). In the French tradition of Ancient Greek typography, β is used word-initially, and ϐ is used word-internally.
  • The letter delta has a form resembling a cursive capital letter D; while not encoded as its own form, this form is included as part of the symbol for the drachma (a Δρ digraph) in the Currency Symbols block, at U+20AF (₯).
  • The letter epsilon can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped epsilon ,! (‘lunate epsilon’, like a semicircle with a stroke) or varepsilon ,! (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol ϵ (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϑ («script theta») is a cursive form of theta (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϰ («kappa symbol») is a cursive form of kappa (κ), used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϖ («variant pi») is an archaic script form of pi (π), also used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter rho (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol ϱ (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter sigma, in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form ϲ («lunate sigma», resembling a Latin c) is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction.
  • The capital letter upsilon (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin Y, or slightly curled. The symbol ϒ (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form (Upsilon ), used as a technical symbol, e.g. in physics.
  • The letter phi can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as textstyle phi ,! (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as textstyle varphi ,! (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol ϕ (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter omega has at least three stylistic variants of its capital form. The standard is the «open omega» (Ω), resembling an open partial circle with the opening downward and the ends curled outward. The two other stylistic variants are seen more often in modern typography, resembling a raised and underscored circle (roughly o̲), where the underscore may or may not be touching the circle on a tangent (in the former case it resembles a superscript omicron similar to that found in the numero sign or masculine ordinal indicator; in the latter, it closely resembles some forms of the Latin letter Q). The open omega is always used in symbolic settings and is encoded in Letterlike Symbols (U+2126) as a separate code point for backward compatibility.

Computer encodings

For computer usage, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in RFC 1947.

The two principal ones still used today are ISO/IEC 8859-7 and Unicode. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports both the monotonic and polytonic orthographies.

ISO/IEC 8859-7

For the range A0–FF (hex), it follows the Unicode range 370–3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc. are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings, it is equal to ASCII for 00–7F (hex).

Greek in Unicode

Unicode supports polytonic orthography well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for epigraphy. With the use of combining characters, Unicode also supports Greek philology and dialectology and various other specialized requirements. Most current text rendering engines do not render diacritics well, so, though alpha with macron and acute can be represented as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: ᾱ́.[citation needed]

There are two main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is «Greek and Coptic» (U+0370 to U+03FF). This block is based on ISO 8859-7 and is sufficient to write Modern Greek. There are also some archaic letters and Greek-based technical symbols.

This block also supports the Coptic alphabet. Formerly, most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with no Greek equivalents still remain in this block (U+03E2 to U+03EF).

To write polytonic Greek, one may use combining diacritical marks or the precomposed characters in the «Greek Extended» block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF).

Greek and Coptic[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+037x Ͱ ͱ Ͳ ͳ ʹ ͵ Ͷ ͷ ͺ ͻ ͼ ͽ ; Ϳ
U+038x ΄ ΅ Ά · Έ Ή Ί Ό Ύ Ώ
U+039x ΐ Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο
U+03Ax Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω Ϊ Ϋ ά έ ή ί
U+03Bx ΰ α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο
U+03Cx π ρ ς σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω ϊ ϋ ό ύ ώ Ϗ
U+03Dx ϐ ϑ ϒ ϓ ϔ ϕ ϖ ϗ Ϙ ϙ Ϛ ϛ Ϝ ϝ Ϟ ϟ
U+03Ex Ϡ ϡ Ϣ ϣ Ϥ ϥ Ϧ ϧ Ϩ ϩ Ϫ ϫ Ϭ ϭ Ϯ ϯ
U+03Fx ϰ ϱ ϲ ϳ ϴ ϵ ϶ Ϸ ϸ Ϲ Ϻ ϻ ϼ Ͻ Ͼ Ͽ
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 15.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Greek Extended[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1F0x ἀ ἁ ἂ ἃ ἄ ἅ ἆ ἇ Ἀ Ἁ Ἂ Ἃ Ἄ Ἅ Ἆ Ἇ
U+1F1x ἐ ἑ ἒ ἓ ἔ ἕ Ἐ Ἑ Ἒ Ἓ Ἔ Ἕ
U+1F2x ἠ ἡ ἢ ἣ ἤ ἥ ἦ ἧ Ἠ Ἡ Ἢ Ἣ Ἤ Ἥ Ἦ Ἧ
U+1F3x ἰ ἱ ἲ ἳ ἴ ἵ ἶ ἷ Ἰ Ἱ Ἲ Ἳ Ἴ Ἵ Ἶ Ἷ
U+1F4x ὀ ὁ ὂ ὃ ὄ ὅ Ὀ Ὁ Ὂ Ὃ Ὄ Ὅ
U+1F5x ὐ ὑ ὒ ὓ ὔ ὕ ὖ ὗ Ὑ Ὓ Ὕ Ὗ
U+1F6x ὠ ὡ ὢ ὣ ὤ ὥ ὦ ὧ Ὠ Ὡ Ὢ Ὣ Ὤ Ὥ Ὦ Ὧ
U+1F7x ὰ ά ὲ έ ὴ ή ὶ ί ὸ ό ὺ ύ ὼ ώ
U+1F8x ᾀ ᾁ ᾂ ᾃ ᾄ ᾅ ᾆ ᾇ ᾈ ᾉ ᾊ ᾋ ᾌ ᾍ ᾎ ᾏ
U+1F9x ᾐ ᾑ ᾒ ᾓ ᾔ ᾕ ᾖ ᾗ ᾘ ᾙ ᾚ ᾛ ᾜ ᾝ ᾞ ᾟ
U+1FAx ᾠ ᾡ ᾢ ᾣ ᾤ ᾥ ᾦ ᾧ ᾨ ᾩ ᾪ ᾫ ᾬ ᾭ ᾮ ᾯ
U+1FBx ᾰ ᾱ ᾲ ᾳ ᾴ ᾶ ᾷ Ᾰ Ᾱ Ὰ Ά ᾼ ᾽ ι ᾿
U+1FCx ῀ ῁ ῂ ῃ ῄ ῆ ῇ Ὲ Έ Ὴ Ή ῌ ῍ ῎ ῏
U+1FDx ῐ ῑ ῒ ΐ ῖ ῗ Ῐ Ῑ Ὶ Ί ῝ ῞ ῟
U+1FEx ῠ ῡ ῢ ΰ ῤ ῥ ῦ ῧ Ῠ Ῡ Ὺ Ύ Ῥ ῭ ΅ `
U+1FFx ῲ ῳ ῴ ῶ ῷ Ὸ Ό Ὼ Ώ ῼ ´ ῾
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 15.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Combining and letter-free diacritics

Combining and spacing (letter-free) diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language:

Combining Spacing Sample Description
U+0300 U+0060 (  ̀ ) «varia / grave accent»
U+0301 U+00B4, U+0384 (  ́ ) «oxia / tonos / acute accent»
U+0304 U+00AF ( ̄ ) «macron»
U+0306 U+02D8 ( ̆ ) «vrachy / breve»
U+0308 U+00A8 ( ̈ ) «dialytika / diaeresis»
U+0313 U+02BC ( ̓ ) «psili / comma above» (spiritus lenis)
U+0314 U+02BD ( ̔ ) «dasia / reversed comma above» (spiritus asper)
U+0342 ( ͂ ) «perispomeni» (circumflex)
U+0343 ( ̓ ) «koronis» (= U+0313)
U+0344 U+0385 ( ̈́ ) «dialytika tonos» (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
U+0345 U+037A ( ͅ ) «ypogegrammeni / iota subscript».

Encodings with a subset of the Greek alphabet

IBM code pages 437, 860, 861, 862, 863, and 865 contain the letters ΓΘΣΦΩαδεπστφ (plus β as an alternative interpretation for ß).

See also

  • Greek Font Society
  • Greek ligatures
  • Palamedes
  • Romanization of Greek

Notes

  1. ^ a b Epsilon ⟨ε⟩ and omicron ⟨ο⟩ originally could denote both short and long vowels in pre-classical archaic Greek spelling, just like other vowel letters. They were restricted to the function of short vowel signs in classical Greek, as the long vowels /eː/ and /oː/ came to be spelled instead with the digraphs ⟨ει⟩ and ⟨ου⟩, having phonologically merged with a corresponding pair of former diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ respectively.

