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{{Infobox Writing system
|name=Greek alphabet
|type=]
|languages=], with many modifications covering many languages
|time=~800 BC to the present<ref>Pierre Swiggers, ''Transmission of the Phoenician Script to the West,'' in Daniels and Bright, ''The World's Writing Systems,'' 1996</ref>
|fam1=]
|fam2=]
|children=]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />
|iso15924=Grek
|sample=Greekalphabet.svg
|image_size=250px
}}
{{Table Greekletters|letter=}}

The '''Greek alphabet''' is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the ] since the late ] or early 8th century BCE. It is the first and oldest ] in the narrow sense that it notes each vowel and consonant with a separate symbol.<ref name="Blackwell">{{cite book|last=Coulmas|first=Florian|title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems|year=1996|publisher=Blackwell Publishers Ltd.|location=Oxford|id=ISBN 0-631-21481-X}}</ref> It is as such in continuous use to this day. The letters were also used to represent ], beginning in the 2nd century BCE.

The Greek alphabet is descended from the ], and is not related to ] or the ], earlier writing systems for Greek. It has given rise to many other alphabets used in ] and the ], including the ].<ref name="Blackwell" /> In addition to being used for writing ], its letters are today used as ], ] in physics, as ], in the names of ], in the ], and for other purposes.

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Greek alphabet}}

The Greek alphabet emerged centuries after the fall of the ] civilization and consequent abandonment of its ] script, an early ] writing system. Linear B is descended from ], which was developed by the ], whose language was probably unrelated to Greek; consequently the Minoan syllabary did not provide an ideal medium for the transliteration of the sounds of the Greek language.

The Greek alphabet we recognize today arose after the ] — the period between the downfall of ] (ca. 1200 BC) and the rise of ], which begins with the appearance of the epics of ], around 800 BC, and the institution of the ] in 776 BC. Its most notable change, as an adaptation of the ], is the introduction of vowel letters, without which Greek would be illegible.<ref name="Blackwell" />

Vowel signs were originally not used in Semitic alphabets. Whereas in the earlier West Semitic family of scripts (], ], ] etc.) a letter always stood for a consonant in association with an unspecified vowel or no vowel; because these languages were ], they lost no legibility in having no vowels, as Semitic words are based on ] roots that make meaning clear with only the consonants present, and vowels are clear from context. Greek, however, is an Indo-European language, and thus differences in vowels make for vast differences in meanings. Thus the Greek alphabet divided the letters into two categories, ]s ("things that sound along") and ]s, where the consonant letters always had to be accompanied by vowels to create a pronounceable unit. Although the old ] did develop '']'', i.e., use of consonant letters to denote vowels, they were never employed systematically.

{{alphabet}}

The first vowel ] were Α (]), Ε (]), Ι (]), Ο (]), and Υ (]), modifications of Semitic glottal, pharyngeal, or glide ]s that were mostly superfluous in Greek: {{Unicode|/ʔ/}} ('']''), {{IPA|/h/}} ('']''), {{IPA|/j/}} ('']''), {{Unicode|/ʕ/}} ('']''), and {{IPA|/w/}} ('']''), respectively. In eastern Greek, which lacked aspiration entirely, the letter Η (]), from the Semitic glottal consonant {{IPA|/ħ/}} ('']'') was also used for the ] {{IPA|/εː/}}, and eventually the letter Ω (]) was introduced for a long {{IPA|/ɔː/}}.

Greek also introduced three new consonant letters, Φ (]), Χ (]) and Ψ (]), appended to the end of the alphabet as they were developed. These consonants made up for the lack of comparable ] in Phoenician. In western Greek, Χ was used for {{IPA|/ks/}} and Ψ for {{IPA|/kʰ/}} — hence the value of the Latin letter ''X'', derived from the ]. The origin of these letters is disputed.

The letter {{Unicode|Ϻ}} (]) was used at variance with Σ (]), and by classical times the latter won out, san disappearing from the alphabet. The letters {{Unicode|Ϝ}} (wau, later called ]) and {{Unicode|Ϙ}} (]) also fell into disuse. The former was only needed for the western dialects and the latter was never truly needed at all. These lived on in the ], however, which consisted of writing a series of letters with precise numerical values. {{Unicode|Ϡ}} (]), apparently a rare local ] form from Ionia, was introduced at latter times to stand for 900. Thousands were written using a mark at the upper left ('A for 1000, etc).

