How to read the Greek alphabet. Greek alphabet symbolic meaning

Wow! Only twenty-four letters? Are there any sounds missing? That's exactly what it is. There are sounds specific to other languages ​​that are not found in Greek. Such sounds are all post-alveolar affricates (as in “ w ov” (only softer), [Z] as in the word “ and uk”, as in the word “ h erta”, and as in English word “j ob”). So what do the Greeks do when they want to pronounce foreign words with these sounds? If you cannot pronounce the sound correctly, then it simply transforms into the corresponding alveolar sound: [s], [Z] [z], , . What about other common sounds like [b],[d],[g], etc.? They don't seem to be in the alphabet either! Are they also not included in the list of sounds of the language? Not! They exist in the form sounds language. There are simply no separate letters to designate them. When the Greeks want to write sounds, they write them as a combination of two letters: [b] is written as a combination of μπ (mi + pi), [d] as ντ (ni + tau), and [g] as γκ (gamma + kappa), or as γγ (double gamma). Why all these difficulties? Recall, as written in the introduction to this article, the sounds [b], [d], and [g] existed in classical Greek. Later, perhaps some time after the New Testament was written in the so-called Greek koine(single), these three sounds shifted in pronunciation and began to sound like “soft” sounds ([v], , and). There was a phonological void. Words that had a combination of “mp” and “nt” began to be pronounced as and, respectively. Therefore, “explosive” sounds were reintroduced, but they began to be used to designate letter combinations. There is another sound that is not in the alphabet: “and ng ma”, pronounced as in the English word “ki ng". This sound is very rare in Greek, and when it appears (as in "άγχος": alarm; "έλεγχος": check), it is indicated by the combination gamma + chi, where gamma is pronounced as ingma. For your convenience, below is a pronunciation table of letter combinations (2 letters) that give new sounds not included in the Greek alphabet:

cluster	Pronunciation in Modern Greek
ΜΠ μπ	[ b], as in the word “ b yt”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [mb], as in the word “ko mb at".
ΝΤ ντ	[ d], as in the word “ d at”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [nd], as in the word “fo nd”.
ΓΚ γκ ΓΓ γγ	[ g], as in the word “ G orod”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [g], as in the word “ri ng". Please note: shapeγγ never occurs at the beginning of words, so it is always pronounced as [g], as in the word “ri ng”.
ΓΧ γχ ΓΞ γξ	Beforeχ (chi) letter(ri ng) . Beforeξ (xi) letterγ (gamma) is pronounced like “ingma”:(ri ng) . Please note: combinationγξ is rare; it only appears in unusual words likeλυγξ (lynx).

It is quite possible that the following pairs do not produce original sounds, but are perceived by native Greek speakers as "one whole":

What about vowels? Is there any similarity with vowels in Russian, or with vowels in other languages? Vowels in Greek do not cause difficulties. In Greek, vowels are similar to vowels in Italian, Spanish ( Russian approx.transl.) or Japanese: [a], [e], [i], [o], and [u]. The alphabet currently has three letters for the sound [I] (eta, iota, and upsilon) that are pronounced the same, and two letters for the sound [o] (omicron and omega), which are also pronounced the same. For the sound [u], a combination of letters ου (omicron + upsilon) is used. So, pronouncing vowels is easy. Is there anything else special about vowel sounds? Not in pronunciation, but in writing. There are three "diphthongs" that are no longer diphthongs but have become digraphs. (A diphthong is a long sound consisting of two elements, each of which has a different quality, as in the words: “r ay nd”, or“b oh”; a digraph is two letters that are read together as one letter, for example, in English language th in the word " th ink", or ph in the word "gra ph .) Below are Greek digraphs consisting of vowels.

Greek alphabet will be helpful in getting to know the site.

Firstly, it is Greek, and the myths on the site are ancient Greek, the names of gods and heroes, respectively, were written in Greek crocozyabrs, which you can’t make out without a hint. Secondly, we have an astronomical site dedicated to constellations, and in astronomy, the so-called Bayer notation, based on the Greek alphabet, is traditionally used to designate stars.

