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Greek alphabet



         


Greek alphabet
Α α Alpha Β β Beta
Γ γ Gamma Δ δ Delta
Ε ε Epsilon Ϝ ϝ Digamma
Ζ ζ Zeta Η η Eta
Θ θ Theta Ι ι Iota
Κ κ Kappa Λ λ Lambda
Μ μ Mu Ν ν Nu
Ξ ξ Xi Ο ο Omicron
Π π Pi Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa Ρ ρ Rho
Σ σ Sigma Τ τ Tau
Υ υ Upsilon Φ φ Phi
Χ χ Chi Ψ ψ Psi
Ω ω Omega Ϡ ϡ Sampi


The Greek language is written in the Greek alphabet, developed in classical times (around the 9th century BC) and passed down to the present. Its letters are nowadays used for a variety of other purposes: as mathematical symbols, as names of stars, as names of fraternities and sororities, and so forth.

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Overview

It is believed that the Greek alphabet was brought to Greece via Phoenician traders. Greek is derived from a Semitic script, but there is controversy as to which one, with both Proto-Canaanite and Phoenician as possibilities. Other theories include as its sources Egypt, Assyria, and Minoan Crete or even many different languages and nations (Polygenetic theory).

Because Greek minuscules are from a (much) later date, no historic minuscule actually exists for San. Minuscule forms for the other letters were only used numerically.

But for number 6 modern Greeks use an old digraph called stigma (Ϛ, ϛ) instead of digamma or use στ if it is not available. For 90 they use modern z-shaped qoppa forms (Ϟ, ϟ).

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Main table

The Greek letters and their derivations are as follows (pronunciations transcribed according to SAMPA):

Letter Name Pronunciation Numeric value Corresponding Hebrew letter HTML entity Latin transliteration (but see diphthongs, etc.)
Greek Traditional transcription Pronunciation
classicalmodern old classical modern
Α α ἄλφα / ἄλφα Alpha ["alfa] ["alfa]   [a] [a:] [a] 1 א 'Aleph α a
Β β βῆτα / βῆτα Beta ["bE:ta] ["vita]   [b] [v] 2 ב Bet β b
Γ γ γάμμα / γάμμα Gamma ["gamma] ["Gama]   [g] [j] before [e] or [i]; [G] otherwise 3 ג Gimel γ g
Δ δ δέλτα / δέλτα Delta ["delta] ["Delta]   [d] [D] 4 ד Dalet δ d
Ε ε ἒ ψιλόν / ἒ ψιλόν Epsilon [e psi"lon] [e psi"lon]   [e] [e] 5 ה He ε e
F (1) (Ϝ ϝ)   Digamma     [w] - - 6 ו Vav ϝ
Ζ ζ ζῆτα / ζῆτα Zeta ["zdE:ta] ["zita]   [zd], later [z:] [z] 7 ז Zayin ζ z, s (between vowels)
Η η ἦτα / ῆτα Eta ["E:ta] ["ita] [E:] [h] [E:] [i] 8 ח Het η e, ê, i, a (final: Hêra)
Θ θ <math>\vartheta<math> θῆτα / θῆτα Theta ["TE:ta] ["Tita] [t_h] [T] [T] 9 ט Tet &theta; th
Ι ι ἰῶτα / ἰῶτα Iota ["iO:ta] ["jota]   [i] [i:] [i] [j] 10 י Yod &iota; i
Κ κ κάππα / κάππα Kappa ["kappa] ["kapa]   [k] [k] 20 ך כ Kaf &kappa; k, c
Λ λ λάμβδα / λάμβδα Lambda ["lambda] ["lamda]   [l] [l] 30 ל Lamed &lambda; l
Μ μ μῦ / μῦ Mu [my:] [mi]   [m] [m] 40 ם מ Mem &mu; m
Ν ν νῦ / νῦ Nu [ny:] [ni]   [n] [n] 50 ן נ Nun &nu; n
Ξ ξ ξῖ / ξῖ Xi [ksi:] [ksi]   [ks] [ks] 60 ס Samekh &xi; x, ks
Ο ο Ὂ μικρόν / ὂ μικρόν Omicron [o mi"kron] [o mi"kron]   [o] [o] 70 ע `Ayin &omicron; o
Π π πῖ / πῖ Pi [pi:] [pi]   [p] [p] 80 ף פ Pe &pi; p
M (1) (Ϻ ϻ)   San     [z] - - - ץ צ Tzadik &#x3fa; &#x3fb; s
Q (1) (Ϙ ϙ)   Qoppa     [k] - - 90 ק Kuf &#x3d8; &#x3d9; q
Ρ ρ ῥῶ / ῥῶ Rho [rO:] [ro]   [r] [r] 100 ר Resh &rho; r, rh (beginning a word), rrh (doubled)
Σ σ σῖγμα / σῖγμα Sigma ["si:gma] ["sigma]   [s] [s] 200 ש Shin &sigma; s, ss (between vowels)
  ς Sigma (final) 6 (modern) &sigmaf; s
Τ τ ταῦ / ταῦ Tau [tau] [taf]   [t] [t] 300 ת Tav &tau; t
Υ υ ὒ ψιλόν / ὖ ψιλόν Upsilon [y: psi"lon] [i psi"lon] [u] [y] [y:] [i] 400 from Vav &upsilon; u, y (between consonants)
Φ φ φῖ / φῖ Phi [fi:] [fi] [p_h] [f] [f] 500 origin disputed (see text) &phi; ph
Χ χ χῖ / χῖ Chi [Ci:] [Ci] [k_h] [ks] [C] [C] 600 &chi; ch, kh
Ψ ψ ψῖ / ψῖ Psi [psi:] [psi]   [ps] [ps] 700 &psi; ps
Ω ω ὦ μέγα / ὦ μέγα Omega [O: "mega] [o "meGa]   [O:] [o] 800 &omega; o, ô
Ϡ ϡ (1)   Sampi     [ss] [ks] - - 900 &#x3e0; &#x3e1;

