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! === Letter names<!--'English pronunciation of Greek letters' redirects here--> === 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 ''[[Aleph|ʾaleph]]'', the word for "ox", was used as the name for the glottal stop {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, ''[[Bet (letter)|bet]]'', or "house", for the {{IPA|/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 {{lang|grc|λάβδα}} besides {{lang|grc|λάμβδα}};<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. "λάβδα"}}</ref><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5">{{harvnb|Keller|Russell|2012|page=5}}</ref> in Modern Greek the spelling is often {{lang|el|λάμδα}}, reflecting pronunciation.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> Similarly, iota is sometimes spelled {{lang|el|γιώτα}} in Modern Greek ({{IPA|[ʝ]}} is conventionally transcribed {{angle brackets|γ{ι,η,υ,ει,οι}|}} word-initially and [[intervocalic]]ally before [[back vowel]]s and {{IPA|/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. {{Listen|filename= Ell-AlphabitosUpload.ogg|title=Greek alphabet|description=The names of the letters in spoken Standard Modern Greek|format=[[Ogg]]}} {|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Letter !colspan="3"|Name !colspan="3"|Pronunciation |- style="font-size: smaller;" ! Greek ! Phoenician original ! English ! Greek (Ancient) ! Greek (Modern) ! English |- |style="text-align: center;"|Α |{{lang|el|ἄλφα}} ||''aleph'' ||alpha |{{IPA|[alpʰa]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈalfa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-alpha.ogg|ˈ|æ|l|f|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Β |{{lang|el|βῆτα}} ||''beth'' ||beta |{{IPA|[bɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈvita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|b|eɪ|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Γ |{{lang|el|γάμμα}} ||''gimel'' ||gamma |{{IPA|[ɡamma]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈɣama]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|æ|m|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Δ |{{lang|el|δέλτα}} ||''daleth'' ||delta |{{IPA|[delta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈðelta]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|l|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Η |{{lang|el|ἦτα}} ||''heth'' ||eta |{{IPA|[hɛːta], [ɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|eɪ|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Θ |{{lang|el|θῆτα}} ||''teth'' ||theta |{{IPA|[tʰɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈθita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|θ|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|audio=En-us-theta.ogg|ˈ|θ|eɪ|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ι |{{lang|el|ἰῶτα}} ||''yodh'' ||iota |{{IPA|[iɔːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈʝota]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-iota.ogg|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Κ |{{lang|el|κάππα}} ||''kaph'' ||kappa |{{IPA|[kappa]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈkapa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-kappa.ogg|ˈ|k|æ|p|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Λ |{{lang|el|λάμβδα}} ||''lamedh'' ||lambda |{{IPA|[lambda]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈlamða]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-lambda.ogg|ˈ|l|æ|m|d|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Μ |{{lang|el|μῦ}} ||''mem'' ||mu |{{IPA|[myː]}} ||{{IPA|[mi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-mu.ogg|m|j|uː}}; occasionally {{IPAc-en|US|m|uː}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ν |{{lang|el|νῦ}} ||''nun'' ||nu |{{IPA|[nyː]}} ||{{IPA|[ni]}} ||{{IPAc-en|nj|uː}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ρ |{{lang|el|ῥῶ}} ||''reš'' ||rho |{{IPA|[rɔː]}} ||{{IPA|[ro]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-rho.ogg|r|oʊ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Τ |{{lang|el|ταῦ}} ||''taw'' ||tau |{{IPA|[tau]}} ||{{IPA|[taf]}} ||{{IPAc-en|t|aʊ|,_|t|ɔː}} |} 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 (letter)|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. {|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Letter !colspan="3"|Name !colspan="3"|Pronunciation |- style="font-size: smaller;" ! Greek ! Phoenician original ! English ! Greek (Ancient) ! Greek (Modern) ! English |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ζ |{{lang|el|ζῆτα}} ||''zayin'' ||zeta |{{IPA|[zdɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈzita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|z|eɪ|t|ə}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ξ |{{lang|el|ξεῖ, ξῖ}} ||''samekh'' ||xi |{{IPA|[kseː]}} ||{{IPA|[ksi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|z|aɪ|,_|k|s|aɪ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Σ |{{lang|el|σίγμα}} ||''šin'' ||siɡma |{{IPA|[siɡma]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈsiɣma]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|ɡ|m|ə}} |} In the following group of consonant letters, the older forms of the names in Ancient Greek were spelled with {{lang|grc|-εῖ}}, indicating an original pronunciation with ''-ē''. In Modern Greek these names are spelled with {{lang|el|-ι}}. {|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Letter !colspan="2"|Name !colspan="3"|Pronunciation |- style="font-size: smaller;" ! Greek ! English ! Greek (Ancient) ! Greek (Modern) ! English |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ξ |{{lang|grc|ξεῖ}}, {{lang|el|ξῖ}} ||xi |{{IPA|[kseː]}} ||{{IPA|[ksi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|z|aɪ|,_|k|s|aɪ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Π |{{lang|grc|πεῖ}}, {{lang|el|πῖ}} ||pi |{{IPA|[peː]}} ||{{IPA|[pi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|p|aɪ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Φ |{{lang|grc|φεῖ}}, {{lang|el|φῖ}} ||phi |{{IPA|[pʰeː]}} ||{{IPA|[fi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|f|aɪ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Χ |{{lang|grc|χεῖ}}, {{lang|el|χῖ}} ||chi |{{IPA|[kʰeː]}} ||{{IPA|[çi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-chi.ogg|k|aɪ}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ψ |{{lang|grc|ψεῖ}}, {{lang|el|ψῖ}} ||psi |{{IPA|[pseː]}} ||{{IPA|[psi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|s|aɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-psi.ogg|p|s|aɪ}} |} The following group of vowel letters were originally called simply by their sound values as long vowels: ē, ō, ū, and {{IPA|ɔ}}. Their modern names contain adjectival qualifiers that were added during the Byzantine period, to distinguish between letters that had become confusable.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> Thus, the letters {{angbr|ο}} and {{angbr|ω}}, pronounced identically by this time, were called ''o mikron'' ("small o") and ''o mega'' ("big o") respectively.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> The letter {{angbr|ε}} was called ''e psilon'' ("plain e") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph {{angbr|αι}}, while, similarly, {{angbr|υ}}, which at this time was pronounced {{IPAblink|y}}, was called ''y psilon'' ("plain y") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph {{angbr|οι}}.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> {|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"|Letter !colspan="4"|Name !colspan="3"|Pronunciation |- style="font-size: smaller;" ! Greek (Ancient) ! Greek (Medieval) ! Greek (Modern) ! English ! Greek (Ancient) ! Greek (Modern) ! English |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ε |{{lang|grc|εἶ}} ||{{lang|el|ἐ ψιλόν}} ||{{lang|el|ἔψιλον}} ||epsilon |{{IPA|[eː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈepsilon]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}}, some {{IPAc-en|UK|ɛ|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ο |{{lang|grc|οὖ}} ||{{lang|el|ὀ μικρόν}} ||{{lang|el|ὄμικρον}} ||omicron |{{IPA|[oː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈomikron]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|m|ᵻ|k|r|ɒ|n}}, traditional {{IPAc-en|UK|oʊ|ˈ|m|aɪ|k|r|ɒ|n}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Υ |{{lang|grc|ὖ}} ||{{lang|el|ὐ ψιλόν}} ||{{lang|el|ὔψιλον}} ||upsilon |{{IPA|[uː]}}, {{IPA|[yː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈipsilon]}} ||{{IPAc-en|j|uː|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n|,_|ˈ|ʊ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}}, also {{IPAc-en|UK|ʌ|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|ʌ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}} |- |style="text-align: center;"|Ω |{{lang|grc|ὦ}} ||{{lang|el|ὠ μέγα}} ||{{lang|el|ὠμέγα}} ||omega |{{IPA|[ɔː]}} ||{{IPA|[oˈmeɣa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|US|oʊ|ˈ|m|eɪ|ɡ|ə}}, traditional {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|oʊ|m|ᵻ|ɡ|ə}} |} Some dialects of the Aegean and [[Cypriot Greek|Cypriot]] have retained [[long consonant]]s and pronounce {{IPA|[ˈɣamːa]}} and {{IPA|[ˈkapʰa]}}; also, {{lang|el|ήτα}} has come to be pronounced {{IPA|[ˈitʰa]}} in Cypriot.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0024-3841(68)90130-7|last=Newton|first=B. E.|year=1968|title=Spontaneous gemination in Cypriot Greek|journal=Lingua|volume=20|pages=15–57|issn=0024-3841}}</ref> 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