So please love and respect.

The Greek alphabet is only at first glance illegible - in fact, it is similar to Russian, the letters are similar to the Cyrillic alphabet, and besides, it is shorter. There are only 24 letters in the modern Greek alphabet.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	Notes
Α α	alpha	[a]
Β β	beta	[in]
Γ γ	gamma	[G]	fricative as in Ukrainian
Δ δ	delta		voiced like "English" the"
Ε ε	epsilon	[e]	"e-simple"
Ζ ζ	zeta	[h]
Η η	this	[and]
Θθ	theta		deaf like "English" think"
Ι ι	iota	[and]
Κ κ	kappa	[to]
Λ λ	lambda	[l]
Μ μ	mu	[m]
Ν ν	nude	[n]
Ξξ	xi	[ks]
Ο ο	omicron	[about]	"oh-small"
Π π	pi	[P]
Ρ ρ	ro	[R]
Σ σ ς	sigma	[With]	spelling ς at the end of a word
Τ τ	tau	[t]
Υ υ	upsilon	[and]	"i-simple"
Φ φ	fi	[f]
Χ χ	hee	[X]
Ψψ	psi	[ps]
Ω ω	omega	[about]	"o-big"

Naturally, in the modern Greek language there are all kinds of digrams and diphthongs, reading rules, etc.

A few words about the correspondence of the Greek and other alphabets.

The Latin alphabet is familiar to us. Letters Latin alphabet for the most part correspond to Greek. I give the Latin alphabet with some comments. The Cyrillic alphabet is directly constructed from the Greek alphabet. There are many variants of the Cyrillic alphabet for different Slavic languages. Naturally, I give the Russian alphabet with some necessary pre-reform additions.

Letter	Latin	Notes	Cyrillic	Notes
Α α	A a		A a
Β β	Bb		B b, C c	both letters from Β β
Γ γ		no Latin equivalent	G g
	c c	no Greek equivalent
Δ δ	D d		D d
Ε ε	e e		Yeh, yo yo	Her< Е е
	F f	ancient Greek analogue lost
			F	no Greek equivalent (Coptic?)
Ζ ζ		moved to the end of the Latin alphabet - Z z	W h
Η η	H h	gr. vowel, lat. consonant	And and
Θ θ		no Latin equivalent		Θθ , fita, moved to the end of the Cyrillic alphabet
Ι ι	I i		I i	in Russian abolished by the reform of 1918
	Jj	no Greek equivalent: from I i	th	no Greek equivalent: from I and
Κ κ	K k		K to
Λ λ	l l		L l
Μ μ	M m		Mm
Ν ν	N n		N n
Ξ ξ		no Latin equivalent		no Cyrillic equivalent
Ο ο	O o		Oh oh
Π π	Pp		P p
Ρ ρ	R r		R p
Σ σ ς	S s		C with
Τ τ	T t		T t
			Θθ	fita from Θθ above; in Russian abolished by the reform of 1918
	U u		u u	not Υ υ! no Greek equivalent: digraph O and Izhitsa
Υ υ	Vv	gr. vowel, lat. consonant (also Yy)	Ѵ ѵ	izhitsa; in Russian abolished by the reform of 1918
	W w	no Greek equivalent: from V v
Φ φ		no Latin equivalent	f f
Χ χ	X x	significantly different pronunciation	x x
Ψ ψ		no Latin equivalent
Ω ω		no Latin equivalent
	Y y	from Υ υ
	Zz	corresponds to Greek Ζ ζ
			C c, H h, Sh w, Shch y, b b, S s, b b, E e, Yu yu, I am	no Greek counterparts

Greek language(in Greek ελληνικά (elinika)) belongs to the Greek group of languages ​​of the Indo-European language family, which is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece and Cyprus, where it is the official language. Greek is also recognized as an ethnic minority language in some regions of Italy, as well as in Albania, Armenia, Romania and Ukraine.