References

  1. ^ Swiggers 1996.
  2. ^ a b Johnston 2003, pp. 263–276.
  3. ^ The date of the earliest inscribed objects; A.W. Johnston, «The alphabet», in N. Stampolidis and V. Karageorghis, eds, Sea Routes from Sidon to Huelva: Interconnections in the Mediterranean 2003:263-76, summarizes the present scholarship on the dating.
  4. ^ Cook 1987, p. 9.
  5. ^ The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE (2009), Quote: «Naveh gives four major reasons why it is universally agreed that the Greek alphabet was developed from an early Phoenician alphabet.
    1 According to Herodutous «the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus… brought into Hellas the alphabet, which had hitherto been unknown, as I think, to the Greeks.»
    2 The Greek Letters, alpha, beta, gimmel have no meaning in Greek but the meaning of most of their Semitic equivalents is known. For example, ‘aleph’ means ‘ox’, ‘bet’ means ‘house’ and ‘gimmel’ means ‘throw stick’.
    3 Early Greek letters are very similar and sometimes identical to the West Semitic letters.
    4 The letter sequence between the Semitic and Greek alphabets is identical. (Naveh 1982)»
  6. ^ a b c Coulmas 1996.
  7. ^ Horrocks 2006, pp. 231–250
  8. ^ Woodard 2008, pp. 15–17
  9. ^ Holton, Mackridge & Philippaki-Warburton 1998, p. 31
  10. ^ a b Adams 1987, pp. 6–7
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Keller & Russell 2012, p. 5
  12. ^ a b c d e Mastronarde 2013, p. 10
  13. ^ a b c d e Groton 2013, p. 3
  14. ^ Hinge 2001, pp. 212–234
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Keller & Russell 2012, pp. 5–6
  16. ^ a b c d e f Mastronarde 2013, p. 11
  17. ^ a b c Mastronarde 2013, pp. 11–13
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mastronarde 2013, p. 12
  19. ^ a b Nicholas, Nick (2004). «Sigma: final versus non-final». Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  20. ^ a b Thompson 1912, pp. 108, 144
  21. ^ Keller & Russell 2012, p. 6
  22. ^ a b c d Mastronarde 2013, p. 13
  23. ^ Additionally, the more ancient combination ⟨ωυ⟩ or ⟨ωϋ⟩ can occur in ancient especially in Ionic texts or in personal names.
  24. ^ Dickey 2007, pp. 92–93.
  25. ^ Dickey 2007, p. 93.
  26. ^ Nicolas, Nick. «Greek Unicode Issues: Punctuation Archived 2012-08-06 at archive.today». 2005. Accessed 7 Oct 2014.
  27. ^ a b Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–511.
  28. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502.
  29. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502, 510–511.
  30. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502, 509.
  31. ^ a b Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 510–511.
  32. ^ a b c Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 505–507, 510–511.
  33. ^ ISO (2010). ISO 843:1997 (Conversion of Greek characters into Latin characters).
  34. ^ UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems (2003). «Greek». Retrieved 2012-07-15.
  35. ^ «Greek (ALA-LC Romanization Tables)» (PDF). Library of Congress. 2010.
  36. ^ A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language, article by Roger D. Woodward (ed. Egbert J. Bakker, 2010, Wiley-Blackwell).
  37. ^ Daniels & Bright 1996, p. 4.
  38. ^ a b Voutiras 2007, p. 270.
  39. ^ a b c d Woodard 2010, pp. 26–46.
  40. ^ a b c d Jeffery 1961, p. 66.
  41. ^ a b c d Threatte 1980, p. 26.
  42. ^ Horrocks 2010, p. xiix.
  43. ^ a b Panayotou 2007, p. 407.
  44. ^ Liddell & Scott 1940, s.v. «λάβδα»
  45. ^ Newton, B. E. (1968). «Spontaneous gemination in Cypriot Greek». Lingua. 20: 15–57. doi:10.1016/0024-3841(68)90130-7. ISSN 0024-3841.
  46. ^ a b Thompson 1912, pp. 102–103
  47. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 156
  48. ^ George L. Campbell, Christopher Moseley, The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets, pp. 51ff, 96ff
  49. ^ Macrakis 1996.
  50. ^ Understanding Relations Between Scripts II by Philip J Boyes & Philippa M Steele. Published in the UK in 2020 by Oxbow Books: «The Carian alphabet resembles the Greek alphabet, though, as in the case of Phrygian, no single Greek variant can be identified as its ancestor», «It is generally assumed that the Lydian alphabet is derived from the Greek alphabet, but the exact relationship remains unclear (Melchert 2004)»
  51. ^ Britannica — Lycian Alphabet «The Lycian alphabet is clearly related to the Greek, but the exact nature of the relationship is uncertain. Several letters appear to be related to symbols of the Cretan and Cyprian writing systems.»
  52. ^ Scriptsource.org — Carian«Visually, the letters bear a close resemblance to Greek letters. Decipherment was initially attempted on the assumption that those letters which looked like Greek represented the same sounds as their closest visual Greek equivalents. However it has since been established that the phonetic values of the two scripts are very different. For example the theta θ symbol represents ‘th’ in Greek but ‘q’ in Carian. Carian was generally written from left to right, although Egyptian writers wrote primarily from right to left. It was written without spaces between words.»
  53. ^ Omniglot.com — Carian «The Carian alphabet appears in about 100 pieces of graffiti inscriptions left by Carian mercenaries who served in Egypt. A number of clay tablets, coins and monumental inscriptions have also been found. It was possibly derived from the Phoenician alphabet.»
  54. ^ Ancient Anatolian languages and cultures in contact: some methodological observations by Paola Cotticelli-Kurras & Federico Giusfredi (University of Verona, Italy) «During the Iron ages, with a brand new political balance and cultural scenario, the cultures and languages of Anatolia maintained their position of a bridge between the Aegean and the Syro-Mesopotamian worlds, while the North-West Semitic cultures of the Phoenicians and of the Aramaeans also entered the scene. Assuming the 4th century and the hellenization of Anatolia as the terminus ante quem, the correct perspective of a contact-oriented study of the Ancient Anatolian world needs to take as an object a large net of cultures that evolved and changed over almost 16 centuries of documentary history.»
  55. ^ Sims-Williams 1997.
  56. ^ J. Blau, «Middle and Old Arabic material for the history of stress in Arabic», Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 35:3:476-84 (October 1972) full text
  57. ^ Ahmad Al-Jallad, The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī, in series Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Near East (LAMINE) 2, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2020; full text; see also Bible translations into Arabic
  58. ^ Miletich 1920.
  59. ^ Mazon & Vaillant 1938.
  60. ^ Kristophson 1974, p. 11.
  61. ^ Peyfuss 1989.
  62. ^ Elsie 1991.
  63. ^ Katja Šmid, «Los problemas del estudio de la lengua sefardí», Verba Hispanica 10:1:113-124 (2002) full text: «Es interesante el hecho que en Bulgaria se imprimieron unas pocas publicaciones en alfabeto cirílico búlgaro y en Grecia en alfabeto griego.»
  64. ^ Trissino, Gian Giorgio (1524). De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana — Wikisource (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  65. ^ «WHO announces simple, easy-to-say labels for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest and Concern». www.who.int. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  66. ^ «Covid-19 variants to be given Greek alphabet names to avoid stigma». the Guardian. 2021-05-31. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  67. ^ Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge: University Press. 1999. pp. 176–181.
  68. ^ For chi and beta, separate codepoints for use in a Latin-script environment were added in Unicode versions 7.0 (2014) and 8.0 (2015) respectively: U+AB53 «Latin small letter chi» (ꭓ) and U+A7B5 «Latin small letter beta» (ꞵ). As of 2017, the International Phonetic Association still lists the original Greek codepoints as the standard representations of the IPA symbols in question [1].
  69. ^ a b c d Winterer 2010, p. 377.

Bibliography

  • Adams, Douglas Q. (1987). Essential Modern Greek Grammar. New York City, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-25133-2.
  • Cook, B. F. (1987). Greek inscriptions. University of California Press/British Museum.
  • Coulmas, Florian (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-631-21481-6.
  • Daniels, Peter T; Bright, William (1996). The World’s Writing Systems. Oxford University Press.
  • Dickey, Eleanor (2007). Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises, from Their Beginnings to the Byzantine Period. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-531293-5. Aristophanes of Byzantium Greek diacritics.
  • Elsie, Robert (1991). «Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing» (PDF). Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 15 (20): 20–35. doi:10.1179/byz.1991.15.1.20. S2CID 161805678. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  • Groton, Anne H. (2013). From Alpha to Omega: A Beginning Course in Classical Greek. Indianapolis, Indiana: Focus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58510-473-4.
  • Hinge, George (2001). Die Sprache Alkmans: Textgeschichte und Sprachgeschichte (Ph.D.). University of Aarhus.
  • Jeffery, Lilian H. (1961). The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B. C. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
  • Keller, Andrew; Russell, Stephanie (2012). Learn to Read Greek, Part 1. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11589-5.
  • Holton, David; Mackridge, Peter; Philippaki-Warburton, Irini (1998). Grammatiki tis ellinikis glossas. Athens: Pataki.
  • Horrocks, Geoffrey (2006). Ellinika: istoria tis glossas kai ton omiliton tis. Athens: Estia. [Greek translation of Greek: a history of the language and its speakers, London 1997]
  • Horrocks, Geoffrey (2010). «The Greek Alphabet». Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-3415-6.
  • Johnston, A. W. (2003). «The alphabet». In Stampolidis, N.; Karageorghis, V (eds.). Sea Routes from Sidon to Huelva: Interconnections in the Mediterranean 16th – 6th c. B.C. Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art. pp. 263–276.
  • Kristophson, Jürgen (1974). «Das Lexicon Tetraglosson des Daniil Moschopolitis». Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. 10: 4–128.
  • Liddell, Henry G; Scott, Robert (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon.
  • Macrakis, Stavros M (1996). «Character codes for Greek: Problems and modern solutions». In Macrakis, Michael (ed.). Greek letters: from tablets to pixels. Newcastle: Oak Knoll Press. p. 265.
  • Mastronarde, Donald J. (2013). Introduction to Attic Greek (Second ed.). Berkeley, California, Los Angeles, California, and London, England: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-27571-3.
  • Mazon, André; Vaillant, André (1938). L’Evangéliaire de Kulakia, un parler slave de Bas-Vardar. Bibliothèque d’études balkaniques. Vol. 6. Paris: Librairie Droz. – selections from the Gospels in Macedonian.
  • Miletich, L. (1920). «Dva bŭlgarski ru̐kopisa s grŭtsko pismo». Bŭlgarski Starini. 6.
  • Murdoch, Brian (2004). «Gothic». In Murdoch, Brian; Read, Malcolm (eds.). Early Germanic literature and culture. Woodbridge: Camden House. pp. 149–170. ISBN 9781571131997.
  • Panayotou, A. (12 February 2007). «Ionic and Attic». A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 405–416. ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3.
  • Peyfuss, Max Demeter (1989). Die Druckerei von Moschopolis, 1731–1769: Buchdruck und Heiligenverehrung in Erzbistum Achrida. Wiener Archiv für Geschichte des Slawentums und Osteuropas. Vol. 13. Böhlau Verlag.
  • Sims-Williams, Nicholas (1997). «New Findings in Ancient Afghanistan – the Bactrian documents discovered from the Northern Hindu-Kush». Archived from the original on 2007-06-10.
  • Swiggers, Pierre (1996). «Transmission of the Phoenician Script to the West». In Daniels; Bright (eds.). The World’s Writing Systems. Oxford: University Press. pp. 261–270.
  • Stevenson, Jane (2007). «Translation and the spread of the Greek and Latin alphabets in Late Antiquity». In Harald Kittel; et al. (eds.). Translation: an international encyclopedia of translation studies. Vol. 2. Berlin: de Gruyter. pp. 1157–1159.
  • Threatte, Leslie (1980). The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions. Vol. I: Phonology. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-007344-7.
  • Thompson, Edward M (1912). An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography. Oxford: Clarendon.
  • Verbrugghe, Gerald P. (1999), «Transliteration or Transcription of Greek», The Classical World, 92 (6): 499–511, doi:10.2307/4352343, JSTOR 4352343
  • Voutiras, E. (2007). «The Introduction of the Alphabet». In Christidis, Anastasios-Phoivos (ed.). A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 266–276. ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3.
  • Winterer, Caroline (2010), «Fraternities and sororities», in Grafton, Anthony; Most, Glenn W.; Settis, Salvatore (eds.), The Classical Tradition, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-03572-0
  • Woodard, Roger D. (2010), «Phoinikeia Grammata: An Alphabet for the Greek Language», in Bakker, Egbert J. (ed.), A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language, Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-118-78291-0
  • Woodard, Roger D. (2008). «Attic Greek». In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.). The ancient languages of Europe. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 14–49. ISBN 9780521684958.