Because Greek ] arose at a much later date, no historic minuscule actually exists for san. Minuscule forms for the other letters were only used as numbers. For the number 6, modern Greeks use an old ] called ] <font size=2>({{polytonic|Ϛ}}, {{polytonic|ϛ}})</font> instead of digamma, or ΣΤ/στ if this is not available. For 90 the modern ''Z''-shaped qoppa forms were used: <font size=3> {{polytonic|Ϟ}}, {{polytonic|ϟ}}</font>. (Note that some web browser/font combinations will show the other qoppa here.)

Originally there were several variants of the Greek alphabet, most importantly ] (Chalcidian) and eastern (Ionic) Greek. The former gave rise to the ] and thence to the ], while the latter is the basis of the present Greek alphabet. ] originally used the Attic script for official documents such as laws and the works of Homer: this contained only the letters from alpha to upsilon, and used the letter Η for the sound "h" (heta) instead of the long "e" (eta). In 403 BC Athens adopted the Ionic script as its standard, and shortly thereafter the other versions disappeared.

By then Greek was 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, in the so-called '']'' style, where successive lines alternate direction.
]]]

In the ], ] introduced the process of ] Greek letters for easier pronunciation. During the ], the Greek scripts underwent changes paralleling those of the Latin alphabet: while the old forms were retained as a monumental script, ] and eventually minuscule hands came to dominate. The letter σ is even written ς at the ends of words, paralleling the use of the Latin ].

=== Letter names ===
Each of the Phoenician letter names was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus '']'', the word for “ox”, was adopted for the glottal stop {{Unicode|/ʔ/}}, '']'', or “house”, for the {{IPA|/b/}} sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, '' 'aleph, bet, gimel'' became ''alpha, beta, gamma''. These borrowed names had no meaning in Greek except as labels for the letters. However, a few signs that were added or modified later by the Greeks do in fact have names with a meaning. For example, ''o mikron'' and ''o mega'' mean “small o” and “big o”. Similarly, ''e psilon'' and ''u psilon'' mean “plain e” and “plain u”, respectively.

== Main letters ==
Below is a table listing the Greek letters, as well as their forms when ]. The table also provides the equivalent ] from which each Greek letter is derived. Pronunciations transcribed using the ].

The classical pronunciation given below is the reconstructed pronunciation of Attic in the late 5th and early 4th century (BC). Some of the letters had different pronunciations in pre-classical times or in non-Attic dialects. For details, see ] and ]. For details on post-classical Ancient Greek pronunciation, see ].

{|border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center"
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Letter
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Corresponding<br />]<br />letter
!colspan="4" style="background:#ccf;"|Name
!colspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|]<sup>1</sup> <!-- footnote explains caveats -->
!colspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Pronunciation
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|]
|-
!style="background:#ccffff;"|English
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Ancient<br />Greek
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Medieval<br />Greek<br />(polytonic)
!style="background:#ccffff;"|{{audio-nohelp|Ell-AlphabitosUpload.ogg|Modern<br />Greek<br />}}
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Ancient<br />Greek
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Modern<br />Greek
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Classical<br />Ancient<br />Greek
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Modern<br />Greek
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Α α
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ἄλφα}}
|άλφα
|colspan="2"|a
|{{IPA| }}
|{{IPA|}}
|1
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Β β
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|βῆτα}}
|βήτα
|b
|v
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|2
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Γ γ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|γάμμα}}
|γάμμα<br />γάμα
|g
|gh, g, y
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|,
|3
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Δ δ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|δέλτα}}
|δέλτα
|d
|d, dh
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|4
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Ε ε
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ε{{unicode|ἶ}}}}
|{{polytonic|{{unicode|ἒ}} ψιλόν}}
|έψιλον
|colspan="2"|e
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|5
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ζ ζ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ζῆτα}}
|ζήτα
|colspan="2"|z
|{{IPA|}}<br />(}}]])<br />later {{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|7
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Η η
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ἦτα}}
|ήτα
|e, ē
|i
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|8
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Θ θ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|θῆτα}}
|θήτα
|colspan="2"|th
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|9
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ι ι
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ἰῶτα}}
|ιώτα<br />γιώτα
|colspan="2"|i
|{{IPA| }}
|{{IPA|, }}
|10
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Κ κ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|κάππα}}
|κάππα<br />κάπα
|colspan="2"|k
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|, }}
|20
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Λ λ
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|λάβδα}}
|{{polytonic|λάμβδα}}
|λάμδα<br />λάμβδα
|colspan="2"|l
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|30
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Μ μ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|μῦ}}
|μι<br />μυ
|colspan="2"|m
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|40
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ν ν
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|νῦ}}
|νι<br />νυ
|colspan="2"|n
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|50
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ξ ξ
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ξεῖ}}
|{{polytonic|ξῖ}}
|ξι
|x
|x, ks
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|60
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ο ο
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|οὖ}}
|{{polytonic|ὂ μικρόν}}
|όμικρον
|colspan="2"|o
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|70
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Π π
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|πεῖ}}
|{{polytonic|πῖ}}
|πι
|colspan="2"|p
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|80
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Ρ ρ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ῥῶ}}
|ρω
|r ({{polytonic|ῥ}}: rh)
|r
|{{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|100
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Σ σ ς
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|σῖγμα}}
|σίγμα
|colspan="2"|s
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|200
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Τ τ
|] ]
|]
|colspan="2"|{{polytonic|ταῦ}}
|ταυ
|colspan="2"|t
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|300
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Υ υ
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ὖ}}
|{{polytonic|ὖ ψιλόν}}
|ύψιλον
|u, y
|y, v, f
|{{IPA| <br />(earlier )}}
|{{IPA|}}
|400
|-
|<span style="font-size:133%;">Φ φ
|rowspan="3"|origin disputed<br />(see text)
|]
|{{polytonic|φεῖ}}
|{{polytonic|φῖ}}
|φι
|ph
|f
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|500
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Χ χ
|]
|{{polytonic|χεῖ}}
|{{polytonic|χῖ}}
|χι
|ch
|ch, kh
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|, }}
|600
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ψ ψ
|]
|{{polytonic|ψεῖ}}
|{{polytonic|ψῖ}}
|ψι
|colspan="2"|ps
|colspan="2"|{{IPA|}}
|700
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ω ω
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ὦ}}
|{{polytonic|ὦ μέγα}}
|ωμέγα
|o, ō
|o
|{{IPA|}}
|{{IPA|}}
|800
|-
|}
# For details and different transliteration systems see ].

=== Variant forms ===
Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval ] handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in ].
*The symbol {{Unicode|ϐ}} ("curled beta") is a cursive variant form of ] (β).
*The letter ] can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped <math>\epsilon\,\!</math> ('lunate epsilon', like a semicircle with a stroke) or <math>\varepsilon\,\!</math> (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol {{Unicode|ϵ}} (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol.
*The symbol {{Unicode|ϑ}} ("script theta") is a cursive form of ] (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol.
*The symbol {{Unicode|ϰ}} ("kappa symbol") is a cursive form of ] (κ), used as a technical symbol.
*The symbol {{Unicode|ϖ}} ("variant pi") is an archaic script form of ] (π), also used as a technical symbol.
*The letter ] (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol {{Unicode|ϱ}} (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
*The letter ], in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form {{Unicode|ϲ}} ("lunate sigma", resembling a Latin '']'') is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction.
*The capital letter ] (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin ''Y'', or slightly curled. The symbol {{Unicode|ϒ}} (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
*The letter ] can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as <math>\textstyle\phi\,\!</math> (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as <math>\textstyle\varphi\,\!</math> (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol {{Unicode|ϕ}} (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol.

== Obsolete letters ==
The following letters are not part of the standard Greek alphabet, but were in use in pre-classical times in certain dialects. The letters digamma, san, qoppa, and sampi were also used in ].