The first script in Greek was discovered in Mycenae, known as Linear B, which was used between 1500 and 1200. BC. This type of Greek is known as Mycenaean. In Crete, another script known as the Cypriot syllabary was used to write the local dialect of Greek from 1200 to 300 BC.

Origin

The Greek alphabet has been in constant use for the past 2,750 years or so, beginning in 750 BC. e. It originated from the Canaanite / Phoenician alphabet, in particular, the order and names of the letters were borrowed from the Phoenician. The original Canaanite meanings of the letters were lost when the alphabet was adapted to the Greek language. For example, the name of a letter "alpha" came from the Canaanite aleph(bull), and "beta"- from beth(house).

In the beginning there were different variants alphabets that were used in different Greek cities. Local alphabets can be divided into three groups: green, blue and red. From the blue group came the modern Greek alphabet, and from the red group the Etruscan alphabet, as well as other alphabets of ancient Italy, and eventually the Latin alphabet.

At the beginning of the IV century. BC e. local variants of the alphabet replaced the Eastern Ionian alphabet. Capital letters the modern Greek alphabet is almost identical to the letters of the Ionian alphabet. Lower case appeared around 800. Their appearance is associated with the Byzantine cursive script, which, in turn, originated from cursive writing.

Peculiarities

• Type of writing: alphabet (the first alphabet, which included vowels).
• Direction of writing: originally - horizontally from right to left, and there was also a variant of boustrophedon ( βουστροφηδόν ), in which the direction of writing alternated - from right to left and from left to right. After 500 BC. e. the direction of writing was established from left to right, horizontally.
• Diacritics for stress and aspiration were added to the alphabet around 200 BC. e. In 1982, the breath diacritics, which had been infrequently used after 1976, were formally abolished by presidential decree.
• At the letter "sigma" there is a special form that is used at the end of a word.

As is known

Greek (Ελληνικά)- one of the Indo-European languages, which is spoken by about 14 million people, mainly in Greece and Cyprus, for which this language is official. Greek is also recognized as a national minority language partly in Turkey, Italy and Albania.

Today, the Greek alphabet is used only for writing in Greek, although in the past at various times it was also used by such languages ​​as Lydian, Phrygian, Thracian, Gaulish, Hebrew, Arabic, Old Ossetian, Albanian, Turkish, Aromanian, Gagauz, Urum and sealing wax.

ancient greek alphabet

The ancient Greek alphabet is based on inscriptions from Crete dated to about 800 BC. e. At this time, the Greek language used the direction of writing from right to left, horizontally. The names of the letters were slightly different from the names in the later variants of the Greek alphabet.

Greek alphabet (classical Attic phonetic transcription)

Note

Σ = [z] before voiced consonants

diphthongs

Combinations of consonant sounds | Special character

Greek numerals and other symbols

The ancient Greeks used two number systems: The Acrophonic or Classical (Attic) system used the letters iota, delta, gamma, eta, nu and mu in various combinations. These letters were used as the first letters of numeral names, except for the letter iota: Γ έντε (gente) for 5, which became Π έντε (pente); Δ έκα (Deka) for 10, Η ἑκατόν (Hektaton) for 100, Χ ίλιοι (Khilioi) for 1,000 and Μ ύριον (Myrion) for 10,000. This system was used until the first century BC.

The ancient Greeks assigned numerical values ​​to the letters of the alphabet to represent numbers. Three obsolete letters, stigma, koppa, and sampi, were used in addition to the standard Greek letters, and the apostrophe symbol was used to indicate that the letters were used as numerals.

