Greek alphabet

From TheBestLinks.com

The Greek language is written in the Greek alphabet, developed in classical times (around the 9th century BC) and passed down to the present. Its letters are nowadays used for a variety of other purposes: as mathematical symbols, as names of stars, as names of fraternities and sororities, and so forth.

Table of contents

1 Overview

2 Main table

3 Letter combinations and diphthongs

4 Greek in Unicode

4.1 Greek and Coptic
4.2 Greek Extended (precomposed polytonic Greek)
4.3 Combining diacritics

5 History

6 Additional information

Overview

It is believed that the Greek alphabet was brought to Greece via Phoenician traders. Greek is derived from a Semitic script, but there is controversy as to which one, with both Proto-Canaanite and Phoenician as possibilities. Other theories include as its sources Egypt, Assyria, and Minoan Crete or even many different languages and nations (Polygenetic theory).

Because Greek minuscules are from a (much) later date, no historic minuscule actually exists for San. Minuscule forms for the other letters were only used numerically.

But for number 6 modern Greeks use an old digraph called stigma (Ϛ, ϛ) instead of digamma or use στ if it is not available. For 90 they use modern z-shaped qoppa forms (Ϟ, ϟ).

Main table

The Greek letters and their derivations are as follows (pronunciations transcribed according to SAMPA):

Letter	Name				Pronunciation			Numeric value	Corresponding Hebrew letter	HTML entity	Latin transliteration (but see diphthongs, etc.)
	Greek	Traditional transcription	Pronunciation		Pronunciation
	Greek	Traditional transcription	classical	modern	old	classical	modern
Α α	ἄλφα / ἄλφα	Alpha	["alfa]	["alfa]		[a] [a:]	[a]	1	א 'Aleph	α	a
Β β	βῆτα / βῆτα	Beta	["bE:ta]	["vita]		[b]	[v]	2	ב Bet	β	b
Γ γ	γάμμα / γάμμα	Gamma	["gamma]	["Gama]		[g]	[j] before [e] or [i]; [G] otherwise	3	ג Gimel	γ	g
Δ δ	δέλτα / δέλτα	Delta	["delta]	["Delta]		[d]	[D]	4	ד Dalet	δ	d
Ε ε	ἒ ψιλόν / ἒ ψιλόν	Epsilon	[e psi"lon]	[e psi"lon]		[e]	[e]	5	ה He	ε	e
F (1) (Ϝ ϝ)		Digamma			[w]	-	-	6	ו Vav	&gammad;
Ζ ζ	ζῆτα / ζῆτα	Zeta	["zdE:ta]	["zita]		[zd], later [z:]	[z]	7	ז Zayin	ζ	z, s (between vowels)
Η η	ἦτα / ῆτα	Eta	["E:ta]	["ita]	[E:] [h]	[E:]	[i]	8	ח Het	η	e, �, i, a (final: H�ra)
Θ θ <math>\vartheta<math>	θῆτα / θῆτα	Theta	["TE:ta]	["Tita]	[t_h]	[T]	[T]	9	ט Tet	θ	th
Ι ι	ἰῶτα / ἰῶτα	Iota	["iO:ta]	["jota]		[i] [i:]	[i] [j]	10	י Yod	ι	i
Κ κ	κάππα / κάππα	Kappa	["kappa]	["kapa]		[k]	[k]	20	ך כ Kaf	κ	k, c
Λ λ	λάμβδα / λάμβδα	Lambda	["lambda]	["lamda]		[l]	[l]	30	ל Lamed	λ	l
Μ μ	μῦ / μῦ	Mu	[my:]	[mi]		[m]	[m]	40	ם מ Mem	μ	m
Ν ν	νῦ / νῦ	Nu	[ny:]	[ni]		[n]	[n]	50	ן נ Nun	ν	n
Ξ ξ	ξῖ / ξῖ	Xi	[ksi:]	[ksi]		[ks]	[ks]	60	ס Samekh	ξ	x, ks
Ο ο	Ὂ μικρόν / ὂ μικρόν	Omicron	[o mi"kron]	[o mi"kron]		[o]	[o]	70	ע `Ayin	ο	o
Π π	πῖ / πῖ	Pi	[pi:]	[pi]		[p]	[p]	80	ף פ Pe	π	p
M (1) (Ϻ ϻ)		San			[z]	-	-	-	ץ צ Tzadik	Ϻ ϻ	s
Q (1) (Ϙ ϙ)		Qoppa			[k]	-	-	90	ק Kuf	Ϙ ϙ	q
Ρ ρ	ῥῶ / ῥῶ	Rho	[rO:]	[ro]		[r]	[r]	100	ר Resh	ρ	r, rh (beginning a word), rrh (doubled)
Σ σ	σῖγμα / σῖγμα	Sigma	["si:gma]	["sigma]		[s]	[s]	200	ש Shin	σ	s, ss (between vowels)
ς	σῖγμα / σῖγμα	Sigma (final)	["si:gma]	["sigma]		[s]	[s]	6 (modern)	ש Shin	&sigmaf;	s
Τ τ	ταῦ / ταῦ	Tau	[tau]	[taf]		[t]	[t]	300	ת Tav	τ	t
Υ υ	ὒ ψιλόν / ὖ ψιλόν	Upsilon	[y: psi"lon]	[i psi"lon]	[u]	[y] [y:]	[i]	400	from Vav	υ	u, y (between consonants)
Φ φ	φῖ / φῖ	Phi	[fi:]	[fi]	[p_h]	[f]	[f]	500	origin disputed (see text)	φ	ph
Χ χ	χῖ / χῖ	Chi	[Ci:]	[Ci]	[k_h] [ks]	[C]	[C]	600		χ	ch, kh
Ψ ψ	ψῖ / ψῖ	Psi	[psi:]	[psi]		[ps]	[ps]	700		ψ	ps
Ω ω	ὦ μέγα / ὦ μέγα	Omega	[O: "mega]	[o "meGa]		[O:]	[o]	800		ω	o, �
Ϡ ϡ (1)		Sampi			[ss] [ks]	-	-	900		Ϡ ϡ