{|border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center"
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Letter
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Corresponding<br />]<br />letter
!colspan="3" style="background:#ccf;"|Name
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|]
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|Pronunciation
!rowspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"|]
|-
!style="background:#ccffff;"|English
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Early<br />Greek<br />
!style="background:#ccffff;"|Later<br />Greek<br />(polytonic)
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ϝ ϝ<br />Ͷ ͷ</span> (alternate)
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ϝαῦ}}
|{{polytonic|δίγαμμα}}
|w
|{{IPA|}}
|6
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ϻ ϻ
|] ] (position)<br />] ] (name)
|]
|{{polytonic|ϻάν}}
|{{polytonic|σάν}}
|s
|{{IPA|}}
|
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ϟ ϟ<br />Ϙ ϙ</span> (alternate)
|] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|ϙόππα}}
|{{polytonic|κόππα}}
|q
|{{IPA|}}
|90
|-
|style="font-size:133%;"|Ͳ ͳ<br />Ϡ ϡ</span> (alternate)
|Origin disputed,<br />possibly ] ]
|]
|{{polytonic|δίσιγμα}}
|{{polytonic|σαμπῖ}}
|ss
|probably affricate,<br />but exact value debated;<br />{{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}} are proposed
|900
|}

*Digamma disappeared from the alphabet because the sound it notated, the ] {{IPA|}}, had disappeared from the ] and most of the others. It remained in use as a numeric sign denoting the number six. In this function, it was later conflated in medieval Greek handwriting with the ligature sign ''stigma'' ({{unicode|ϛ}}), which had a similar shape in its lower case form.
*Sampi (also called ''disigma'') notated a ] ] that later evolved to {{polytonic|-σσ-}} (probably {{IPA|}}) in most dialects, and {{polytonic|-ττ-}} (probably {{IPA|}}) in ]. Its exact value is heavily discussed, but {{IPA|}} is often proposed. Its modern name is derived from its shape: (ω)σαν πι = like (the letter) pi.<ref name="titleGreek Letter Sampi">{{cite web|url=http://www.parthia.com/fonts/sampi.htm|title=Greek Letter Sampi|accessdate=2008-01-04|format= |work=}}</ref>

The order of the letters up to Τ follows that in the ] or ] alphabet.

== Diacritics ==
{{main|Greek diacritics}}

In the polytonic orthography traditionally used for ancient Greek, vowels can carry ]s, namely accents and breathings. The accents are the ] (´), the ] (`), and the ] ({{Unicode|῀}}). In Ancient Greek, these accents marked different forms of the ] on a vowel. By the end of the Roman period, pitch accent had evolved into a ], and in later Greek all of these accents marked the stressed vowel. The breathings are the ] ({{Unicode|῾}}), marking an {{IPA|/h/}} sound at the beginning of a word, and the ] ({{Unicode|᾽}}), marking the absence of an {{IPA|/h/}} sound at the beginning of a word. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, always carries a rough breathing when it begins a word. Another diacritic used in Greek is the ], indicating a ].

In 1982, the old spelling system, known as polytonic, was simplified to become the monotonic system, which is now official in Greece. The accents have been reduced to one, the ''tonos'', and the breathings were abolished.

== Ligatures ==
{{main|Greek ligatures}}
]s made use of a number of ] to save space and time, in Greek as in other languages. Early Greek typefaces such as ]'s ''Les Grecs du Roi'' included a large number of ligatures, but modern typography uses none of them, except occasionally the {{Unicode|Ȣ}} ligature for ου — resembling a ''V'' above an ''O''; some modern alphabets based on the ] use this as a letter, ]. In printed 17th-century English works, there sometimes occurs a ligature of Ο with ς (a small sigma ''inside'' a capital omicron) for a terminal ος. Other ligatures include ] for ], (equivalent to an ]) and stigma {{polytonic|]}} for στ, also used as noted above to replace digamma as a number 6.

== Digraphs and diphthongs ==
{{further|]}}

A ] is a pair of letters used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters in sequence. The orthography of Greek includes several digraphs, including various pairs of vowel letters that used to be pronounced as ]s but have been shortened to ]s in pronunciation. Many of these are characteristic developments of modern Greek, but some were already present in Classical Greek. None of them is regarded as a letter of the alphabet.

During the ], it became customary to write the ] iota in digraphs as an ] ({{polytonic|ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ}}).

== Use of the Greek alphabet for other languages ==
The primary use of the Greek alphabet has always been to write the Greek language. However, at various times and in various places, it has also been used to write other languages.<ref>see S. Macrakis, 1996 for bibliography</ref>

=== Early examples ===
*Most of the ], in use c. 800-300 BC to write languages like ] and ], were the early Greek alphabet with only slight modifications — as were the original ]s.
*Some ], including ]. For other neighboring languages or dialects, such as ], isolated words are preserved in Greek texts, but no continuous texts are preserved.
*Some Narbonese ] inscriptions in southern France use the Greek alphabet (c. 300 BC).
*The ] text of the ] was written in Greek letters in ]'s ].
*An 8th century ] fragment preserves a text in the Greek alphabet.
*An ] inscription of the 10-12c CE found in ], the oldest known attestation of an Ossetic language.