(1): Letter removed from the alphabet in early times, before the period that is now called "classical".

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Letter combinations and diphthongs

Letters Pronunciation Latin transliteration
old classical modern
αι   [aI] [E] ae
ει [eI] [e:] [eI] [i] i
οι   [oI] [i] oe, i (final)
υι   [yI] [i] ui
ωι   [OI] [O] o
αυ   [aU] [av] before voiced sound; [af] before voiceless sound au, av
ευ   [eU] [ev] before voiced sound; [ef] before voiceless sound eu, ev
ηυ   [E:U] [iv] before voiced sound; [if] before voiceless sound eu
ου [oU] [o:] [u:] [u] u, ou
γγ (2)   [Ng] [NG] ng
γκ (2)   [Nk] [Nk] nc, nk
γξ (2)   [Nks] [Nks] nx, nks
γχ (2)   [Nx] [NC] nch, nkh
μπ - - [b] at the beginning of a word; [mb] otherwise mp
ντ - - [d] at the beginning of a word; [nd] otherwise nt

(2): Some scholars see agma as a phoneme in its own right.

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Greek in Unicode

There are 2 main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is "Greek and Coptic" (U+0370 — U+03FF). This block is based on ISO 8859-7 and is sufficient to write Modern Greek. There are also some archaic letters and Greek-based technical symbols.

This block also supports Coptic language, most Coptic letters sharing codepoints with looking-alike Greek letters. For Unicode 4.1, it is planned to disunify Coptic from Greek.

To write polytonic Greek (Old Greek or Katharevousa), one may use combining diacritical marks. However, Unicode also includes a full set of precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 — U+1FFF).

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Greek and Coptic


  0123456789ABCDEF
370 ͰͱͲͳʹ͵Ͷͷ͸͹ͺͻͼͽ;Ϳ
380 ΀΁΂΃΄΅Ά·ΈΉΊ΋Ό΍ΎΏ
390 ΐΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟ
3A0 ΠΡ΢ΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫάέήί
3B0 ΰαβγδεζηθικλμνξο
3C0 πρςστυφχψωϊϋόύώϏ
3D0 ϐϑϒϓϔϕϖϗϘϙϚϛϜϝϞϟ
3E0 ϠϡϢϣϤϥϦϧϨϩϪϫϬϭϮϯ
3F0 ϰϱϲϳϴϵ϶ϷϸϹϺϻϼϽϾϿ


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Greek Extended (precomposed polytonic Greek)


