Greek alphabet Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Origins === {{Main|History of the Greek alphabet}} [[File:Dipylon Inscription.JPG|thumb|[[Dipylon inscription]], one of the oldest known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet, {{circa|740 BC}}]] During the [[Mycenaean Greece|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.{{sfn|Johnston|2003|pages=263–276}} 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'.<ref>A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language, article by Roger D. Woodward (ed. Egbert J. Bakker, 2010, Wiley-Blackwell).</ref> 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,{{sfn|Coulmas|1996|p=}} as distinguished from the [[abjad]]s used in [[Semitic languages]], which have letters only for consonants.{{sfn|Daniels|Bright|1996|p=4}} [[File:NAMA Alphabet grec.jpg|thumb|right|Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]]] Greek initially took over all of the 22 letters of Phoenician. Five were reassigned to denote vowel sounds: the glide consonants {{IPA|/j/}} (''[[yodh]]'') and {{IPA|/w/}} (''[[waw (letter)|waw]]'') were used for [i] (Ι, ''[[iota]]'') and [u] (Υ, ''[[upsilon]]'') respectively; the [[glottal stop]] consonant {{IPA|/ʔ/}} (''[[aleph]]'') was used for [a] (Α, ''[[alpha]]''); the [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal]] {{IPA|/ʕ/}} (''[[Ayin|ʿayin]]'') was turned into [o] (Ο, ''[[omicron]]''); and the letter for {{IPA|/h/}} (''[[he (letter)|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 {{IPA|/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 {{IPA|/ɛː/}} (Η, [[eta]]) by those dialects that lacked the consonant. Eventually, a seventh vowel letter for the long {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (Ω, [[omega]]) was introduced. Greek also introduced three new consonant letters for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters: Φ (''[[Phi (letter)|phi]]'') for {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, Χ (''[[Chi (letter)|chi]]'') for {{IPA|/kʰ/}} and Ψ (''[[Psi (letter)|psi]]'') for {{IPA|/ps/}}. In western Greek variants, Χ was instead used for {{IPA|/ks/}} and Ψ for {{IPA|/kʰ/}}. The origin of these letters is a matter of some debate. <div style="float:none;"> {|class="wikitable" style="float:left;" |- !colspan="3"|Phoenician !colspan="4"|Greek |- |[[File:Phoenician aleph.svg|x12px]] |[[aleph (letter)|aleph]] |{{IPAslink|ʔ}} |{{GrGl|Alpha 03}} |Α |[[alpha]] |{{IPAslink|a}}, {{IPAslink|aː}} |- |[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|x12px]] |[[beth (letter)|beth]] |{{IPAslink|b}} |{{GrGl|Beta 16}} |Β |[[beta]] |{{IPAslink|b}} |- |[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|x12px]] |[[gimel (letter)|gimel]] |{{IPAslink|ɡ}} |{{GrGl|Gamma archaic 1}} |Γ |[[gamma]] |{{IPAslink|ɡ}} |- |[[File:Phoenician daleth.svg|x12px]] |[[daleth (letter)|daleth]] |{{IPAslink|d}} |{{GrGl|Delta 04}} |Δ |[[delta (letter)|delta]] |{{IPAslink|d}} |- |[[File:Phoenician he.svg|x12px]] |[[he (letter)|he]] |{{IPAslink|h}} |{{GrGl|Epsilon archaic}} |Ε |[[epsilon]] |{{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|eː}}<ref name="longepsilon" group="note">Epsilon {{angbr|ε}} and omicron {{angbr|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 {{IPAslink|eː}} and {{IPAslink|oː}} came to be spelled instead with the digraphs {{angbr|ει}} and {{angbr|ου}}, having phonologically merged with a corresponding pair of former diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ respectively.