=== With additional letters ===
Several alphabets consist of the Greek alphabet supplemented with a few additional letters:
*The Bactrian alphabet adds the letter ] and was used to write the ] under the ] (AD 65-250).<ref>, lecture by Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (University of London)</ref>
*The ] adds eight letters derived from ]. It is still used today, mostly in Egypt, to write the ]. Letters usually retain an ] different from the forms used for Greek today (compare with the forms of the Latin letters used in ]).
*The ] of ] (modern Sudan) adds three Coptic letters, two letters derived from ], and a digraph of two Greek gammas used for ng.

=== In more modern times ===
*] (see above).
*] spoken by ] ('']'') was often written in Greek script, and called '']''.
*] ] was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500 (Elsie, 1991). The printing press at ] published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the ] conference standardized a ] for both Tosk and ]. The Greek-based ] is now only used in Greece.
*Various ] dialects, similar to the modern ] and ] languages, have been written in Greek script. The modern South Slavic languages now use modified ]s.<!--see footnote in Macrakis 1996--><ref>"Dva balgarski rakopisa s gracko pismo", ''Balgarski starini'' '''6''', 1920; André Mazon and André Vaillant, ''L'Evangelaire de Kulakia, un parler slave de Bas-Vardar'', Bibliothèque d'études balkaniques '''6''', 1938; Jürgen Kristophson, "Das Lexicon Tetraglosson des Daniil Moschopolitis", ''Zeitschrift für Balkanologie'' '''9''':11; Max Demeter Peyfuss, ''Die Druckerei von Moschopolis, 1731-1769: Buchdruck und Heiligenverehrung in Erzbistum Achrida'', Wiener Archiv für Geschichte des Slawentums und Osteuropas '''13''', 1989.</ref>
*] (Vlach) has been written in Greek characters. There is not yet a standardized orthography for Aromanian, but it appears that one based on the ] orthography will be adopted.
*], a ] of the northeast Balkans.
*], a ] spoken by a small group of ] in northern Greece.
*] or Greek Tatar.

== Derived alphabets ==
The Greek alphabet gave rise to various others:<ref name="Blackwell" />
*The ], an offshoot of the archaic ] of the Greek alphabet;
*The ], devised in ] to write the ];
*The ], devised in the ] for writing ];
*The ], which replaced the Glagolitic alphabet shortly afterwards;

It is also considered a possible ancestor of the ], and had an influence on the development of the ].

== Greek in mathematics ==
Greek symbols are traditionally used as names in ], ] and other ]s. When combined with Latin characters, the Latin characters usually indicate ] while the Greek ones indicate ]. Many symbols have traditional meanings, such as epsilon for `a small number, which move towards the infinitesimal', capital sigma for `sum' and lower case sigma for ].

== Greek encodings ==
For the usage in computers, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in RFC 1947.

The two principal ones still used today are ] and ]. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports the polytonic orthography.

=== ISO/IEC 8859-7 ===
For the range A0-FF (hex) it follows the Unicode range 370-3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings it is equal to ASCII for 00-7F (hex).

=== Greek in Unicode ===
Unicode supports polytonic orthography well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for ]. With the use of ]s, Unicode also supports Greek ] and ] and various other specialized requirements. However, most current text rendering engines do not support combining characters well, so, though alpha with ] and ] can be ''represented'' as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: {{Polytonic|ᾱ́}}.<ref>For extended discussion of problematic Greek letter forms in Unicode see .</ref>

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

This block also supports the ]. Formerly most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of
Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with
no Greek equivalents still remain in this block.

To write polytonic Greek, one may use ]s or the precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF).