Greek alphabet (modern phonetic transcription)

Notes

• Γ = [γ] before back vowels. Pronounced as [ʝ] before front vowels and rendered as γ
• Κ = [k] before back vowels, and [c] before front vowels
• Λ = [ʎ] before an unstressed i followed by another vowel, e.g. λιώμα [ʎóma]
• Ν = [ɲ] before an unstressed i followed by another vowel, e.g. νιώθω [ɲóθo]
• When [i] is preceded by a voiced consonant and followed by another vowel, [i] becomes [ʝ], for example, διάκος [ðʝákos]. When [i] is preceded by a voiceless consonant and followed by another vowel, [i] is pronounced as [ç], for example, φωτιά. In both cases, this sound is unstressed.
• Σ = [z] before voiced consonants
• Χ = [χ] before back vowels, and [ç] before front vowels

diphthongs

Notes

• αυ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ευ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ηυ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ντ = in the middle of a word; [d] at the beginning.
• μπ = in the middle of a word; [b] at the beginning.
• γγ & γκ = [ŋg] in the middle of a word; [g] at the beginning. If this sound combination is followed by [i] or [e], it is pronounced as [ŋɟ] in the middle of words and [ɟ] at the beginning.
• Diarese is used to indicate the separate pronunciation of vowels, for example Αϊτή . However, if the first of the two letters is stressed, the sharp sign is optional, for example γάιδαρος [γáiðaros].
• If the consonants κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, and τσ: are preceded by a word that ends in v, they become voiced, and N in the final position becomes the corresponding nasal sound, e.g. τον πατέρα .

Greek writing belongs to the category of alphabetic, goes back to the Phoenician letter. The oldest written monuments date back to the 14th-12th centuries. BC e., written in Crete-Mycenaean syllabary (Linear A, Linear B).
It's believed that Greek alphabet arose in the 8th century. BC e. The first written monuments date back to the 8th century. BC e. (Dipylonian inscription from Athens, as well as an inscription from Thera). By appearance and the character set is closest to Phrygian alphabetic writing (8th century BC). In Greek, in contrast to the Semitic, consonant (only consonants are reflected in writing) prototype, in addition to graphemes for consonant sounds, graphemes for vowel sounds first appeared, which can be considered a new stage in the development of writing.

Before the emergence alphabetic writing the Hellenes used syllabic linear writing (the Cretan script included the linear letter A, which has not been deciphered so far, the linear letter B, the letter of the Phaistos disk).
The letter based on the Greek alphabet was divided into 2 varieties: Eastern Greek and Western Greek letters, which, in turn, were divided into a number of local varieties that differed in their characteristics in the transmission of individual characters. Eastern Greek writing further developed into classical ancient Greek and Byzantine writing, became the basis of Coptic, Gothic, Armenian, to some extent Georgian writing, Slavic Cyrillic. Western Greek writing became the basis for Etruscan, and consequently Latin and runic Germanic writing.

Initially, the Greek alphabet consisted of 27 letters, and in this form it developed by the 5th century BC. BC e. based on the Ionian variety of Greek writing. The direction of writing is from left to right. The signs "stigma" (ς), now transmitted through στ, "koppa" (¢) and "sampi" (¥) were used only to indicate numbers and subsequently fell out of use. Also, in some local variants (in the Peloponnese and in Boeotia), the symbol  “digamma” was used to designate the phoneme [w].
Traditionally, the ancient Greek, and after it the modern Greek alphabet, has 24 letters:

inscription	Name	Pronunciation
Α α	άλφα	BUT
Β β	βήτα	AT
Γ γ	γάμα	G
Δ δ	δέλτα	ð
Ε ε	έψιλον	E
Ζ ζ	ζήτα	W
Η η	ήτα	And
Θ θ	θήτα	Ө
Ι ι	γιώτα	And
Κ κ	κάπα	To
Λ λ	λάμδα	L
Μ μ	μι	M
Ν ν	νι	H
Ξ ξ	ξι	Ks
Ο ο	όμικρον	O
Π π	πι	P
Ρ ρ	ρο	R
Σ σ ς	σίγμα	FROM
Τ τ	ταυ	T
Υ υ	ύψιλον	And
Φ φ	φι	F
Χ χ	χι	X
Ψ ψ	ψι	Ps
Ω ω	ωμέγα	O