(1): Letter removed from the alphabet in early times, before the period that is now called "classical".

Letter combinations and diphthongs

Letters	Pronunciation			Latin transliteration
Letters	old	classical	modern	Latin transliteration
αι		[aI]	[E]	ae
ει	[eI] [e:]	[eI]	[i]	i
οι		[oI]	[i]	oe, i (final)
υι		[yI]	[i]	ui
ωι		[OI]	[O]	o
αυ		[aU]	[av] before voiced sound; [af] before voiceless sound	au, av
ευ		[eU]	[ev] before voiced sound; [ef] before voiceless sound	eu, ev
ηυ		[E:U]	[iv] before voiced sound; [if] before voiceless sound	eu
ου	[oU] [o:]	[u:]	[u]	u, ou
γγ (2)		[Ng]	[NG]	ng
γκ (2)		[Nk]	[Nk]	nc, nk
γξ (2)		[Nks]	[Nks]	nx, nks
γχ (2)		[Nx]	[NC]	nch, nkh
μπ	-	-	[b] at the beginning of a word; [mb] otherwise	mp
ντ	-	-	[d] at the beginning of a word; [nd] otherwise	nt

(2): Some scholars see agma as a phoneme in its own right.

Greek in Unicode

There are 2 main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is "Greek and Coptic" (U+0370 — 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 Coptic language, most Coptic letters sharing codepoints with looking-alike Greek letters. For Unicode 4.1, it is planned to disunify Coptic from Greek.

To write polytonic Greek (Old Greek or Katharevousa), one may use combining diacritical marks. However, Unicode also includes a full set of precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 — U+1FFF).

Greek and Coptic

370

380

390

3A0

3B0

3C0

3D0

3E0

3F0

Greek Extended (precomposed polytonic Greek)

