The Greek Alphabet: Pronunciation and a Brief History, Part 1

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• published: 19 May 2015
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In part one of this video, I go through the first thirteen letters of the Greek alphabet. Along the way I share three historical ways to pronounce each letter, and compare each letter to the Phoenician letters they likely came from. Before we start going through the alphabet, I give a simple introduction to the history of the Greek language in order to explain how the Modern Greek alphabet came about. I know that many Greeks don't like hearing us foreigners "mispronounce" their words and letters, so besides giving the Classical and (historical) Koine Greek pronunciation for each letter, I've also given the Modern Greek pronunciation. I really hope you enjoy it, Greek or ξένος. Note: The Koine Greek pronunciation used in this video is based off of Randall Buth's pronunciation suggestions (you can find out more about Koine pronunciation and his suggestions here: http://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/koine-greek-pronunciation/). Because there were differences of pronunciation when Koine was being spoken, think of it as a generalized Koine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtc4li2L4_g - Part 2 ---------- http://www.go-dyn.com http://shop.go-dyn.com References 1| Balme, Maurice and Gilbert Lawall. Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek, second edition, workbook. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. P. 201, p. xii, p. 146, p. xv. 2| Chisholm, Jane, Lisa Miles, and Struan Reid. The Usborne Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. London, England: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 2007. P. 50. 3| The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1973. Alphabet (book A), Greek Language: History (book G). 4| The Classic Greek Dictionary: Greek-English and English-Greek (first edition, sixteenth printing: 1962). Chicago, IL: Follett Publishing Company, 1927. Η (p. 300), Ξ (p. 470), Ω (p. 799), Ε (p. 187), Ο (p. 473), Υ (p. 723), Ζ (p. 297; Reference Points: 1, 2), Σ (p. 628; Reference Points: 1, 2, 3), κόππα (p. 887), σαμπῖ (p. 629), σάν (p. 629). 5| Unicode Character Database 6.1.0. Unicode, Inc, 1991–2010. 03DA, 03F8. 6| Costello, Robert B.. Webster's College Dictionary. New York, NY: Random House, 1991. Koppa. For More Information http://www.biblicalgreek.org/links/pronunciation.php - An informative comparison of Classical, Koine, and Modern Greek. Also includes the pronunciation for one version of Erasmian Greek. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/greek.htm - A well-written overview of the Greek alphabet. http://ancientscripts.com/greek.html - Another well-written overview of the Greek alphabet. http://www.dynaggelos.com/miscellaneous/greek/greek-alphabet/ - My own addition to the webpages out there sharing information about the Greek alphabet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v9TShKuBBU - This video was made by Randall Buth, the scholar who reconstructed the Koine Greek pronunciation I use in my video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAxzL1BE3Go - If you watch this video, please do so with care. It obviously contradicts what other linguists are teaching about Greek pronunciation (teachings which I have tried to present in this video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tx7NxYG5Vw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R0IKS-eSpg - "Evolution of the (English) Alphabet", parts 1 and 2. Van Der Woude, A. S.. The World of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1986. Illustrations 35, 36, and 37.