User:Proteins/New Testament Greek/Alphabet and ancient Greek pronunciation

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, many of which correspond to our modern English alphabet. Several letters, such as rho (ρ) and chi (χ), may be confusing because their sound differs from those of similar letters in the English alphabet. Still other letters have no English counterpart.

Simple vowels
Greek has seven vowels. The first five are αειου, which resemble the five usual vowels of English. Two of these are always short: ε ("eh") and ο ("o" as in "office"). The other three, αιυ, may be long or short, depending on the word and context. Greek has two vowels, η and ω, that are always long; they are pronounced "ay" (as in "face") and "oh" (as in "note"), respectively.

In some cases, a vowel will appear with a small iota (ι) subscript below it, as in the vowels ᾳῃῳ. These vowels are pronounced exactly like their counterparts without the subscript, αηω. This subscript was added by grammarians to remind Greek readers that an iota had once been part of the word (centuries earlier), but had been dropped in everyday speech.

Diphthongs
Greek also has seven common diphthongs, which are pairs of vowels that are sounded together.

Diaeresis is a relatively rare mark placed above a vowel to indicate that it is not part of a diphthong. In other words, a vowel marked by a diaeresis should be pronounced separately from other surrounding vowels. The diaresis consists of two dots, similar to an umlaut in German, as in the examples ϊ and ϋ. A diaeresis is sometimes seen in English texts; for example, the diaeresis in preëmptive indicates that the two e's are pronounced separately.

Relatives of English letters
In addition to the five vowels αειου, the Greek alphabet has five others that resemble English letters: beta (β), delta (δ), kappa (κ), sigma (ς or σ), and tau (τ). These letters are pronounced like the English counterparts: "b", "d", "k", "s", and "t". The letter sigma is written as ς if it occurs at the end of a word, and otherwise as σ.

Pitfalls to avoid
The Greek alphabet has several pitfalls for English students. Beware the following:


 * The Greek letter eta (η) is pronounced like "ay", not an "n". Rather, the Greek letter nu (ν) is pronounced "n".
 * The Greek letter rho (ρ) is pronounced like an "r", not a "p". Rather, the Greek letter pi (π) is pronounced "p".
 * The Greek letter chi (χ) is pronounced like a "ch", not an "x". Rather, the Greek letter xi (ξ) is pronounced "x".
 * The Greek letter nu (ν) is pronounced like an "n", not a "v".
 * The Greek letter omega (ω) is pronounced like an "oh", not a "w".
 * The uppercase Greek letters eta (Η) and upsilon (Υ) are not pronounced like the English H and Y, but rather as "ay" and "ooh", respectively.
 * The Greek letters phi (φ) and psi (ψ) resemble one another, but are pronounced as "f" and "ps", respectively.
 * The Greek letters nu (ν) and upsilon (υ) resemble one another, but are pronounced as "n" and "u", respectively. Notice that nu has a sharp point, whereas upsilon has a rounded bottom.
 * The Greek letters nu (ν) and gamma (γ) resemble one another, but are pronounced as "n" and "g", respectively.
 * The Greek letter theta (θ) is always pronounced like a hard "th" (as in "thick", "thin" or "think"), never as a soft "th" (as in "this", "the" or "thither").