External links

  • Greek and Coptic character list in Unicode
  • Unicode collation charts—including Greek and Coptic letters, sorted by shape
  • Examples of Greek handwriting
  • Greek Unicode Issues (Nick Nicholas) at archive.today (archived August 5, 2012)
  • Unicode FAQ – Greek Language and Script
  • alphabetic test for Greek Unicode range (Alan Wood)
  • numeric test for Greek Unicode range
  • Classical Greek keyboard, a browser-based tool
  • Collection of free fonts: greekfontsociety.gr
Источник
Greek alphabet
Greekalphabet.svg

Ellinikó alfávito
«Greek alphabet» in the modern Greek language
Script type

Alphabet

Time period

 c. 800 BC – present[1][2]
Direction left-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
Official script  Greece

 Cyprus

 European Union
Languages Greek
Related scripts

Parent systems

Egyptian hieroglyphs

  • Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
    • Phoenician alphabet
      • Greek alphabet

Child systems
  • Gothic
  • Glagolitic
  • Cyrillic
  • Coptic
  • Armenian
  • Old Italic and thus Latin
  • Georgian
  • Anatolian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924 Grek (200), ​Greek
Unicode

Unicode alias

 Greek

Unicode range
  • U+0370–U+03FF Greek and Coptic
  • U+1F00–U+1FFF Greek Extended

The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE.[3][4] It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet,[5] and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic and early Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in many local variants, but, by the end of the 4th century BCE, the Euclidean alphabet, with 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega, had become standard and it is this version that is still used for Greek writing today.

The uppercase and lowercase forms of the 24 letters are:

Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.

The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts.[6] Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between uppercase and lowercase in parallel with Latin during the modern era. Sound values and conventional transcriptions for some of the letters differ between Ancient and Modern Greek usage because the pronunciation of Greek has changed significantly between the 5th century BCE and today. Modern and Ancient Greek also use different diacritics, with modern Greek keeping only the stress accent (acute) and the diaeresis.

Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of technical symbols and labels in many domains of mathematics, science, and other fields.

Letters

Sound values

In both Ancient and Modern Greek, the letters of the Greek alphabet have fairly stable and consistent symbol-to-sound mappings, making pronunciation of words largely predictable. Ancient Greek spelling was generally near-phonemic. For a number of letters, sound values differ considerably between Ancient and Modern Greek, because their pronunciation has followed a set of systematic phonological shifts that affected the language in its post-classical stages.[7]

Letter Name Ancient pronunciation Modern pronunciation
IPA[8] Approximate western European equivalent IPA[9] Approximate western European equivalent[10]
Α α alpha, άλφα Short: [a]
Long: [aː]		 Short: first a as in English await[11]
Long: a as in English father[11]		 [a] a as in English father, but short
Β β beta, βήτα [b][12][11] b as in English better[13][12][11] [v] v as in English vote
Γ γ gamma, γάμμα [ɡ]
[ŋ] when used before γ, κ, ξ, χ, and possibly μ		 g as in English get[12][11]
ng as in English sing when used before γ, κ, ξ, χ, and possibly μ[12][11][ex 1]		 [ɣ] ~ [ʝ],
[ŋ][ex 2] ~ [ɲ][ex 3]		 g as in Spanish lago or y as in English yellow, ng as in English long
Δ δ delta, δέλτα [d] d as in English delete[13][12][11] [ð] th as in English then
Ε ε epsilon, έψιλον [e] e as in English pet[11]
Ζ ζ zeta, ζήτα [zd], or possibly [dz] sd as in English wisdom,
or possibly dz as in English adze[14][15][note 1]		 [z] z as in English zoo
Η η eta, ήτα [ɛː] ê as in French tête[16] [i] i as in English machine, but short
Θ θ theta, θήτα [tʰ] t as in English top[16][11][note 2] [θ] th as in English thin
Ι ι iota, ιώτα Short: [i]
Long: [iː]		 Short: i as in French vite,[16]
Long: i as in English machine[10]		 [i], [ç],[ex 4] [ʝ],[ex 5] [ɲ][ex 6] i as in English machine, but short
Κ κ kappa, κάππα [k] k as in English,[16][11] but completely unaspirated[16] [k] ~ [c] k as in English make
Λ λ la(m)bda, λά(μ)βδα[note 3] [l] l as in English lantern[13][18][11]
Μ μ mu, μυ [m] m as in English music[13][18][11]
Ν ν nu, νυ [n] n as in English net[18]
Ξ ξ xi, ξι [ks] x as in English fox[18]
Ο ο omicron, όμικρον [o] o as in German ohne
Π π pi, πι [p] p as in English top[18][11]
Ρ ρ rho, ρώ [r] trilled r as in Italian or Spanish[18][11][13]
Σ σ/ς, Ϲ ϲ[note 4] sigma, σίγμα [s]
[z] before β, γ, or μ		 s as in English soft[11]
s as in English muse when used before β, γ, or μ[18]
Τ τ tau, ταυ [t] t as in English coat[18][11]
Υ υ upsilon, ύψιλον Short: [y]
Long: [yː]		 Short: u as in French lune
Long: u as in French ruse[18]		 [i] i as in English machine, but short
Φ φ phi, φι [pʰ] p as in English pot[22][note 2] [f] f as in English five
Χ χ chi, χι [kʰ] c as in English cat[11][note 2] [x] ~ [ç] ch as in Scottish loch ~ h as in English hue
Ψ ψ psi, ψι [ps] ps as in English lapse[22][11]
Ω ω omega, ωμέγα [ɔː] aw as in English saw[11][note 5] [o] o as in German ohne, similar to British English soft
Examples
  1. ^ For example, ἀγκών.
  2. ^ For example, εγγραφή.
  3. ^ For example, εγγεγραμμένος.
  4. ^ For example, πάπια.
  5. ^ For example, βια.
  6. ^ For example, μια.
Notes
  1. ^ By around 350 BC, zeta in the Attic dialect had shifted to become a single fricative, [z], as in modern Greek.[16]
  2. ^ a b c The letters theta ⟨θ⟩, phi ⟨φ⟩, and chi ⟨χ⟩ are normally taught to English speakers with their modern Greek pronunciations of [θ], [f], and [x] ~ [ç] respectively, because these sounds are easier for English speakers to distinguish from the sounds made by the letters tau ([t]), pi ([p]), and kappa ([k]) respectively.[17][15] These are not the sounds they made in classical Attic Greek.[17][15] In classical Attic Greek, these three letters were always aspirated consonants, pronounced exactly like tau, pi, and kappa respectively, only with a blast of air following the actual consonant sound.[17][15]
  3. ^ Although the letter Λ is almost universally known today as lambda (λάμβδα), the most common name for it during the Greek Classical Period (510–323 BC) appears to have been labda (λάβδα), without the μ.[11]
  4. ^ The letter sigma ⟨Σ⟩ has two different lowercase forms in its standard variant, ⟨σ⟩ and ⟨ς⟩, with ⟨ς⟩ being used in word-final position and ⟨σ⟩ elsewhere.[15][18][19] In some 19th-century typesetting, ⟨ς⟩ was also used word-medially at the end of a compound morpheme, e.g. «δυςκατανοήτων», marking the morpheme boundary between «δυς-κατανοήτων» («difficult to understand»); modern standard practice is to spell «δυσκατανοήτων» with a non-final sigma.[19] The letter sigma also has an alternative variant, the lunate sigma (uppercase Ϲ, lowercase ϲ), which is used in all positions.[15][18][20] This form of the letter developed during the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) as a simplification of the older Σ σ/ς variant.[20] Thus, the word stasis can either be written στάσις or ϲτάϲιϲ.[21] In modern, edited Greek texts, the lunate sigma typically appears primarily in older typesetting.[18]
  5. ^ The letter omega ⟨ω⟩ is normally taught to English speakers as [oʊ], the long o as in English go, in order to more clearly distinguish it from omicron ⟨ο⟩.[22][15] This is not the sound it actually made in classical Attic Greek.[22][15]

Among consonant letters, all letters that denoted voiced plosive consonants (/b, d, g/) and aspirated plosives (/pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/) in Ancient Greek stand for corresponding fricative sounds in Modern Greek. The correspondences are as follows:

  Former voiced plosives Former aspirates
Letter Ancient Modern Letter Ancient Modern
Labial Β β /b/ /v/ Φ φ /pʰ/ /f/
Dental Δ δ /d/ /ð/ Θ θ /tʰ/ /θ/
Dorsal Γ γ /ɡ/ [ɣ] ~ [ʝ] Χ χ /kʰ/ [x] ~ [ç]

Among the vowel symbols, Modern Greek sound values reflect the radical simplification of the vowel system of post-classical Greek, merging multiple formerly distinct vowel phonemes into a much smaller number. This leads to several groups of vowel letters denoting identical sounds today. Modern Greek orthography remains true to the historical spellings in most of these cases. As a consequence, the spellings of words in Modern Greek are often not predictable from the pronunciation alone, while the reverse mapping, from spelling to pronunciation, is usually regular and predictable.

The following vowel letters and digraphs are involved in the mergers:

Letter Ancient Modern
Η η ɛː > i
Ι ι i(ː)
ΕΙ ει eː
Υ υ u(ː) > y
ΟΙ οι oi > y
ΥΙ υι yː > y
Ω ω ɔː > o
Ο ο o
Ε ε e > e
ΑΙ αι ai

Modern Greek speakers typically use the same, modern symbol–sound mappings in reading Greek of all historical stages. In other countries, students of Ancient Greek may use a variety of conventional approximations of the historical sound system in pronouncing Ancient Greek.

Digraphs and letter combinations

Several letter combinations have special conventional sound values different from those of their single components. Among them are several digraphs of vowel letters that formerly represented diphthongs but are now monophthongized. In addition to the four mentioned above (⟨ει, οι, υι⟩, pronounced /i/ and ⟨αι⟩, pronounced /e/), there is also ⟨ηι, ωι⟩, and ⟨ου⟩, pronounced /u/. The Ancient Greek diphthongs ⟨αυ⟩, ⟨ευ⟩ and ⟨ηυ⟩ are pronounced [av], [ev] and [iv] in Modern Greek. In some environments, they are devoiced to [af], [ef] and [if] respectively.[23] The Modern Greek consonant combinations ⟨μπ⟩ and ⟨ντ⟩ stand for [b] and [d] (or [mb] and [nd]) respectively; ⟨τζ⟩ stands for [d͡z] and ⟨τσ⟩ stands for [t͡s]. In addition, both in Ancient and Modern Greek, the letter ⟨γ⟩, before another velar consonant, stands for the velar nasal [ŋ]; thus ⟨γγ⟩ and ⟨γκ⟩ are pronounced like English ⟨ng⟩. In analogy to ⟨μπ⟩ and ⟨ντ⟩, ⟨γκ⟩ is also used to stand for [g]. There are also the combinations ⟨γχ⟩ and ⟨γξ⟩.