==== Greek and Coptic ====
{|border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;"
|----- style="background:#ddd"
!width="7.2%"|&nbsp;!!width="5.8%"|0!!width="5.8%"|1!!width="5.8%"|2!!width="5.8%"|3!!width="5.8%"|4!!width="5.8%"|5!!width="5.8%"|6!!width="5.8%"|7!!width="5.8%"|8!!width="5.8%"|9!!width="5.8%"|A!!width="5.8%"|B!!width="5.8%"|C!!width="5.8%"|D!!width="5.8%"|E!!width="5.8%"|F
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|0370
|]||]||]||]||{{Polytonic|&#884;}}<!-- Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|͵}}||]||]||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ͺ}}||ͻ||ͼ||ͽ||{{Polytonic|&#894;}}<!-- Must use HTML-->||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|0380
|style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|΄}}||{{Polytonic|΅}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|&#903;}}<!-- Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|]}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|0390
|{{Polytonic|]}}||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03A0
|]||]||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03B0
|{{Polytonic|]}}||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||]
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03C0
|]||]||{{Polytonic|]}}||]||]||]||]||]||]||]||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||]
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03D0
|{{Polytonic|ϐ}}||{{Polytonic|ϑ}}||{{Polytonic|ϒ}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|ϕ}}||{{Polytonic|ϖ}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03E0
|{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||colspan="14" style="background:#bbb;"|''(] here)''
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|03F0
|{{Polytonic|ϰ}}||{{Polytonic|ϱ}}||{{Polytonic|ϲ}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|ϴ}}||{{Polytonic|ϵ}}||{{Polytonic|϶}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|Ϲ}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|]}}||{{Polytonic|ϼ}}||{{Polytonic|Ͻ}}||{{Polytonic|Ͼ}}||{{Polytonic|Ͽ}}
|}