In theory, two types of pronunciation are distinguished: Erasmus (ητακιστική προφορά, it is believed that it was characteristic in the classical period of the use of the ancient Greek language, now it is used only in teaching) and Reuchlin (ιωτακιστική προφορά). The pronunciation in Modern Greek is Reuchlinian. Its main feature is the presence of several options for transmitting the same sound.
There are diphthongs in Greek:

inscription	Pronunciation	inscription	Pronunciation
αι	E	αη	Ai
οι	And	οϊ	Ouch
The letter Γ, followed by ει, οι, ι, υ, ε, which, in turn, is followed by a vowel, is not pronounced: γυαλιά [yal΄ya] (glasses), γεύση [΄yevsi] (taste). Γ before the posterior (γ, κ, χ) is pronounced as [n]: άγγελος [΄angelos] (angel), αγκαλιά [angal΄ya] (hugs), άγχος [΄anhos] (stress). In addition, the following combinations of consonants began to be used in the Modern Greek language, transmitting the sounds of the Greek language: τσ (τσάϊ [ts "ai] but: έτσι ["etsi]), τζ (τζάμι [dz" ami]), μπ (mb in the middle of the original Greek word: αμπέλι [amb "eli] or b at the beginning of a word and in loan words: μπορώ [bor "o]), ντ (nd in the middle of the original Greek word: άντρας [" andras] or d at the beginning of a word and in loan words: ντύνω [d "ino]), γκ (ng in the middle of the original Greek word: ανάγκη [an "angi] or g at the beginning of the word and in borrowed words: γκολ [goal]). Double letters ξ ψ always replace the combination of consonants κσ, πσ. Exception: εκστρατεία (campaign). The sign ς is used only at the end of a word. The sign σ is never used at the end of a word. The word may end in a vowel, ν or ς. The only exceptions are some interjections and borrowed words. Additional Information: Peculiarities: Phonetic system consists of 5 vowel phonemes, opposed in ancient Greek by longitude/shortness (a, e, i, o, u). In modern Greek, such a division is irrelevant. Nearby vowels merge into a long vowel or form a diphthong. Diphthongs are divided into proper (the second element is necessarily ι, υ) and improper (a combination of a long vowel with i). Stress in the ancient Greek language is musical, mobile, of three types: (acute, obtuse and clothed). In modern Greek, only one type of stress is acute. In the system of consonants of the Modern Greek language, new sounds developed: labial-dental [ντ], interdental voiced [δ] and deaf [θ], which cause the greatest difficulties in pronouncing them. Morphology is characterized by the presence of nominal parts of speech in the name of 3 genders (male, female, neuter), their indicators are also articles (definite and indefinite: the indefinite article occurs and fully corresponds to the numeral one), 2 numbers (singular, plural, in ancient Greek there was also a dual a number to designate paired objects such as “eyes, hands, twins”), 5 cases (nominative, vocative, genitive, dative, accusative: in the ancient Greek language there were remnants of other cases, for example, instrumental, locative, and so on; in modern Greek there is no dative cases), 3 nominal declensions (on -a, on -o, on other vowels, as well as consonants). The verb had 4 moods (indicative, conjunctive, optative and imperative), 3 voices (active, passive, middle, in Modern Greek the medial fully corresponds to the passive when inflection), 2 types of conjugation (on -ω and on -μι, in Modern Greek division into conjugations is carried out by the presence or absence of stress on the last syllable of the verb). Groups of tenses: in ancient Greek they are divided into main (present, future, perfect) and historical (aorist, perfect and pluperfect). В новогреческом языке деление происходит на настоящее время, длительные времена и наклонения (παρατατικός, συνεχής μέλλοντας, συνεχής υποτακτική, συνεχής προστακτική), одномоментные времена и наклонения (αόριστος, απλός μέλλοντας, απλή υποτακτική, απλή προστακτική), законченные времена (παρακείμενος, υπερσυντέλικος, τετελεσμένος μέλλοντας). In the system of verb tenses of the Modern Greek language, new analytical models for the formation of compound tenses (perfect, pluperfect, future) have developed. The participle formation system has been simplified, however, a large number of them are used in a frozen form, while in their formation a syllabic increment or reduplication is often used. The syntactic system is characterized by a free word order in a sentence (the predominant sequence in the main clause - SVO (subject-verb-object)) with a developed system of composition and subordination within a complex sentence. An important role is played by particles (especially since the infinitive was abolished in the Modern Greek language, which is replaced by indicative forms with the corresponding particles) and prepositions. The system of derivational means includes a developed system of prefixes (derived from adverbs-prepositions), suffixes. Phrasing is used more actively than in Russian. The Greek language has a very rich and developed lexical system. The structure of the vocabulary includes several layers: pre-Greek (of Pelasgian origin), native Greek, borrowed, consisting of Semitic and Latin layers. The modern Greek language contains a large number of borrowings from Romance (mainly French and especially Italian), Germanic (English), Slavic (including Russian) languages. A huge layer of vocabulary is Turkish borrowings. It is also worth mentioning the reverse borrowings, when Greek morphemes previously borrowed by others foreign languages return to Greek language for naming newly invented objects and phenomena (for example, "telephone"). Some features unite the Modern Greek language with other Balkan languages ​​(Romanian, Serbian Bulgarian): the unification of the functions of the genitive and dative cases, the absence of the infinitive and its replacement by subjunctive forms, complex (analytical) forms of the future tense and subjunctive. Elements characteristic of all Balkan languages ​​in the syntax are excessive doubling of direct and indirect objects, the use of pronominal repetitions, which cause great difficulty for users of other languages. Modern Greek has mostly free word order. However, pronouns often lose this freedom: the possessive pronoun is always placed after the noun it defines, the short forms of personal pronouns are necessarily placed immediately before the verb in a certain order (genitive first, then accusative). For possessive and personal pronouns, there is a coherent system of short and full forms. The full form is mobile, but is used strictly in certain cases: after prepositions; for emphatic highlighting of a pronoun together with a short form; on one's own.