Combination Pronunciation Devoiced pronunciation
⟨αυ⟩ [av] [af]
⟨ευ⟩ [ev] [ef]
⟨ηυ⟩ [iv] [if]
⟨μπ⟩ [b] –
⟨ντ⟩ [d] –
⟨γκ⟩ [ɡ] –
⟨τζ⟩ [d͡z] –
⟨τσ⟩ [t͡s] –

Diacritics

In the polytonic orthography traditionally used for ancient Greek, the stressed vowel of each word carries one of three accent marks: either the acute accent (ά), the grave accent (ὰ), or the circumflex accent (α̃ or α̑). These signs were originally designed to mark different forms of the phonological pitch accent in Ancient Greek. By the time their use became conventional and obligatory in Greek writing, in late antiquity, pitch accent was evolving into a single stress accent, and thus the three signs have not corresponded to a phonological distinction in actual speech ever since. In addition to the accent marks, every word-initial vowel must carry either of two so-called «breathing marks»: the rough breathing (ἁ), marking an /h/ sound at the beginning of a word, or the smooth breathing (ἀ), marking its absence. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, also carries rough breathing in a word-initial position. If a rho was geminated within a word, the first ρ always had the smooth breathing and the second the rough breathing (ῤῥ) leading to the transliteration rrh.

The vowel letters ⟨α, η, ω⟩ carry an additional diacritic in certain words, the so-called iota subscript, which has the shape of a small vertical stroke or a miniature ⟨ι⟩ below the letter. This iota represents the former offglide of what were originally long diphthongs, ⟨ᾱι, ηι, ωι⟩ (i.e. /aːi, ɛːi, ɔːi/), which became monophthongized during antiquity.

Another diacritic used in Greek is the diaeresis (¨), indicating a hiatus.

This system of diacritics was first developed by the scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 257 – c. 185/180 BC), who worked at the Musaeum in Alexandria during the third century BC.[24] Aristophanes of Byzantium also was the first to divide poems into lines, rather than writing them like prose, and also introduced a series of signs for textual criticism.[25] In 1982, a new, simplified orthography, known as «monotonic», was adopted for official use in Modern Greek by the Greek state. It uses only a single accent mark, the acute (also known in this context as tonos, i.e. simply «accent»), marking the stressed syllable of polysyllabic words, and occasionally the diaeresis to distinguish diphthongal from digraph readings in pairs of vowel letters, making this monotonic system very similar to the accent mark system used in Spanish. The polytonic system is still conventionally used for writing Ancient Greek, while in some book printing and generally in the usage of conservative writers it can still also be found in use for Modern Greek.

Although it is not a diacritic, the comma has a similar function as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι (ó,ti, «whatever») from ότι (óti, «that»).[26]

Romanization

There are many different methods of rendering Greek text or Greek names in the Latin script.[27] The form in which classical Greek names are conventionally rendered in English goes back to the way Greek loanwords were incorporated into Latin in antiquity.[28] In this system, ⟨κ⟩ is replaced with ⟨c⟩, the diphthongs ⟨αι⟩ and ⟨οι⟩ are rendered as ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (or ⟨æ,œ⟩) respectively; and ⟨ει⟩ and ⟨ου⟩ are simplified to ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ respectively.[29] Smooth breathing marks are usually ignored and rough breathing marks are usually rendered as the letter ⟨h⟩.[30] In modern scholarly transliteration of Ancient Greek, ⟨κ⟩ will usually be rendered as ⟨k⟩, and the vowel combinations ⟨αι, οι, ει, ου⟩ as ⟨ai, oi, ei, ou⟩ respectively.[27] The letters ⟨θ⟩ and ⟨φ⟩ are generally rendered as ⟨th⟩ and ⟨ph⟩; ⟨χ⟩ as either ⟨ch⟩ or ⟨kh⟩; and word-initial ⟨ρ⟩ as ⟨rh⟩.[31]

Transcription conventions for Modern Greek[32] differ widely, depending on their purpose, on how close they stay to the conventional letter correspondences of Ancient Greek-based transcription systems, and to what degree they attempt either an exact letter-by-letter transliteration or rather a phonetically-based transcription.[32] Standardized formal transcription systems have been defined by the International Organization for Standardization (as ISO 843),[32][33] by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names,[34] by the Library of Congress,[35] and others.

Letter Traditional Latin transliteration[31]
Α α A a
Β β B b
Γ γ G g
Δ δ D d
Ε ε E e
Ζ ζ Z z
Η η Ē ē
Θ θ Th th
Ι ι I i
Κ κ C c, K k
Λ λ L l
Μ μ M m
Ν ν N n
Ξ ξ X x
Ο ο O o
Π π P p
Ρ ρ R r, Rh rh
Σ σ/ς S s
Τ τ T t
Υ υ Y y, U u
Φ φ Ph ph
Χ χ Ch ch, Kh kh
Ψ ψ Ps ps
Ω ω Ō ō

History

Origins

Dipylon inscription, one of the oldest known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet, c. 740 BC

During the Mycenaean period, from around the sixteenth century to the twelfth century BC, Linear B was used to write the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known as Mycenaean Greek. This writing system, unrelated to the Greek alphabet, last appeared in the thirteenth century BC. In the late ninth century BC or early eighth century BC, the Greek alphabet emerged.[2] The period between the use of the two writing systems, during which no Greek texts are attested, is known as the Greek Dark Ages. The Greeks adopted the alphabet from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, one of the closely related scripts used for the West Semitic languages, calling it Φοινικήια γράμματα ‘Phoenician letters’.[36] However, the Phoenician alphabet is limited to consonants. When it was adopted for writing Greek, certain consonants were adapted to express vowels. The use of both vowels and consonants makes Greek the first alphabet in the narrow sense,[6] as distinguished from the abjads used in Semitic languages, which have letters only for consonants.[37]

Greek initially took over all of the 22 letters of Phoenician. Five were reassigned to denote vowel sounds: the glide consonants /j/ (yodh) and /w/ (waw) were used for [i] (Ι, iota) and [u] (Υ, upsilon) respectively; the glottal stop consonant /ʔ/ (aleph) was used for [a] (Α, alpha); the pharyngeal /ʕ/ (ʿayin) was turned into [o] (Ο, omicron); and the letter for /h/ (he) was turned into [e] (Ε, epsilon). A doublet of waw was also borrowed as a consonant for [w] (Ϝ, digamma). In addition, the Phoenician letter for the emphatic glottal /ħ/ (heth) was borrowed in two different functions by different dialects of Greek: as a letter for /h/ (Η, heta) by those dialects that had such a sound, and as an additional vowel letter for the long /ɛː/ (Η, eta) by those dialects that lacked the consonant. Eventually, a seventh vowel letter for the long /ɔː/ (Ω, omega) was introduced.

Greek also introduced three new consonant letters for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters: Φ (phi) for /pʰ/, Χ (chi) for /kʰ/ and Ψ (psi) for /ps/. In western Greek variants, Χ was instead used for /ks/ and Ψ for /kʰ/. The origin of these letters is a matter of some debate.

Three of the original Phoenician letters dropped out of use before the alphabet took its classical shape: the letter Ϻ (san), which had been in competition with Σ (sigma) denoting the same phoneme /s/; the letter Ϙ (qoppa), which was redundant with Κ (kappa) for /k/, and Ϝ (digamma), whose sound value /w/ dropped out of the spoken language before or during the classical period.

Greek was originally written predominantly from right to left, just like Phoenician, but scribes could freely alternate between directions. For a time, a writing style with alternating right-to-left and left-to-right lines (called boustrophedon, literally «ox-turning», after the manner of an ox ploughing a field) was common, until in the classical period the left-to-right writing direction became the norm. Individual letter shapes were mirrored depending on the writing direction of the current line.

Archaic variants

Distribution of «green», «red» and «blue» alphabet types, after Kirchhoff.

There were initially numerous local (epichoric) variants of the Greek alphabet, which differed in the use and non-use of the additional vowel and consonant symbols and several other features. Epichoric alphabets are commonly divided into four major types according to their different treatments of additional consonant letters for the aspirated consonants (/pʰ, kʰ/) and consonant clusters (/ks, ps/) of Greek.[38] These four types are often conventionally labelled as «green», «red», «light blue» and «dark blue» types, based on a colour-coded map in a seminal 19th-century work on the topic, Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Alphabets by Adolf Kirchhoff (1867).[38]

The «green» (or southern) type is the most archaic and closest to the Phoenician.[39] The «red» (or western) type is the one that was later transmitted to the West and became the ancestor of the Latin alphabet, and bears some crucial features characteristic of that later development.[39] The «blue» (or eastern) type is the one from which the later standard Greek alphabet emerged.[39] Athens used a local form of the «light blue» alphabet type until the end of the fifth century BC, which lacked the letters Ξ and Ψ as well as the vowel symbols Η and Ω.[39][40] In the Old Attic alphabet, ΧΣ stood for /ks/ and ΦΣ for /ps/. Ε was used for all three sounds /e, eː, ɛː/ (correspondinɡ to classical Ε, ΕΙ, Η respectively), and Ο was used for all of /o, oː, ɔː/ (corresponding to classical Ο, ΟΥ, Ω respectively).[40] The letter Η (heta) was used for the consonant /h/.[40] Some variant local letter forms were also characteristic of Athenian writing, some of which were shared with the neighboring (but otherwise «red») alphabet of Euboia: a form of Λ that resembled a Latin L (Greek Lambda Athenian.svg) and a form of Σ that resembled a Latin S (Greek Sigma Z-shaped.svg).[40]

Phoenician model Phoenician aleph.svg Phoenician beth.svg Phoenician gimel.svg Phoenician daleth.svg Phoenician he.svg Phoenician waw.svg Phoenician zayin.svg Phoenician heth.svg Phoenician teth.svg Phoenician yodh.svg Phoenician kaph.svg Phoenician lamedh.svg Phoenician mem.svg Phoenician nun.svg Phoenician samekh.svg Phoenician ayin.svg Phoenician pe.svg Phoenician sade.svg Phoenician qoph.svg Phoenician res.svg Phoenician sin.svg Phoenician taw.svg
Southern «green» Greek Alpha 03.svg Greek Beta 16.svg Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg Greek Delta 04.svg Greek Epsilon archaic.svg Greek Digamma oblique.svg Greek Zeta archaic.svg Greek Eta archaic.svg — Greek Theta archaic.svg Greek Iota normal.svg Greek Kappa normal.svg Greek Lambda 09.svg Greek Mu 04.svg Greek Nu 01.svg — Greek Omicron 04.svg Greek Pi archaic.svg Greek San 02.svg Greek Koppa normal.svg Greek Rho pointed.svg Greek Sigma normal.svg Greek Tau normal.svg Greek Upsilon normal.svg* — — — — —
Western «red» Greek Chi normal.svg Greek Phi archaic.svg Greek Psi straight.svg
Eastern «light blue» — Greek Chi normal.svg
«dark blue» Greek Xi archaic.svg Greek Psi straight.svg
Classic Ionian — — Greek Eta normal.svg — — Greek Omega normal.svg
Modern alphabet Α Β Γ Δ Ε — Ζ — Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π — — Ρ Σ Τ Υ — Φ Χ Ψ Ω
Sound in Ancient Greek a b g d e w zd h ē tʰ i k l m n ks o p s k r s t u ks pʰ kʰ ps ō

*Upsilon is also derived from waw (Phoenician waw.svg).

