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Greek Alphabet Pronunciation

The 7 Greek Vowels
The ancient Greek grammarians believed the seven vowels contained pnuema (spirit) or the "breath of life" because the sound of each vowel could be sustained as long as one had breath in his lungs. There are three types of vowels: long (H and W), dual (A, I, and Y), and short (E and O). In the Book of Revelation, there is some evidence that the seven Greek vowels were viewed as the "Seven Spirits-of-God."

Table of Contents Gematria Topics Gospel of Mark The 12 Apostles The Sower Gerasene Demoniac Feeding the 5000 Walking on Water Feeding the 4000 The Transfiguration The Rich Youth Secret Gospel Raising 7 Seeds Crucifixion of Jesus The Empty Tomb Mt: Walk on Water Jn: Walk on Water Jn: The 153 Fish Vol 2: Revelation Download Vol 1

Uncial
uppercase

Minuscule
lowercase

Name

Pronunciation

Comments
The Greeks classified the two different a sounds as long and short. ehhh "Aaayy" (long a) as said by the "Fonz" on the old TV show Happy Days the Greek long I is the English long E short o, has kind of an "ahhh" sound

Alpha alfa Epsilon eyilon Eta hta

like the a in father like the a in bat like the e in bet

like the e in they like the i in machine like the i in sit

Iota iwta

Omicron like the o in rot omikron

E-Mail

like the oo in Upsilon deja vu uyilon like the u in universe

youooo

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Omega wmega

like the o in no

ohhh

The Seven Greek Diphthongs

A diphthong is two vowels that combine to make a single sound. The second vowel of a diphthong is always an iota (i) or an upsilon (u). In all other vowel combinations, the vowels are pronounced separately.

dipthong

pronunciation "eye" as in aisle "ay" as in freight "oi" as in foil "we" as in sweet "ow" as in kraut or "av" as in avenge "you" as in feud or "ev" as in ever "oo" as in group

ai ei oi ui au eu ou

The 8 Semi-Vowel Consonants

The semi vowels are divided into two groups, single and double sound consonants. These letters have properties like the vowels because their sound can be sustained by a hum, purr, or a hiss. Virtually every single Greek word ends with a vowel or the following five pure-sound, semi-vowel consonants. the 5 pure semi-vowel consonants

Uncial
uppercase

Minuscule Name Pronunciation

lowercase Lamda like the l in lamda lamb Mu mu

Comments

like the m in me

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Nu nu Rho rw

like the n in new like the r in more

pronounced "hhrrr" with a hard h before the r - but the r can also be trilled regular sigma used anywhere but the end of a word final sigma is only used at the end of a word

Sigma sigma

like the s in sing

the 3 semi-vowel double consonants Some Greek words end with a x (ks) or a y (ps) but since the final sound in these double consonants is an "s" the final letter is still considered to be an "s."

Uncial
uppercase

Minuscule Name Pronunciation

lowercase Zeta zhta Xi xi Psi yi

Comments

like the "dz" in zeta (dzeta) is a double consonant cords or adz like the "ks" sound in tacks or tax like the "ps" in lips
xi (ksee) is a double consonant

psi is a double consonant

The 9 Mute Consonants

These letters are classified as mute because they can only be uttered for an instant ... their sound can not be sustained. They are divided into three subgroups. The aspirates Q, F, and X contain a small amount of breath or spirit because they possess the "h" sound (th, ph, ch). The intermediates B, G, and D have even less spirit because the "a" sound they emit lasts for just an instant. The inaspirates K, P, and T have no spirit at all because the sound of these letters have no vowel to help them "speak" ... only a short, explosive, mute burst of air. Some foreign proper names (like Gog and Magog) end in mute consonants.

Uncial

Minuscule Name

Pronunciation

Comments

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uppercase

lowercase Beta bhta the first consonant and like the b in bat second source name for the word alpha-bet the double gamma "gg" has an "ng" sound, like in king or triangle.

Gamma like the g in gamma god Delta delta Theta qhta Kappa kappa Pi pi Tau tau Phi fi Chi (Khee) ci

like the d in devil like the th in theology like the k in kill like the p in peek like the t in taught like the f in phone like the ch in loch
a gutteral German "kh" sound like Aachen never like the ch in chap

Greek Breathing Marks

Any Greek word that begins with a vowel is always accompanied by a little raised comma called a breathing mark. If the tail of the comma is to the right, the vowel is pronounced with an h-sound, which is called a rough breathing. If the tail is to the left, there is no h-sound, which is called a smooth breathing.

Example: "har-ma-tee-a"

The Greek word for sin (harmatia) is pronounced

Rule of Thumb Pronunciation Guide

To pronounce a Greek word, First, identify all the vowels in the word Then, identify pairs of vowels that form diphthongs

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Next, count each diphthong as one syllable, and every other vowel as another syllable The total number of vowel sounds is the number of syllables in the word. If the word begins with a vowel, look for the rough or smooth breathing mark Pronounce the word syllable by syllable. A syllable begins with any consonant or combination of consonants that can begin a Greek word. A syllable ends with a vowel or with one of the five semi-vowel consonants (l,m,n,r,s) that can end a Greek word. If the word has an accent mark, pronounce the whole word and stress the accented syllable.

Problems of Greek-English Transliteration

The decision of how to spell a foreign word in English so that it's native pronunciation is preserved is called transliteration. This is very difficult to do in English because English text does not produce phonetic results. For example, the letters in the words grove, move, and love all end with "ove," but the pronunciation of each word is very different. A lot of double vowels and dashes have to be used in order to approximate the sound of a Greek word. The internet involves even more complications because people do not have adequate Greek fonts installed on their browsers and operating systems.

Links
Institute of Biblical Greek - Four Major Conventions of Greek Pronunciation
Jesus 8880 Sacred Geometry Bible Study Publications The Sacred Geometry Mysteries of Jesus Christ Vol 1: The Gospels ... www.jesus8880.com Vol 2: The Book of Revelation ... www.revelation2368.com Copyright 1998-2009 Daniel Gleason, all rights reserved

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