1F00

ἀ

ἁ

ἂ

ἃ

ἄ

ἅ

ἆ

ἇ

Ἀ

Ἁ

Ἂ

Ἃ

Ἄ

Ἅ

Ἆ

Ἇ

1F10

ἐ

ἑ

ἒ

ἓ

ἔ

ἕ

἖

἗

Ἐ

Ἑ

Ἒ

Ἓ

Ἔ

Ἕ

἞

἟

1F20

ἠ

ἡ

ἢ

ἣ

ἤ

ἥ

ἦ

ἧ

Ἠ

Ἡ

Ἢ

Ἣ

Ἤ

Ἥ

Ἦ

Ἧ

1F30

ἰ

ἱ

ἲ

ἳ

ἴ

ἵ

ἶ

ἷ

Ἰ

Ἱ

Ἲ

Ἳ

Ἴ

Ἵ

Ἶ

Ἷ

1F40

ὀ

ὁ

ὂ

ὃ

ὄ

ὅ

὆

὇

Ὀ

Ὁ

Ὂ

Ὃ

Ὄ

Ὅ

὎

὏

1F50

ὐ

ὑ

ὒ

ὓ

ὔ

ὕ

ὖ

ὗ

὘

Ὑ

὚

Ὓ

὜

Ὕ

὞

Ὗ

1F60

ὠ

ὡ

ὢ

ὣ

ὤ

ὥ

ὦ

ὧ

Ὠ

Ὡ

Ὢ

Ὣ

Ὤ

Ὥ

Ὦ

Ὧ

1F70

ὰ

ά

ὲ

έ

ὴ

ή

ὶ

ί

ὸ

ό

ὺ

ύ

ὼ

ώ

὾

὿

1F80

ᾀ

ᾁ

ᾂ

ᾃ

ᾄ

ᾅ

ᾆ

ᾇ

ᾈ

ᾉ

ᾊ

ᾋ

ᾌ

ᾍ

ᾎ

ᾏ

1F90

ᾐ

ᾑ

ᾒ

ᾓ

ᾔ

ᾕ

ᾖ

ᾗ

ᾘ

ᾙ

ᾚ

ᾛ

ᾜ

ᾝ

ᾞ

ᾟ

1FA0

ᾠ

ᾡ

ᾢ

ᾣ

ᾤ

ᾥ

ᾦ

ᾧ

ᾨ

ᾩ

ᾪ

ᾫ

ᾬ

ᾭ

ᾮ

ᾯ

1FB0

ᾰ

ᾱ

ᾲ

ᾳ

ᾴ

᾵

ᾶ

ᾷ

Ᾰ

Ᾱ

Ὰ

Ά

ᾼ

᾽

ι

᾿

1FC0

῀

῁

ῂ

ῃ

ῄ

῅

ῆ

ῇ

Ὲ

Έ

Ὴ

Ή

ῌ

῍

῎

῏

1FD0

ῐ

ῑ

ῒ

ΐ

῔

῕

ῖ

ῗ

Ῐ

Ῑ

Ὶ

Ί

῜

῝

῞

῟

1FE0

ῠ

ῡ

ῢ

ΰ

ῤ

ῥ

ῦ

ῧ

Ῠ

Ῡ

Ὺ

Ύ

Ῥ

῭

΅

`

1FF0

῰

῱

ῲ

ῳ

ῴ

῵

ῶ

ῷ

Ὸ

Ό

Ὼ

Ώ

ῼ

´

῾

῿

Combining diacritics

Combining diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language are:

U+0300 ( ̀ ) "varia / grave accent"
U+0301 ( ́ ) "oxia / tonos / acute accent"
U+0304 ( ̄ ) "macron"
U+0306 ( ̆ ) "vrachy / breve"
U+0308 ( ̈ ) "dialytika / diaeresis"
U+0313 ( ̓ ) "psili / comma above"
U+0314 ( ̔ ) "dasia / reversed comma above"
U+0342 ( ͂ ) "perispomeni"
U+0343 ( ̓ ) "koronis" (= U+0313)
U+0344 ( ̈́ ) "dialytika tonos" (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
U+0345 ( ͅ ) "ypogegrammeni / iota subscript"

History

The most notable change, compared to its predecessor, the Phoenician alphabet, is the introduction of vowels, without which Greek — unlike Phoenician — would be unintelligible. In fact many alphabets that contain vowels, notably the Roman alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet, are derived ultimately from Greek. (For alphabets with signs solely used to designate vowels not derived from the Greek, see Orkhon script, Ethiopic alphabet, Indic alphabets, and Old Hungarian script.) The first vowels were alpha, epsilon, iota, omicron, and upsilon (copied from waw), modifications of either glides or breathing marks, which were mostly superfluous in Greek. In eastern Greek, which lacked breaths entirely, the letter eta was also used for a long e, and eventually the letter omega was introduced for a long o. Vowels were originally not used in Semitic alphabets, but even in the very old Ugaritic alphabet matres lectionis were used, i.e. consonant signs were used to denote vowels.

Greek also introduced three new consonants, appended to the end of the alphabet as they were developed. The consonants were to mainly to make up for the lack of aspirates in Phoenician. In west Greek, actually, chi was used for /ks/ and psi for /k_h/ - hence the value of our letter x, derived from chi. Over the middle ages these aspirates disappeared, so now theta, phi, and chi stand for /T/, /f/, and /x/. The origin of those letters is disputed.

The letter san was used at variance with sigma, and by classical times the latter won out, san disappearing from the alphabet. The letters waw (later called digamma) and qoppa disappeared, too, the former only needed for the western dialects and the latter never really needed at all. These lived on in the Ionic numeral system, however, which consisted of writing a series letters with precise numerical values. Sampi (apparently in a rare local glyph form from Ionia) was introduced at the end - to stand for 900. Thousands were written with a mark at the upper left ('A for 1000, etc).

Originally there were several variants of the Greek alphabet, most importantly western (Chalcidian) and eastern (Ionic) Greek; the former gave rise to the Etruscan alphabet and thence to the Roman alphabet. Athens took the Ionic script to be its standard in 403 BC, and shortly thereafter the other versions disappeared. By then Greek was always written left to right, but originally it had been written right to left (with asymmetrical characters flipped), and in-between written either way - or, most likely, boustrophedon, so that the lines alternate direction.

During the Middle ages, the Greek scripts underwent changes paralleling those of the Roman alphabet: while the old forms were retained as a monumental script, uncial and eventually minuscule hands came to dominate. The letter σ is even written ς at the ends of words, paralleling the use of the long and short s at the time. Aristophanes of Byzantium also introduced the process of accenting Greek letters for easier pronunciation.

Additional information

For extended discussion of problematic Greek letter forms see: Greek Unicode Issues (http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/unicode.html)

Discussion

Last posted 0 of 0 messages

[no messages posted yet]

>> post message >>

Watch

You can add this article to your own "watchlist" and receive e-mail notification about all changes in this page.

Retrieved from "http://www.thebestlinks.com/Greek_alphabet.html"

Categories: Alphabetic writing systems