The classical twenty-four-letter alphabet that is now used to represent the Greek language was originally the local alphabet of Ionia.[41] By the late fifth century BC, it was commonly used by many Athenians.[41] In c. 403 BC, at the suggestion of the archon Eucleides, the Athenian Assembly formally abandoned the Old Attic alphabet and adopted the Ionian alphabet as part of the democratic reforms after the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants.[41][42] Because of Eucleides’s role in suggesting the idea to adopt the Ionian alphabet, the standard twenty-four-letter Greek alphabet is sometimes known as the «Eucleidean alphabet».[41] Roughly thirty years later, the Eucleidean alphabet was adopted in Boeotia and it may have been adopted a few years previously in Macedonia.[43] By the end of the fourth century BC, it had displaced local alphabets across the Greek-speaking world to become the standard form of the Greek alphabet.[43]

Letter names

When the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, they took over not only the letter shapes and sound values but also the names by which the sequence of the alphabet could be recited and memorized. In Phoenician, each letter name was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus ʾaleph, the word for «ox», was used as the name for the glottal stop /ʔ/, bet, or «house», for the /b/ sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, ʾaleph, bet, gimel became alpha, beta, gamma.

The Greek names of the following letters are more or less straightforward continuations of their Phoenician antecedents. Between Ancient and Modern Greek, they have remained largely unchanged, except that their pronunciation has followed regular sound changes along with other words (for instance, in the name of beta, ancient /b/ regularly changed to modern /v/, and ancient /ɛː/ to modern /i/, resulting in the modern pronunciation vita). The name of lambda is attested in early sources as λάβδα besides λάμβδα;[44][11] in Modern Greek the spelling is often λάμδα, reflecting pronunciation.[11] Similarly, iota is sometimes spelled γιώτα in Modern Greek ([ʝ] is conventionally transcribed ⟨γ{ι,η,υ,ει,οι}⟩ word-initially and intervocalically before back vowels and /a/). In the tables below, the Greek names of all letters are given in their traditional polytonic spelling; in modern practice, like with all other words, they are usually spelled in the simplified monotonic system.

The names of the letters in spoken Standard Modern Greek

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek Phoenician original English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Α ἄλφα aleph alpha [alpʰa] [ˈalfa] (listen)
Β βῆτα beth beta [bɛːta] [ˈvita] , US:
Γ γάμμα gimel gamma [ɡamma] [ˈɣama]
Δ δέλτα daleth delta [delta] [ˈðelta]
Η ἦτα heth eta [hɛːta], [ɛːta] [ˈita] , US:
Θ θῆτα teth theta [tʰɛːta] [ˈθita] , US: (listen)
Ι ἰῶτα yodh iota [iɔːta] [ˈʝota] (listen)
Κ κάππα kaph kappa [kappa] [ˈkapa] (listen)
Λ λάμβδα lamedh lambda [lambda] [ˈlamða] (listen)
Μ μῦ mem mu [myː] [mi] (listen); occasionally US:
Ν νῦ nun nu [nyː] [ni]
Ρ ῥῶ reš rho [rɔː] [ro] (listen)
Τ ταῦ taw tau [tau] [taf]

In the cases of the three historical sibilant letters below, the correspondence between Phoenician and Ancient Greek is less clear, with apparent mismatches both in letter names and sound values. The early history of these letters (and the fourth sibilant letter, obsolete san) has been a matter of some debate. Here too, the changes in the pronunciation of the letter names between Ancient and Modern Greek are regular.

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek Phoenician original English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ζ ζῆτα zayin zeta [zdɛːta] [ˈzita] , US:
Ξ ξεῖ, ξῖ samekh xi [kseː] [ksi]
Σ σίγμα šin siɡma [siɡma] [ˈsiɣma]

In the following group of consonant letters, the older forms of the names in Ancient Greek were spelled with -εῖ, indicating an original pronunciation with -ē. In Modern Greek these names are spelled with -ι.

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ξ ξεῖ, ξῖ xi [kseː] [ksi]
Π πεῖ, πῖ pi [peː] [pi]
Φ φεῖ, φῖ phi [pʰeː] [fi]
Χ χεῖ, χῖ chi [kʰeː] [çi] (listen)
Ψ ψεῖ, ψῖ psi [pseː] [psi] , (listen)

The following group of vowel letters were originally called simply by their sound values as long vowels: ē, ō, ū, and ɔ. Their modern names contain adjectival qualifiers that were added during the Byzantine period, to distinguish between letters that had become confusable.[11] Thus, the letters ⟨ο⟩ and ⟨ω⟩, pronounced identically by this time, were called o mikron («small o») and o mega («big o») respectively.[11] The letter ⟨ε⟩ was called e psilon («plain e») to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph ⟨αι⟩, while, similarly, ⟨υ⟩, which at this time was pronounced [y], was called y psilon («plain y») to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph ⟨οι⟩.[11]

Letter Name Pronunciation
Greek (Ancient) Greek (Medieval) Greek (Modern) English Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern) English
Ε εἶ ἐ ψιλόν ἔψιλον epsilon [eː] [ˈepsilon] , some UK:
Ο οὖ ὀ μικρόν ὄμικρον omicron [oː] [ˈomikron] , traditional UK:
Υ ὖ ὐ ψιλόν ὔψιλον upsilon [uː], [yː] [ˈipsilon] , also UK: , US:
Ω ὦ ὠ μέγα ὠμέγα omega [ɔː] [oˈmeɣa] US: , traditional UK:

Some dialects of the Aegean and Cypriot have retained long consonants and pronounce [ˈɣamːa] and [ˈkapʰa]; also, ήτα has come to be pronounced [ˈitʰa] in Cypriot.[45]

Letter shapes

Theocritus Idyll 1, lines 12–14, in script with abbreviations and ligatures from a caption in an illustrated edition of Theocritus. Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer: Carmina bucolica, Leiden 1779.

Like Latin and other alphabetic scripts, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter, without a distinction between uppercase and lowercase. This distinction is an innovation of the modern era, drawing on different lines of development of the letter shapes in earlier handwriting.

The oldest forms of the letters in antiquity are majuscule forms. Besides the upright, straight inscriptional forms (capitals) found in stone carvings or incised pottery, more fluent writing styles adapted for handwriting on soft materials were also developed during antiquity. Such handwriting has been preserved especially from papyrus manuscripts in Egypt since the Hellenistic period. Ancient handwriting developed two distinct styles: uncial writing, with carefully drawn, rounded block letters of about equal size, used as a book hand for carefully produced literary and religious manuscripts, and cursive writing, used for everyday purposes.[46] The cursive forms approached the style of lowercase letter forms, with ascenders and descenders, as well as many connecting lines and ligatures between letters.

In the ninth and tenth century, uncial book hands were replaced with a new, more compact writing style, with letter forms partly adapted from the earlier cursive.[46] This minuscule style remained the dominant form of handwritten Greek into the modern era. During the Renaissance, western printers adopted the minuscule letter forms as lowercase printed typefaces, while modeling uppercase letters on the ancient inscriptional forms. The orthographic practice of using the letter case distinction for marking proper names, titles, etc. developed in parallel to the practice in Latin and other western languages.

Inscription Manuscript Modern print
Archaic Classical Uncial Minuscule Lowercase Uppercase
Greek Alpha 03.svg Greek Alpha classical.svg Greek uncial Alpha.svg Greek minuscule Alpha.svg α Α
Greek Beta 16.svg Greek Beta classical.svg Greek uncial Beta.svg Greek minuscule Beta.svg β Β
Greek Gamma archaic 1.svg Greek Gamma classical.svg Greek uncial Gamma.svg Greek minuscule Gamma.svg γ Γ
Greek Delta 04.svg Greek Delta classical.svg Greek uncial Delta.svg Greek minuscule Delta.svg δ Δ
Greek Epsilon archaic.svg Greek Epsilon classical.svg Greek uncial Epsilon.svg Greek minuscule Epsilon.svg ε Ε
Greek Zeta archaic.svg Greek Zeta classical.svg Greek uncial Zeta.svg Greek minuscule Zeta.svg ζ Ζ
Greek Eta archaic.svg Greek Eta classical.svg Greek uncial Eta.svg Greek minuscule Eta.svg η Η
Greek Theta archaic.svg Greek Theta classical.svg Greek uncial Theta.svg Greek minuscule Theta.svg θ Θ
Greek Iota normal.svg Greek Iota classical.svg Greek uncial Iota.svg Greek minuscule Iota.svg ι Ι
Greek Kappa normal.svg Greek Kappa classical.svg Greek uncial Kappa.svg Greek minuscule Kappa.svg κ Κ
Greek Lambda 09.svg Greek Lambda classical.svg Greek uncial Lambda.svg Greek minuscule Lambda.svg λ Λ
Greek Mu 04.svg Greek Mu classical.svg Greek uncial Mu.svg Greek minuscule Mu.svg μ Μ
Greek Nu 01.svg Greek Nu classical.svg Greek uncial Nu.svg Greek minuscule Nu.svg ν Ν
Greek Xi archaic.svg Greek Xi classical.svg Greek uncial Xi.svg Greek minuscule Xi.svg ξ Ξ
Greek Omicron 04.svg Greek Omicron classical.svg Greek uncial Omicron.svg Greek minuscule Omicron.svg ο Ο
Greek Pi archaic.svg Greek Pi classical.svg Greek uncial Pi.svg Greek minuscule Pi.svg π Π
Greek Rho pointed.svg Greek Rho classical.svg Greek uncial Rho.svg Greek minuscule Rho.svg ρ Ρ
Greek Sigma normal.svg Greek Sigma classical.svg Greek uncial Sigma.svg Greek minuscule Sigma.svg σς Σ
Greek Tau normal.svg Greek Tau classical.svg Greek uncial Tau.svg Greek minuscule Tau.svg τ Τ
Greek Upsilon normal.svg Greek Upsilon classical.svg Greek uncial Upsilon.svg Greek minuscule Upsilon.svg υ Υ
Greek Phi 03.svg Greek Phi archaic.svg Greek uncial Phi.svg Greek minuscule Phi.svg φ Φ
Greek Chi normal.svg Greek Chi classical.svg Greek uncial Chi.svg Greek minuscule Chi.svg χ Χ
Greek Psi straight.svg Greek Psi classical.svg Greek uncial Psi.svg Greek minuscule Psi.svg ψ Ψ
Greek Omega normal.svg Greek Omega classical.svg Greek uncial Omega.svg Greek minuscule Omega.svg ω Ω

Derived alphabets

The earliest Etruscan abecedarium, from Marsiliana d’Albegna, still almost identical with contemporaneous archaic Greek alphabets

The Greek alphabet was the model for various others:[6]

  • The Etruscan alphabet;
  • The Latin alphabet, together with various other ancient scripts in Italy, adopted from an archaic form of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Greek colonists in the late 8th century BC, via Etruscan;
  • The Gothic alphabet, devised in the 4th century AD to write the Gothic language, based on a combination of Greek and Latin uncial models;[47]
  • The Glagolitic alphabet, devised in the 9th century AD for writing Old Church Slavonic;
  • The Cyrillic script, which replaced the Glagolitic alphabet shortly afterwards.
  • The Coptic Alphabet used for writing the Coptic language.

