Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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[p. 7]

Part I: Letters, Sounds, Syllables, Accent

The Letters

The Alphabet

§1. The Greek alphabet has twenty-four letters.

Form		Name		Equivalents	Sound
					as in
A	a	alpha	alpha	a	ă: aha; ā: father
B	b	bêta	bēta	b	beg
G	g	gamma	gamma	g	go
D	d	delta	delta	d	dig
E	e	ei, e (e psi_lon)	ĕpsīlon	ĕ	met
Z	z	zêta	zēta	z	daze
Ê	ê	êta	ēta	ē	Fr. fête
Th	th, u	thêta	thēta	th	thin
I	i	iôta	iōta	i	ĕ: meteor; ī: police
K	k	kappa	kappa	c, k	kin
L	l	lambda	lambda	l	let
M	m	mu	mu	m	met
N	n	nu	nu	n	net
X	x	xei (xi)	xi	x	lax
O	o	ou, o (o mi_kron)	ŏmīcron	ŏ	obey
P	p	pei (pi)	pi	p	pet
R	r	rhô	rho	r	run
S	s, s	sigma	sigma	s	such
T	t	tau	tau	t	tar
U	u	u (u psi_lon)	üpsīlon	(u) y	ŭ: Fr. tu; ū: Fr. sûr
Ph	ph	phei (phi)	phi	ph	graphic
Ch	ch	chei (chi)	chi	ch	Germ. machen
Ps	ps	psei (psi)	psi	ps	gypsum
Ô	ô	ô (ô mega)	ōmĕga	ō	note

a. Sigma (not capital) at the end of a word is written s, elsewhere s. Thus, seismos earthquake.

b. The names in parentheses, from which are derived those in current use, were given at a late period, some as late as the Middle Ages. Thus, epsilon means ‘simple e,’ upsilon ‘simple u,’ to distinguish these letters from ai, oi, which were sounded like e and u. [p. 8]

c. Labda is a better attested ancient name than lambda.

§2. The Greek alphabet as given above originated in Ionia, and was adopted at Athens in 403 B.C. The letters from A to T are derived from Phoenician and have Semitic names. The signs U to Ô were invented by the Greeks. From the Greek alphabet are derived the alphabets of most European countries. The ancients used only the large letters, called majuscules (capitals as E, uncials as [Eunc ]); the small letters (minuscules), which were used as a literary hand in the ninth century, are cursive forms of the uncials.

a. Before 403 B.C. in the official Attic alphabet E stood for e, ê, spurious ei (6), O for o, ô, spurious ou (6), H for the rough breathing, CHS for X, PHS for Ps. L was written for g, and [lins ] for l. Thus:

EDOCHSENTEIBO[lins ]EIKAITOIDEMOI	edoxen têi boulêi kai tôi dêmôi.
CHSULLRAPHESCHSUNELRAPHSAN	xungraphês xunegrapsan.
EGITEDEIONENAIAGOTOARLURIO	epitêdeion einai apo tou arguriou.

§3. In the older period there were two other letters: (1) W: Wau, uau, called digamma (i.e. double-gamma) from its shape. It stood after e and was pronounced like ô. W was written in Boeotian as late as 200 B.C. (2) ϟ: koppa, koppa, which stood after p. Another s, called san, is found in the sign [sampi ], called sampi, i.e. san + pi. On these signs as numerals, see 348.

§3 D. Vau was in use as a genuine sound at the time the Homeric poems were composed, though it is found in no Mss. of Homer. Many apparent irregularities of epic verse (such as hiatus, 47 D.) can be explained only by supposing that W was actually sounded. Examples of words containing W are: astu town, anax lord, handanô please, eikô give way (cp. weak), eikosi twenty (cp. viginti), hekastos each, hekôn willing, elpomai hope (cp. voluptas), eoika am like, heo, hoi, he him, hex six, epos word, eipon said, ergon, erdô work, hennu_mi clothe, fr. Wes-nu_mi (cp. vestis), ereô will say (cp. verbum), hesperos evening (cp. vesper), ion violet (cp. viola), etos year (cp. vetus), hêdus sweet (cp. suavis), idein (oida) know (cp. videre, wit), i_s strength (cp. vis), i_tea willow (cp. vitis, withy), oikos house (cp. vicus), oinos wine (cp. vinum), hos his (123), ochos carriage (cp. veho, wain). Vau was lost first before o-sounds (horaô see, cp. be-ware). W occurred also in the middle of words: kleWos glory, aiWei always, oWis sheep (cp. ovis), klêWis key (Dor. kla_ïs, cp. clavis), xenWos stranger, DiWi to Zeus, kalWos beautiful. Cp. 20, 31, 37 D., 122, 123.

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OCLC: 402001
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