This lesson covers the following topics: Alphabet, pronunciation, sound recordings for letters. This course is designed to help you learn grammar and improve vocabulary. Try to concentrate on the following examples as they are very important for learning the language.

Alphabet

Grammar Tips:
The alphabet, pronunciation, notation of sounds for letters are very important to learn because they are used in everyday communication. Try to memorize the available new words. Try also to write down words that you do not understand or expressions that you are not familiar with.

The following table shows some examples, please read them carefully and see if you can understand them.

Alphabet	Alphabet	Alphabet
Α α	Alpha	as in smart
Β β	beta	v as in very
Γ γ	Gamma	between y as in yes and gas as in go
Δ δ	Delta	as in that
Ε ε	Epsilon	e as in very
Ζ ζ	Zeta	z as in zoo
Η η	eta	ee as in bee
Θ θ	Theta	as in think
Ι ι	Iota	ee as in bee
Κ κ	Kappa	k as in look
Λ λ	Lambda	as in log
Μ μ	Mu	m as in man
Ν ν	Nu	as in not
Ξ ξ	Xi	x as in wax
Ο ο	Omicron	o as in box
Π π	Pi	p as in top, close to "b"
Ρ ρ	Rho	rolled as in Roma
Σ σ ς	Sigma	s as in SAP
Τ τ	Tau	t as in hot, but softer and close to "d"
Υ υ	Upsilon	ee as in bee
Φ φ	Phi	ph as in photo
Χ χ	Chi	ch as in the scottish loch
Ψ ψ	psi	ps as in upside
Ω ω	Omega	o as in box

You are done with the first table. Did you notice any grammatical patterns? Try to use the same words in different sentences.

Alphabet - Videos

Below are some videos that we hope will help you in your language learning. You will be able to see and hear the lesson.

We hope this lesson helped you with grammar and vocabulary.