The Armenian and Georgian alphabets are almost certainly modeled on the Greek alphabet, but their graphic forms are quite different.[48]

Other uses

Use for other languages

Apart from the daughter alphabets listed above, which were adapted from Greek but developed into separate writing systems, the Greek alphabet has also been adopted at various times and in various places to write other languages.[49] For some of them, additional letters were introduced.

Antiquity

  • Most of the Iron Age alphabets of Asia Minor were also adopted around the same time, as the early Greek alphabet was adopted from the Phoenician Alphabet. The Lydian and Carian alphabets are generally believed to derive from the Greek alphabet, although it is not clear which variant is the direct ancestor. While some of these alphabets such as Phrygian had slight differences from the Greek counterpart, some like Carian alphabet had mostly different values and several other characters inherited from pre-Greek local scripts. They were in use c. 800–300 BC until all the Anatolian languages were extinct due to Hellenization.[50][51][52][53][54]
  • The original Old Italic alphabets was the early Greek alphabet with only slight modifications.
  • It was used in some Paleo-Balkan languages, including Thracian. For other neighboring languages or dialects, such as Ancient Macedonian, isolated words are preserved in Greek texts, but no continuous texts are preserved.
  • The Greco-Iberian alphabet was used for writing the ancient Iberian language in parts of modern Spain.
  • Gaulish inscriptions (in modern France) used the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest
  • The Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Bible was written in Greek letters in Origen’s Hexapla.
  • The Bactrian language, an Iranian language spoken in what is now Afghanistan, was written in the Greek alphabet during the Kushan Empire (65–250 AD). It adds an extra letter ⟨þ⟩ for the sh sound [ʃ].[55]
  • The Coptic alphabet adds eight letters derived from Demotic. It is still used today, mostly in Egypt, to write Coptic, the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. Letters usually retain an uncial form different from the forms used for Greek today. The alphabet of Old Nubian is an adaptation of Coptic.

Middle Ages

  • An 8th-century Arabic fragment preserves a text in the Greek alphabet,[56] as does a 9th or 10th century psalm translation fragment.[57]
  • An Old Ossetic inscription of the 10th–12th centuries found in Arxyz, the oldest known attestation of an Ossetic language.
  • The Old Nubian language of Makuria (modern Sudan) adds three Coptic letters, two letters derived from Meroitic script, and a digraph of two Greek gammas used for the velar nasal sound.
  • Various South Slavic dialects, similar to the modern Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, have been written in Greek script.[58][59][60][61] The modern South Slavic languages now use modified Cyrillic alphabets.

Early modern

18th-century title page of a book printed in Karamanli Turkish

  • Turkish spoken by Orthodox Christians (Karamanlides) was often written in Greek script, and called Karamanlidika.
  • Tosk Albanian was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500.[62] The printing press at Moschopolis published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the Monastir conference standardized a Latin orthography for both Tosk and Gheg. Greek spelling is still occasionally used for the local Albanian dialects (Arvanitika) in Greece.
  • Gagauz, a Turkic language of the northeast Balkans spoken by Orthodox Christians, was apparently written in Greek characters in the late 19th century. In 1957, it was standardized on Cyrillic, and in 1996, a Gagauz alphabet based on Latin characters was adopted (derived from the Turkish alphabet).
  • Surguch, a Turkic language, was spoken by a small group of Orthodox Christians in northern Greece. It is now written in Latin or Cyrillic characters.
  • Urum or Greek Tatar, spoken by Orthodox Christians, used the Greek alphabet.
  • Judaeo-Spanish or Ladino, a Jewish dialect of Spanish, has occasionally been published in Greek characters in Greece.[63]
  • The Italian humanist Giovan Giorgio Trissino tried to add some Greek letters (Ɛ ε, Ꞷ ω) to Italian orthography in 1524.[64]

In mathematics and science

Greek symbols are used as symbols in mathematics, physics and other sciences. Many symbols have traditional uses, such as lower case epsilon (ε) for an arbitrarily small positive number, lower case pi (π) for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, capital sigma (Σ) for summation, and lower case sigma (σ) for standard deviation. Formerly, the Greek letters were used for naming North Atlantic hurricanes if the normal list ran out. This happened only in the 2005 and 2020 hurricane seasons for a total of 15 storms, the last one being Hurricane Iota. In May 2021 the World Health Organization announced that the variants of SARS-CoV-2 of the virus would be named using letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid stigma and simplify communications for non-scientific audiences.[65][66]

Astronomy

Greek letters are used to denote the brighter stars within each of the eighty-eight constellations. In most constellations, the brightest star is designated Alpha and the next brightest Beta etc. For example, the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus is known as Alpha Centauri. For historical reasons, the Greek designations of some constellations begin with a lower ranked letter.

International Phonetic Alphabet

Several Greek letters are used as phonetic symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).[67] Several of them denote fricative consonants; the rest stand for variants of vowel sounds. The glyph shapes used for these letters in specialized phonetic fonts is sometimes slightly different from the conventional shapes in Greek typography proper, with glyphs typically being more upright and using serifs, to make them conform more with the typographical character of other, Latin-based letters in the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, in the Unicode encoding standard, the following three phonetic symbols are considered the same characters as the corresponding Greek letters proper:[68]

β beta U+03B2 voiced bilabial fricative
θ theta U+03B8 voiceless dental fricative
χ chi U+03C7 voiceless uvular fricative

On the other hand, the following phonetic letters have Unicode representations separate from their Greek alphabetic use, either because their conventional typographic shape is too different from the original, or because they also have secondary uses as regular alphabetic characters in some Latin-based alphabets, including separate Latin uppercase letters distinct from the Greek ones.

Greek letter Phonetic letter Uppercase
φ phi U+03C6 ɸ U+0278 Voiceless bilabial fricative –
γ gamma U+03B3 ɣ U+0263 Voiced velar fricative Ɣ U+0194
ε epsilon U+03B5 ɛ U+025B Open-mid front unrounded vowel Ɛ U+0190
α alpha U+03B1 ɑ U+0251 Open back unrounded vowel Ɑ U+2C6D
υ upsilon U+03C5 ʊ U+028A near-close near-back rounded vowel Ʊ U+01B1
ι iota U+03B9 ɩ U+0269 Obsolete for near-close near-front unrounded vowel now ɪ Ɩ U+0196

The symbol in Americanist phonetic notation for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is the Greek letter lambda ⟨λ⟩, but ⟨ɬ⟩ in the IPA. The IPA symbol for the palatal lateral approximant is ⟨ʎ⟩, which looks similar to lambda, but is actually an inverted lowercase y.

Use as numerals

Greek letters were also used to write numbers. In the classical Ionian system, the first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the numbers from 1 to 9, the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 10, from 10 to 90, and the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 100, from 100 to 900. For this purpose, in addition to the 24 letters which by that time made up the standard alphabet, three otherwise obsolete letters were retained or revived: digamma ⟨Ϝ⟩ for 6, koppa ⟨Ϙ⟩ for 90, and a rare Ionian letter for [ss], today called sampi ⟨Ͳ⟩, for 900. This system has remained in use in Greek up to the present day, although today it is only employed for limited purposes such as enumerating chapters in a book, similar to the way Roman numerals are used in English. The three extra symbols are today written as ⟨ϛ⟩, ⟨ϟ⟩ and ⟨ϡ⟩ respectively. To mark a letter as a numeral sign, a small stroke called keraia is added to the right of it.

Use by student fraternities and sororities

In North America, many college fraternities and sororities are named with combinations of Greek letters, and are hence also known as «Greek letter organizations».[69] This naming tradition was initiated by the foundation of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the College of William and Mary in 1776.[69] The name of this fraternal organization is an acronym for the ancient Greek phrase Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs), which means «Love of wisdom, the guide of life» and serves as the organization’s motto.[69] Sometimes early fraternal organizations were known by their Greek letter names because the mottos that these names stood for were secret and revealed only to members of the fraternity.[69]

Different chapters within the same fraternity are almost always (with a handful of exceptions) designated using Greek letters as serial numbers. The founding chapter of each respective organization is its A chapter. As an organization expands, it establishes a B chapter, a Γ chapter, and so on and so forth. In an organization that expands to more than 24 chapters, the chapter after Ω chapter is AA chapter, followed by AB chapter, etc. Each of these is still a «chapter Letter», albeit a double-digit letter just as 10 through 99 are double-digit numbers. The Roman alphabet has a similar extended form with such double-digit letters when necessary, but it is used for columns in a table or chart rather than chapters of an organization.[citation needed]

Glyph variants

Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval minuscule handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in Unicode.

  • The symbol ϐ («curled beta») is a cursive variant form of beta (β). In the French tradition of Ancient Greek typography, β is used word-initially, and ϐ is used word-internally.
  • The letter delta has a form resembling a cursive capital letter D; while not encoded as its own form, this form is included as part of the symbol for the drachma (a Δρ digraph) in the Currency Symbols block, at U+20AF (₯).
  • The letter epsilon can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped epsilon ,! (‘lunate epsilon’, like a semicircle with a stroke) or varepsilon ,! (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol ϵ (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϑ («script theta») is a cursive form of theta (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϰ («kappa symbol») is a cursive form of kappa (κ), used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϖ («variant pi») is an archaic script form of pi (π), also used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter rho (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol ϱ (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter sigma, in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form ϲ («lunate sigma», resembling a Latin c) is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction.
  • The capital letter upsilon (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin Y, or slightly curled. The symbol ϒ (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form (Upsilon ), used as a technical symbol, e.g. in physics.
  • The letter phi can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as textstyle phi ,! (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as textstyle varphi ,! (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol ϕ (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter omega has at least three stylistic variants of its capital form. The standard is the «open omega» (Ω), resembling an open partial circle with the opening downward and the ends curled outward. The two other stylistic variants are seen more often in modern typography, resembling a raised and underscored circle (roughly o̲), where the underscore may or may not be touching the circle on a tangent (in the former case it resembles a superscript omicron similar to that found in the numero sign or masculine ordinal indicator; in the latter, it closely resembles some forms of the Latin letter Q). The open omega is always used in symbolic settings and is encoded in Letterlike Symbols (U+2126) as a separate code point for backward compatibility.

Computer encodings

For computer usage, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in RFC 1947.

The two principal ones still used today are ISO/IEC 8859-7 and Unicode. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports both the monotonic and polytonic orthographies.