</ref> |- |[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px]] |[[waw (letter)|waw]] |{{IPAslink|w}} |{{GrGl|Digamma oblique}} |Ϝ |''([[digamma]])'' |{{IPAslink|w}} |- |[[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|x12px]] |[[zayin (letter)|zayin]] |{{IPAslink|z}} |{{GrGl|Zeta archaic}} |Ζ |[[zeta (letter)|zeta]] |[zd](?) |- |[[File:Phoenician heth.svg|x12px]] |[[heth (letter)|heth]] |{{IPAslink|ħ}} |{{GrGl|Eta archaic}} |Η |[[eta (letter)|eta]] |{{IPAslink|h}}, {{IPAslink|ɛː}} |- |[[File:Phoenician teth.svg|x12px]] |[[teth (letter)|teth]] |{{IPAslink|tˤ}} |{{GrGl|Theta archaic}} |Θ |[[theta]] |{{IPAslink|tʰ}} |- |[[File:Phoenician yodh.svg|x12px]] |[[yodh (letter)|yodh]] |{{IPAslink|j}} |{{GrGl|Iota normal}} |Ι |[[iota]] |{{IPAslink|i}}, {{IPAslink|iː}} |- |[[File:Phoenician kaph.svg|x12px]] |[[kaph (letter)|kaph]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |{{GrGl|Kappa normal}} |Κ |[[kappa]] |{{IPAslink|k}} |- |[[File:Phoenician lamedh.svg|x12px]] |[[lamedh (letter)|lamedh]] |{{IPAslink|l}} |{{GrGl|Lambda 09}} |Λ |[[lambda]] |{{IPAslink|l}} |- |[[File:Phoenician mem.svg|x12px]] |[[mem (letter)|mem]] |{{IPAslink|m}} |{{GrGl|Mu 04}} |Μ |[[mu (letter)|mu]] |{{IPAslink|m}} |- |[[File:Phoenician nun.svg|x12px]] |[[nun (letter)|nun]] |{{IPAslink|n}} |{{GrGl|Nu 01}} |Ν |[[nu (letter)|nu]] |{{IPAslink|n}} |} {|class="wikitable" style="float:left;" |- !colspan="3"|Phoenician !colspan="4"|Greek |- |[[File:Phoenician samekh.svg|x12px]] |[[samekh]] |{{IPAslink|s}} |{{GrGl|Xi archaic}} |Ξ |[[xi (letter)|xi]] |{{IPA|/ks/}} |- |[[File:Phoenician ayin.svg|x12px]] |[[ayin (letter)|ʿayin]] |{{IPAslink|ʕ}} |{{GrGl|Omicron 04}} |Ο |[[omicron]] |{{IPAslink|o}}, {{IPAslink|oː}}<ref name="longepsilon" group="note"/> |- |[[File:Phoenician pe.svg|x12px]] |[[Pe (Semitic letter)|pe]] |{{IPAslink|p}} |{{GrGl|Pi archaic}} |Π |[[pi (letter)|pi]] |{{IPAslink|p}} |- |[[File:Phoenician sade.svg|x12px]] |[[Tsade (letter)|ṣade]] |{{IPAslink|sˤ}} |{{GrGl|San 02}} |Ϻ |''([[San (letter)|san]])'' |{{IPAslink|s}} |- |[[File:Phoenician qoph.svg|x12px]] |[[qoph]] |{{IPAslink|q}} |{{GrGl|Koppa normal}} |Ϙ |''([[koppa (letter)|koppa]])'' |{{IPAslink|k}} |- |[[File:Phoenician res.svg|x12px]] |[[resh|reš]] |{{IPAslink|r}} |{{GrGl|Rho pointed}} |Ρ |[[rho]] |{{IPAslink|r}} |- |[[File:Phoenician sin.svg|x12px]] |[[shin (letter)|šin]] |{{IPAslink|ʃ}} |{{GrGl|Sigma normal}} |Σ |[[sigma]] |{{IPAslink|s}} |- |[[File:Phoenician taw.svg|x12px]] |[[taw]] |{{IPAslink|t}} |{{GrGl|Tau normal}} |Τ |[[tau (letter)|tau]] |{{IPAslink|t}} |- |[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px]] |''([[waw (letter)|waw]])'' |{{IPAslink|w}} |{{GrGl|Upsilon normal}} |Υ |[[upsilon]] |{{IPAslink|u}}, {{IPAslink|uː}} |- |colspan="3"|– |{{GrGl|Phi archaic}} |Φ |[[phi]] |{{IPAslink|pʰ}} |- |colspan="3"|– |{{GrGl|Chi normal}} |Χ |[[chi (letter)|chi]] |{{IPAslink|kʰ}} |- |colspan="3"|– |{{GrGl|Psi straight}} |Ψ |[[psi (letter)|psi]] |{{IPA|/ps/}} |- |colspan="3"|– |{{GrGl|Omega normal}} |Ω |[[omega]] |{{IPAslink|ɔː}} |} {{clear|left}} </div> Three of the original Phoenician letters dropped out of use before the alphabet took its classical shape: the letter Ϻ (''[[San (letter)|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. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page