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! === Archaic variants === {{Main|Archaic Greek alphabets}} [[File:Ancient Greek epichoric alphabets.svg|thumb|right|400px|Distribution of "green", "red" and "blue" alphabet types, after Kirchhoff.]] There were initially numerous [[Archaic Greek alphabets|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.{{sfn|Voutiras|2007|page=270}} 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).{{sfn|Voutiras|2007|page=270}} The "green" (or southern) type is the most archaic and closest to the Phoenician.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} 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.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} The "blue" (or eastern) type is the one from which the later standard Greek alphabet emerged.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} [[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.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}}{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} In the Old Attic alphabet, {{lang|grc|ΧΣ}} stood for {{IPA|/ks/}} and {{lang|grc|ΦΣ}} for {{IPA|/ps/}}. {{lang|grc|Ε}} was used for all three sounds {{IPA|/e, eː, ɛː/}} (correspondinɡ to classical {{lang|grc|Ε, ΕΙ, Η}} respectively), and {{lang|grc|Ο}} was used for all of {{IPA|/o, oː, ɔː/}} (corresponding to classical {{lang|grc|Ο, ΟΥ, Ω}} respectively).{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} The letter {{lang|grc|Η}} (heta) was used for the consonant {{IPA|/h/}}.{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} 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 {{lang|grc|Λ}} that resembled a Latin ''L'' ({{GrGl|Lambda Athenian}}) and a form of {{wikt-lang|grc|Σ}} that resembled a Latin ''S'' ({{GrGl|Sigma Z-shaped}}).{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} {|class="noresize wikitable" !colspan="2"|Phoenician model |[[File:Phoenician aleph.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician daleth.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician he.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|x12px]] |colspan="2" align="center"|[[File:Phoenician heth.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician teth.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician yodh.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician kaph.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician lamedh.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician mem.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician nun.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician samekh.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician ayin.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician pe.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician sade.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician qoph.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician res.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician sin.svg|x12px]] |[[File:Phoenician taw.svg|x12px]] |- !style="background-color:#9afa95;"|Southern !style="background-color:#9afa95;"|"green" |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Alpha 03}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Beta 16}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Gamma archaic 1}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Delta 04}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Epsilon archaic}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Digamma oblique}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Zeta archaic}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Eta archaic}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" |— |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Theta archaic}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Iota normal}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Kappa normal}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Lambda 09}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Mu 04}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Nu 01}} |rowspan="3" valign="top" |— |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Omicron 04}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Pi archaic}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|San 02}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Koppa normal}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Rho pointed}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Sigma normal}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Tau normal}} |rowspan="5" valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Upsilon normal}}* |rowspan="1" valign="top" |— |rowspan="1" valign="top" |— |rowspan="1" valign="top" |— |rowspan="3" valign="top" |— |rowspan="4" valign="top" |— |- !rowspan="1" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|Western !style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|"red" |rowspan="1" valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Chi normal}} |rowspan="4" valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Phi archaic}} |rowspan="1" valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Psi straight}} |- !rowspan="2" style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|Eastern !style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|"light blue" |rowspan="3" valign="top" |— |rowspan="3" valign="top" style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|{{GrGl|Chi normal}} |- !style="background-color:#a39efe;"|"dark blue" |rowspan="2" valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Xi archaic}} |rowspan="2" valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Psi straight}} |- !colspan="2" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|Classic Ionian | valign="top" | — | valign="top" | — | valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Eta normal}} | valign="top" | — | valign="top" | — | valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Omega normal}} |- !colspan="2"|Modern alphabet |[[Α]]||[[Β]]||[[Γ]]||[[Δ]]||[[Ε]]||—||[[Ζ]]||—||[[Η]]||[[Θ]]||[[Ι]]||[[Κ]]||[[Λ]]||[[Μ]]||[[Ν]]||[[Ξ]]||[[Ο]]||[[Pi (letter)|Π]]||—||—||[[Ρ]]||[[Σ]]||[[Τ]]||[[Υ]]||—||[[Φ]]||[[Χ]]||[[Ψ]]||[[Ω]] |- !colspan="2"|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 |- |} <nowiki>*</nowiki>Upsilon is also derived from [[waw (letter)|waw]] ([[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px]]). The classical twenty-four-letter alphabet that is now used to represent the Greek language was originally the local alphabet of [[Ionia]].{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} By the late fifth century BC, it was commonly used by many Athenians.{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} In {{circa}} 403 BC, at the suggestion of the [[Eponymous archon|archon]] [[Eucleides]], the Athenian Assembly formally abandoned the Old Attic alphabet and adopted the Ionian alphabet as part of the democratic reforms after the [[Phyle Campaign|overthrow]] of the [[Thirty Tyrants]].{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}}{{sfn|Horrocks|2010|page=xiix}} 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".{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} Roughly thirty years later, the Eucleidean alphabet was adopted in Boeotia and it may have been adopted a few years previously in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]].{{sfn|Panayotou|2007|page=407}} 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.{{sfn|Panayotou|2007|page=407}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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