ISO/IEC 8859-7

For the range A0–FF (hex), it follows the Unicode range 370–3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc. are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings, it is equal to ASCII for 00–7F (hex).

Greek in Unicode

Unicode supports polytonic orthography well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for epigraphy. With the use of combining characters, Unicode also supports Greek philology and dialectology and various other specialized requirements. Most current text rendering engines do not render diacritics well, so, though alpha with macron and acute can be represented as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: ᾱ́.[citation needed]

There are two main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is «Greek and Coptic» (U+0370 to U+03FF). This block is based on ISO 8859-7 and is sufficient to write Modern Greek. There are also some archaic letters and Greek-based technical symbols.

This block also supports the Coptic alphabet. Formerly, most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with no Greek equivalents still remain in this block (U+03E2 to U+03EF).

To write polytonic Greek, one may use combining diacritical marks or the precomposed characters in the «Greek Extended» block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF).

Greek and Coptic[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+037x Ͱ ͱ Ͳ ͳ ʹ ͵ Ͷ ͷ ͺ ͻ ͼ ͽ ; Ϳ
U+038x ΄ ΅ Ά · Έ Ή Ί Ό Ύ Ώ
U+039x ΐ Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο
U+03Ax Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω Ϊ Ϋ ά έ ή ί
U+03Bx ΰ α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο
U+03Cx π ρ ς σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω ϊ ϋ ό ύ ώ Ϗ
U+03Dx ϐ ϑ ϒ ϓ ϔ ϕ ϖ ϗ Ϙ ϙ Ϛ ϛ Ϝ ϝ Ϟ ϟ
U+03Ex Ϡ ϡ Ϣ ϣ Ϥ ϥ Ϧ ϧ Ϩ ϩ Ϫ ϫ Ϭ ϭ Ϯ ϯ
U+03Fx ϰ ϱ ϲ ϳ ϴ ϵ ϶ Ϸ ϸ Ϲ Ϻ ϻ ϼ Ͻ Ͼ Ͽ
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 15.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Greek Extended[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1F0x ἀ ἁ ἂ ἃ ἄ ἅ ἆ ἇ Ἀ Ἁ Ἂ Ἃ Ἄ Ἅ Ἆ Ἇ
U+1F1x ἐ ἑ ἒ ἓ ἔ ἕ Ἐ Ἑ Ἒ Ἓ Ἔ Ἕ
U+1F2x ἠ ἡ ἢ ἣ ἤ ἥ ἦ ἧ Ἠ Ἡ Ἢ Ἣ Ἤ Ἥ Ἦ Ἧ
U+1F3x ἰ ἱ ἲ ἳ ἴ ἵ ἶ ἷ Ἰ Ἱ Ἲ Ἳ Ἴ Ἵ Ἶ Ἷ
U+1F4x ὀ ὁ ὂ ὃ ὄ ὅ Ὀ Ὁ Ὂ Ὃ Ὄ Ὅ
U+1F5x ὐ ὑ ὒ ὓ ὔ ὕ ὖ ὗ Ὑ Ὓ Ὕ Ὗ
U+1F6x ὠ ὡ ὢ ὣ ὤ ὥ ὦ ὧ Ὠ Ὡ Ὢ Ὣ Ὤ Ὥ Ὦ Ὧ
U+1F7x ὰ ά ὲ έ ὴ ή ὶ ί ὸ ό ὺ ύ ὼ ώ
U+1F8x ᾀ ᾁ ᾂ ᾃ ᾄ ᾅ ᾆ ᾇ ᾈ ᾉ ᾊ ᾋ ᾌ ᾍ ᾎ ᾏ
U+1F9x ᾐ ᾑ ᾒ ᾓ ᾔ ᾕ ᾖ ᾗ ᾘ ᾙ ᾚ ᾛ ᾜ ᾝ ᾞ ᾟ
U+1FAx ᾠ ᾡ ᾢ ᾣ ᾤ ᾥ ᾦ ᾧ ᾨ ᾩ ᾪ ᾫ ᾬ ᾭ ᾮ ᾯ
U+1FBx ᾰ ᾱ ᾲ ᾳ ᾴ ᾶ ᾷ Ᾰ Ᾱ Ὰ Ά ᾼ ᾽ ι ᾿
U+1FCx ῀ ῁ ῂ ῃ ῄ ῆ ῇ Ὲ Έ Ὴ Ή ῌ ῍ ῎ ῏
U+1FDx ῐ ῑ ῒ ΐ ῖ ῗ Ῐ Ῑ Ὶ Ί ῝ ῞ ῟
U+1FEx ῠ ῡ ῢ ΰ ῤ ῥ ῦ ῧ Ῠ Ῡ Ὺ Ύ Ῥ ῭ ΅ `
U+1FFx ῲ ῳ ῴ ῶ ῷ Ὸ Ό Ὼ Ώ ῼ ´ ῾
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 15.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Combining and letter-free diacritics

Combining and spacing (letter-free) diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language:

Combining Spacing Sample Description
U+0300 U+0060 (  ̀ ) «varia / grave accent»
U+0301 U+00B4, U+0384 (  ́ ) «oxia / tonos / acute accent»
U+0304 U+00AF ( ̄ ) «macron»
U+0306 U+02D8 ( ̆ ) «vrachy / breve»
U+0308 U+00A8 ( ̈ ) «dialytika / diaeresis»
U+0313 U+02BC ( ̓ ) «psili / comma above» (spiritus lenis)
U+0314 U+02BD ( ̔ ) «dasia / reversed comma above» (spiritus asper)
U+0342 ( ͂ ) «perispomeni» (circumflex)
U+0343 ( ̓ ) «koronis» (= U+0313)
U+0344 U+0385 ( ̈́ ) «dialytika tonos» (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
U+0345 U+037A ( ͅ ) «ypogegrammeni / iota subscript».

Encodings with a subset of the Greek alphabet

IBM code pages 437, 860, 861, 862, 863, and 865 contain the letters ΓΘΣΦΩαδεπστφ (plus β as an alternative interpretation for ß).

See also

  • Greek Font Society
  • Greek ligatures
  • Palamedes
  • Romanization of Greek

Notes

  1. ^ a b Epsilon ⟨ε⟩ and omicron ⟨ο⟩ originally could denote both short and long vowels in pre-classical archaic Greek spelling, just like other vowel letters. They were restricted to the function of short vowel signs in classical Greek, as the long vowels /eː/ and /oː/ came to be spelled instead with the digraphs ⟨ει⟩ and ⟨ου⟩, having phonologically merged with a corresponding pair of former diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ respectively.

References

  1. ^ Swiggers 1996.
  2. ^ a b Johnston 2003, pp. 263–276.
  3. ^ The date of the earliest inscribed objects; A.W. Johnston, «The alphabet», in N. Stampolidis and V. Karageorghis, eds, Sea Routes from Sidon to Huelva: Interconnections in the Mediterranean 2003:263-76, summarizes the present scholarship on the dating.
  4. ^ Cook 1987, p. 9.
  5. ^ The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE (2009), Quote: «Naveh gives four major reasons why it is universally agreed that the Greek alphabet was developed from an early Phoenician alphabet.
    1 According to Herodutous «the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus… brought into Hellas the alphabet, which had hitherto been unknown, as I think, to the Greeks.»
    2 The Greek Letters, alpha, beta, gimmel have no meaning in Greek but the meaning of most of their Semitic equivalents is known. For example, ‘aleph’ means ‘ox’, ‘bet’ means ‘house’ and ‘gimmel’ means ‘throw stick’.
    3 Early Greek letters are very similar and sometimes identical to the West Semitic letters.
    4 The letter sequence between the Semitic and Greek alphabets is identical. (Naveh 1982)»
  6. ^ a b c Coulmas 1996.
  7. ^ Horrocks 2006, pp. 231–250
  8. ^ Woodard 2008, pp. 15–17
  9. ^ Holton, Mackridge & Philippaki-Warburton 1998, p. 31
  10. ^ a b Adams 1987, pp. 6–7
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Keller & Russell 2012, p. 5
  12. ^ a b c d e Mastronarde 2013, p. 10
  13. ^ a b c d e Groton 2013, p. 3
  14. ^ Hinge 2001, pp. 212–234
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Keller & Russell 2012, pp. 5–6
  16. ^ a b c d e f Mastronarde 2013, p. 11
  17. ^ a b c Mastronarde 2013, pp. 11–13
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mastronarde 2013, p. 12
  19. ^ a b Nicholas, Nick (2004). «Sigma: final versus non-final». Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  20. ^ a b Thompson 1912, pp. 108, 144
  21. ^ Keller & Russell 2012, p. 6
  22. ^ a b c d Mastronarde 2013, p. 13
  23. ^ Additionally, the more ancient combination ⟨ωυ⟩ or ⟨ωϋ⟩ can occur in ancient especially in Ionic texts or in personal names.
  24. ^ Dickey 2007, pp. 92–93.
  25. ^ Dickey 2007, p. 93.
  26. ^ Nicolas, Nick. «Greek Unicode Issues: Punctuation Archived 2012-08-06 at archive.today». 2005. Accessed 7 Oct 2014.
  27. ^ a b Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–511.
  28. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502.
  29. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502, 510–511.
  30. ^ Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 499–502, 509.
  31. ^ a b Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 510–511.
  32. ^ a b c Verbrugghe 1999, pp. 505–507, 510–511.
  33. ^ ISO (2010). ISO 843:1997 (Conversion of Greek characters into Latin characters).
  34. ^ UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems (2003). «Greek». Retrieved 2012-07-15.
  35. ^ «Greek (ALA-LC Romanization Tables)» (PDF). Library of Congress. 2010.
  36. ^ A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language, article by Roger D. Woodward (ed. Egbert J. Bakker, 2010, Wiley-Blackwell).
  37. ^ Daniels & Bright 1996, p. 4.
  38. ^ a b Voutiras 2007, p. 270.
  39. ^ a b c d Woodard 2010, pp. 26–46.
  40. ^ a b c d Jeffery 1961, p. 66.
  41. ^ a b c d Threatte 1980, p. 26.
  42. ^ Horrocks 2010, p. xiix.
  43. ^ a b Panayotou 2007, p. 407.
  44. ^ Liddell & Scott 1940, s.v. «λάβδα»
  45. ^ Newton, B. E. (1968). «Spontaneous gemination in Cypriot Greek». Lingua. 20: 15–57. doi:10.1016/0024-3841(68)90130-7. ISSN 0024-3841.
  46. ^ a b Thompson 1912, pp. 102–103
  47. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 156
  48. ^ George L. Campbell, Christopher Moseley, The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets, pp. 51ff, 96ff
  49. ^ Macrakis 1996.
  50. ^ Understanding Relations Between Scripts II by Philip J Boyes & Philippa M Steele. Published in the UK in 2020 by Oxbow Books: «The Carian alphabet resembles the Greek alphabet, though, as in the case of Phrygian, no single Greek variant can be identified as its ancestor», «It is generally assumed that the Lydian alphabet is derived from the Greek alphabet, but the exact relationship remains unclear (Melchert 2004)»
  51. ^ Britannica — Lycian Alphabet «The Lycian alphabet is clearly related to the Greek, but the exact nature of the relationship is uncertain. Several letters appear to be related to symbols of the Cretan and Cyprian writing systems.»
  52. ^ Scriptsource.org — Carian«Visually, the letters bear a close resemblance to Greek letters. Decipherment was initially attempted on the assumption that those letters which looked like Greek represented the same sounds as their closest visual Greek equivalents. However it has since been established that the phonetic values of the two scripts are very different. For example the theta θ symbol represents ‘th’ in Greek but ‘q’ in Carian. Carian was generally written from left to right, although Egyptian writers wrote primarily from right to left. It was written without spaces between words.»
  53. ^ Omniglot.com — Carian «The Carian alphabet appears in about 100 pieces of graffiti inscriptions left by Carian mercenaries who served in Egypt. A number of clay tablets, coins and monumental inscriptions have also been found. It was possibly derived from the Phoenician alphabet.»
  54. ^ Ancient Anatolian languages and cultures in contact: some methodological observations by Paola Cotticelli-Kurras & Federico Giusfredi (University of Verona, Italy) «During the Iron ages, with a brand new political balance and cultural scenario, the cultures and languages of Anatolia maintained their position of a bridge between the Aegean and the Syro-Mesopotamian worlds, while the North-West Semitic cultures of the Phoenicians and of the Aramaeans also entered the scene. Assuming the 4th century and the hellenization of Anatolia as the terminus ante quem, the correct perspective of a contact-oriented study of the Ancient Anatolian world needs to take as an object a large net of cultures that evolved and changed over almost 16 centuries of documentary history.»
  55. ^ Sims-Williams 1997.
  56. ^ J. Blau, «Middle and Old Arabic material for the history of stress in Arabic», Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 35:3:476-84 (October 1972) full text
  57. ^ Ahmad Al-Jallad, The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī, in series Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Near East (LAMINE) 2, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2020; full text; see also Bible translations into Arabic
  58. ^ Miletich 1920.
  59. ^ Mazon & Vaillant 1938.
  60. ^ Kristophson 1974, p. 11.
  61. ^ Peyfuss 1989.
  62. ^ Elsie 1991.
  63. ^ Katja Šmid, «Los problemas del estudio de la lengua sefardí», Verba Hispanica 10:1:113-124 (2002) full text: «Es interesante el hecho que en Bulgaria se imprimieron unas pocas publicaciones en alfabeto cirílico búlgaro y en Grecia en alfabeto griego.»
  64. ^ Trissino, Gian Giorgio (1524). De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana — Wikisource (in Italian). Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  65. ^ «WHO announces simple, easy-to-say labels for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest and Concern». www.who.int. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  66. ^ «Covid-19 variants to be given Greek alphabet names to avoid stigma». the Guardian. 2021-05-31. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  67. ^ Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge: University Press. 1999. pp. 176–181.
  68. ^ For chi and beta, separate codepoints for use in a Latin-script environment were added in Unicode versions 7.0 (2014) and 8.0 (2015) respectively: U+AB53 «Latin small letter chi» (ꭓ) and U+A7B5 «Latin small letter beta» (ꞵ). As of 2017, the International Phonetic Association still lists the original Greek codepoints as the standard representations of the IPA symbols in question [1].
  69. ^ a b c d Winterer 2010, p. 377.