  0123456789ABCDEF
1F00 ἀἁἂἃἄἅἆἇἈἉἊἋἌἍἎἏ
1F10 ἐἑἒἓἔἕ἖἗ἘἙἚἛἜἝ἞἟
1F20 ἠἡἢἣἤἥἦἧἨἩἪἫἬἭἮἯ
1F30 ἰἱἲἳἴἵἶἷἸἹἺἻἼἽἾἿ
1F40 ὀὁὂὃὄὅ὆὇ὈὉὊὋὌὍ὎὏
1F50 ὐὑὒὓὔὕὖὗ὘Ὑ὚Ὓ὜Ὕ὞Ὗ
1F60 ὠὡὢὣὤὥὦὧὨὩὪὫὬὭὮὯ
1F70 ὰάὲέὴήὶίὸόὺύὼώ὾὿
1F80 ᾀᾁᾂᾃᾄᾅᾆᾇᾈᾉᾊᾋᾌᾍᾎᾏ
1F90 ᾐᾑᾒᾓᾔᾕᾖᾗᾘᾙᾚᾛᾜᾝᾞᾟ
1FA0 ᾠᾡᾢᾣᾤᾥᾦᾧᾨᾩᾪᾫᾬᾭᾮᾯ
1FB0 ᾰᾱᾲᾳᾴ᾵ᾶᾷᾸᾹᾺΆᾼ᾽ι᾿
1FC0 ῀῁ῂῃῄ῅ῆῇῈΈῊΉῌ῍῎῏
1FD0 ῐῑῒΐ῔῕ῖῗῘῙῚΊ῜῝῞῟
1FE0 ῠῡῢΰῤῥῦῧῨῩῪΎῬ῭΅`
1FF0 ῰῱ῲῳῴ῵ῶῷῸΌῺΏῼ´῾῿


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Combining diacritics

Combining diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language are:

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History

The most notable change, compared to its predecessor, the Phoenician alphabet, is the introduction of vowels, without which Greek — unlike Phoenician — would be unintelligible. In fact many alphabets that contain vowels, notably the Roman alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet, are derived ultimately from Greek. (For alphabets with signs solely used to designate vowels not derived from the Greek, see Orkhon script, Ethiopic alphabet, Indic alphabets, and Old Hungarian script.) The first vowels were alpha, epsilon, iota, omicron, and upsilon (copied from waw), modifications of either glides or breathing marks, which were mostly superfluous in Greek. In eastern Greek, which lacked breaths entirely, the letter eta was also used for a long e, and eventually the letter omega was introduced for a long o. Vowels were originally not used in Semitic alphabets, but even in the very old Ugaritic alphabet matres lectionis were used, i.e. consonant signs were used to denote vowels.


Greek also introduced three new consonants, appended to the end of the alphabet as they were developed. The consonants were to mainly to make up for the lack of aspirates in Phoenician. In west Greek, actually, chi was used for /ks/ and psi for /k_h/ - hence the value of our letter x, derived from chi. Over the middle ages these aspirates disappeared, so now theta, phi, and chi stand for /T/, /f/, and /x/. The origin of those letters is disputed.

The letter san was used at variance with sigma, and by classical times the latter won out, san disappearing from the alphabet. The letters waw (later called digamma) and qoppa disappeared, too, the former only needed for the western dialects and the latter never really needed at all. These lived on in the Ionic numeral system, however, which consisted of writing a series letters with precise numerical values. Sampi (apparently in a rare local glyph form from Ionia) was introduced at the end - to stand for 900. Thousands were written with a mark at the upper left ('A for 1000, etc).

Originally there were several variants of the Greek alphabet, most importantly western (Chalcidian) and eastern (Ionic) Greek; the former gave rise to the Etruscan alphabet and thence to the Roman alphabet. Athens took the Ionic script to be its standard in 403 BC, and shortly thereafter the other versions disappeared. By then Greek was always written left to right, but originally it had been written right to left (with asymmetrical characters flipped), and in-between written either way - or, most likely, boustrophedon, so that the lines alternate direction.

During the Middle ages, the Greek scripts underwent changes paralleling those of the Roman alphabet: while the old forms were retained as a monumental script, uncial and eventually minuscule hands came to dominate. The letter σ is even written ς at the ends of words, paralleling the use of the long and short s at the time. Aristophanes of Byzantium also introduced the process of accenting Greek letters for easier pronunciation.

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Additional information

For extended discussion of problematic Greek letter forms see:

See also: Greeklish






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