Bibliography

  • Adams, Douglas Q. (1987). Essential Modern Greek Grammar. New York City, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-25133-2.
  • Cook, B. F. (1987). Greek inscriptions. University of California Press/British Museum.
  • Coulmas, Florian (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-0-631-21481-6.
  • Daniels, Peter T; Bright, William (1996). The World’s Writing Systems. Oxford University Press.
  • Dickey, Eleanor (2007). Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises, from Their Beginnings to the Byzantine Period. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-531293-5. Aristophanes of Byzantium Greek diacritics.
  • Elsie, Robert (1991). «Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing» (PDF). Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 15 (20): 20–35. doi:10.1179/byz.1991.15.1.20. S2CID 161805678. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  • Groton, Anne H. (2013). From Alpha to Omega: A Beginning Course in Classical Greek. Indianapolis, Indiana: Focus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58510-473-4.
  • Hinge, George (2001). Die Sprache Alkmans: Textgeschichte und Sprachgeschichte (Ph.D.). University of Aarhus.
  • Jeffery, Lilian H. (1961). The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B. C. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
  • Keller, Andrew; Russell, Stephanie (2012). Learn to Read Greek, Part 1. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11589-5.
  • Holton, David; Mackridge, Peter; Philippaki-Warburton, Irini (1998). Grammatiki tis ellinikis glossas. Athens: Pataki.
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  • Kristophson, Jürgen (1974). «Das Lexicon Tetraglosson des Daniil Moschopolitis». Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. 10: 4–128.
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External links

  • Greek and Coptic character list in Unicode
  • Unicode collation charts—including Greek and Coptic letters, sorted by shape
  • Examples of Greek handwriting
  • Greek Unicode Issues (Nick Nicholas) at archive.today (archived August 5, 2012)
  • Unicode FAQ – Greek Language and Script
  • alphabetic test for Greek Unicode range (Alan Wood)
  • numeric test for Greek Unicode range
  • Classical Greek keyboard, a browser-based tool
  • Collection of free fonts: greekfontsociety.gr
Источник
  • Русский алфавит
  • Алфавиты и азбуки
  • Греческий алфавит

Греческий алфавит

В греческом алфавите 24 буквы. Буквы греческого алфавита широко используются в геометрии, физики, астрономии и других науках.

Алфавит

100%

Греческий алфавит с названием букв на русском языке.

Α αальфа Β βбета (вита) Γ γгамма Δ δдельта Ε εэпсилон Ζ ζдзета (зита) Η ηэта (ита) Θ θтета (фита) Ι ιйота Κ κкаппа Λ λлямбда (лямда) Μ μмю (ми) Ν νню (ни) Ξ ξкси Ο οомикрон Π πпи Ρ ρро Σ σ ςсигма Τ τтау (тав) Υ υипсилон Φ φфи Χ χхи Ψ ψпси Ω ωомега

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Греческий алфавит

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Греческий алфавит (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο) с названием букв на греческом языке.

Α αάλφα Β ββήτα Γ γγάμμα Δ δδέλτα Ε εέψιλον Ζ ζζήτα Η ηήτα Θ θθήτα Ι ιγιώτα Κ κκάππα Λ λλάμδα Μ μμι Ν ννι Ξ ξξι Ο οόμικρον Π ππι Ρ ρρo Σ σσίγμα Τ τταυ Υ υύψιλον Φ φφι Χ χχι Ψ ψψι Ω ωωμέγα

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Греческий алфавит

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За продолжительную историю человечества было создано огромное количество языков и алфавитов. На данный момент большинство из них являются мертвыми, а часть и вовсе утерянными. Одна из ветвей развития алфавита имела основополагающее значение для большинства языков. Это — ответвление от финикийской ветки, давшее основу греческому алфавиту. Ввиду большого количества книг и развитой торговли греческий алфавит стал популярным. Пожалуй, греческий язык можно назвать первым мировым языком, и как следствие, греческий алфавит можно считать первым мировым алфавитом. Со временем греческий алфавит претерпел множество изменений, на его основе возник латинский алфавит.

Языки Греческий
Создан около VIII века до н.э.
Статус используется по настоящее время
Происхождение Финикийское письмо
Кол-во букв 24
Направление письма слева направо

Нумерация букв

Буквы греческого алфавита с нумерацией: прямой и обратный порядок с указанием позиции буквы.

  • Αα
    1
    24
  • Ββ
    2
    23
  • Γγ
    3
    22
  • Δδ
    4
    21
  • Εε
    5
    20
  • Ζζ
    6
    19
  • Ηη
    7
    18
  • Θθ
    8
    17
  • Ιι
    9
    16
  • Κκ
    10
    15
  • Λλ
    11
    14
  • Μμ
    12
    13
  • Νν
    13
    12
  • Ξξ
    14
    11
  • Οο
    15
    10
  • Ππ
    16
    9
  • Ρρ
    17
    8
  • Σσ
    18
    7
  • Ττ
    19
    6
  • Υυ
    20
    5
  • Φφ
    21
    4
  • Χχ
    22
    3
  • Ψψ
    23
    2
  • Ωω
    24
    1

Транскрипция, гласные и согласные

В греческом алфавите:
7 букв, означающих гласные звуки: α, ε, η, ι, о, υ, ω;
17 букв, означающих согласные звуки: β, γ, δ, ζ, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, π, ρ, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ.

В рукописных и печатных изданиях можно встретить греческие лигатуры — слияние двух и более букв в один символ для сокращения места и ускорения написания.

№ Буква Название Звук Тип
Русское Английское Греческое
1 — 24 Α α альфа alpha άλφα [a] гласная
2 — 23 Β β ϐ бета (вита) beta βήτα [β] согласная
3 — 22 Γ γ гамма gamma γάμμα [ɣ], [ʝ] согласная
4 — 21 Δ δ дельта delta δέλτα [ð] согласная
5 — 20 Ε ε ϵ эпсилон epsilon έψιλον [e] гласная
6 — 19 Ζ ζ дзета (зита) zeta ζήτα [z] согласная
7 — 18 Η η эта (ита) eta ήτα [i] гласная
8 — 17 Θ θ ϴ ϑ тета (фита) theta θήτα [θ] согласная
9 — 16 Ι ι йота йота γιώτα [i], [j] гласная
10 — 15 Κ κ ϰ каппа kappa κάππα [k], [c] согласная
11 — 14 Λ λ лямбда (лямда) lambda λάμδα [l] согласная
12 — 13 Μ μ мю (ми) mu μι [m] согласная
13 — 12 Ν ν ню (ни) nu νι [n] согласная
14 — 11 Ξ ξ кси xi ξι [ks] согласная
15 — 10 Ο ο омикрон omicron όμικρον [o] гласная
16 — 9 Π π ϖ пи pi πι [p] согласная
17 — 8 Ρ ρ ϱ ро rho ρo [r] согласная
18 — 7 Σ σ ς сигма sigma σίγμα [s] согласная
19 — 6 Τ τ тау (тав) tau ταυ [t] согласная
20 — 5 Υ ϒ υ ипсилон upsilon ύψιλον [i] гласная
21 — 4 Φ φ ϕ фи phi φι [ɸ] согласная
22 — 3 Χ χ хи chi χι [x], [ç] согласная
23 — 2 Ψ ψ пси psi ψι [ps] согласная
24 — 1 Ω ω омега omega ωμέγα [o] гласная

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