==== Greek Extended (precomposed polytonic Greek) ====
{|border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;"
|----- style="background:#ddd"
!width="7.2%"|&nbsp;!!width="5.8%"|0!!width="5.8%"|1!!width="5.8%"|2!!width="5.8%"|3!!width="5.8%"|4!!width="5.8%"|5!!width="5.8%"|6!!width="5.8%"|7!!width="5.8%"|8!!width="5.8%"|9!!width="5.8%"|A!!width="5.8%"|B!!width="5.8%"|C!!width="5.8%"|D!!width="5.8%"|E!!width="5.8%"|F
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F00
|{{Polytonic|ἀ}}||{{Polytonic|ἁ}}||{{Polytonic|ἂ}}||{{Polytonic|ἃ}}||{{Polytonic|ἄ}}||{{Polytonic|ἅ}}||{{Polytonic|ἆ}}||{{Polytonic|ἇ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἀ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἁ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἂ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἃ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἄ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἅ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἆ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἇ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F10
|{{Polytonic|ἐ}}||{{Polytonic|ἑ}}||{{Polytonic|ἒ}}||{{Polytonic|ἓ}}||{{Polytonic|ἔ}}||{{Polytonic|ἕ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ἐ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἑ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἒ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἓ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἔ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἕ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F20
|{{Polytonic|ἠ}}||{{Polytonic|ἡ}}||{{Polytonic|ἢ}}||{{Polytonic|ἣ}}||{{Polytonic|ἤ}}||{{Polytonic|ἥ}}||{{Polytonic|ἦ}}||{{Polytonic|ἧ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἠ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἡ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἢ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἣ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἤ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἥ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἦ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἧ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F30
|{{Polytonic|ἰ}}||{{Polytonic|ἱ}}||{{Polytonic|ἲ}}||{{Polytonic|ἳ}}||{{Polytonic|ἴ}}||{{Polytonic|ἵ}}||{{Polytonic|ἶ}}||{{Polytonic|ἷ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἰ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἱ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἲ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἳ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἴ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἵ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἶ}}||{{Polytonic|Ἷ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F40
|{{Polytonic|ὀ}}||{{Polytonic|ὁ}}||{{Polytonic|ὂ}}||{{Polytonic|ὃ}}||{{Polytonic|ὄ}}||{{Polytonic|ὅ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ὀ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὁ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὂ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὃ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὄ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὅ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F50
|{{Polytonic|ὐ}}||{{Polytonic|ὑ}}||{{Polytonic|ὒ}}||{{Polytonic|ὓ}}||{{Polytonic|ὔ}}||{{Polytonic|ὕ}}||{{Polytonic|ὖ}}||{{Polytonic|ὗ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ὑ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ὓ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ὕ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|Ὗ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F60
|{{Polytonic|ὠ}}||{{Polytonic|ὡ}}||{{Polytonic|ὢ}}||{{Polytonic|ὣ}}||{{Polytonic|ὤ}}||{{Polytonic|ὥ}}||{{Polytonic|ὦ}}||{{Polytonic|ὧ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὠ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὡ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὢ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὣ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὤ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὥ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὦ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὧ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F70
|{{Polytonic|ὰ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8049;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὲ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8051;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὴ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8053;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὶ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8055;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὸ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8057;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὺ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8059;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ὼ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8061;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F80
|{{Polytonic|ᾀ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾁ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾂ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾃ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾄ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾅ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾆ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾇ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾈ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾉ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾊ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾋ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾌ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾍ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾎ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾏ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1F90
|{{Polytonic|ᾐ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾑ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾒ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾓ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾔ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾕ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾖ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾗ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾘ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾙ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾚ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾛ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾜ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾝ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾞ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾟ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FA0
|{{Polytonic|ᾠ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾡ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾢ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾣ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾤ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾥ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾦ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾧ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾨ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾩ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾪ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾫ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾬ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾭ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾮ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾯ}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FB0
|{{Polytonic|ᾰ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾱ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾲ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾳ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾴ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ᾶ}}||{{Polytonic|ᾷ}}||{{Polytonic|Ᾰ}}||{{Polytonic|Ᾱ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὰ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8123;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ᾼ}}||{{Polytonic|᾽}}||{{Polytonic|&#8126;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|᾿}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FC0
|{{Polytonic|῀}}||{{Polytonic|῁}}||{{Polytonic|ῂ}}||{{Polytonic|ῃ}}||{{Polytonic|ῄ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ῆ}}||{{Polytonic|ῇ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὲ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8137;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|Ὴ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8139;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ῌ}}||{{Polytonic|῍}}||{{Polytonic|῎}}||{{Polytonic|῏}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FD0
|{{Polytonic|ῐ}}||{{Polytonic|ῑ}}||{{Polytonic|ῒ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8147;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ῖ}}||{{Polytonic|ῗ}}||{{Polytonic|Ῐ}}||{{Polytonic|Ῑ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὶ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8155;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|῝}}||{{Polytonic|῞}}||{{Polytonic|῟}}
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FE0
|{{Polytonic|ῠ}}||{{Polytonic|ῡ}}||{{Polytonic|ῢ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8163;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ῤ}}||{{Polytonic|ῥ}}||{{Polytonic|ῦ}}||{{Polytonic|ῧ}}||{{Polytonic|Ῠ}}||{{Polytonic|Ῡ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὺ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8171;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|Ῥ}}||{{Polytonic|῭}}||{{Polytonic|&#8174;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|&#8175;}}<!--Must use HTML-->
|----- align="center"
!style="background:#ddd"|1FF0
|style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ῲ}}||{{Polytonic|ῳ}}||{{Polytonic|ῴ}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;||{{Polytonic|ῶ}}||{{Polytonic|ῷ}}||{{Polytonic|Ὸ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8185;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|Ὼ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8187;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|ῼ}}||{{Polytonic|&#8189;}}<!--Must use HTML-->||{{Polytonic|῾}}||style="background:#bbb"|&nbsp;
|}

==== Combining and letter-free diacritics ====
] and spacing (letter-free) ]s pertaining to ]:
{|class="wikitable"
!combining!!spacing!!sample!!description
|-
|U+0300||U+0060||( {{polytonic|&nbsp;̀}} )||"varia / ]"
|-
|U+0301||U+00B4, U+0384||( {{polytonic|&nbsp;́}} )||"oxia / tonos / ]"
|-
|U+0304||U+00AF||( {{unicode|&nbsp;̄}} )||"]"
|-
|U+0306||U+02D8||( {{unicode|&nbsp;̆}} )||"vrachy / ]"
|-
|U+0308||U+00A8||( {{unicode|&nbsp;̈}} )||"dialytika / ]"
|-
|U+0313||U+02BC||( {{unicode|&nbsp;̓}} )||"psili / comma above" (])
|-
|U+0314||U+02BD||( {{unicode|&nbsp;̔}} )||"dasia / reversed comma above" (])
|-
|U+0342||||( {{unicode|&nbsp;͂}} )||"perispomeni" (])
|-
|U+0343||||( {{unicode|&nbsp;&#835;}} )||"]" (= U+0313)
|-
|U+0344||U+0385||( {{unicode|&nbsp;&#836;}} )||"dialytika tonos" (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
|-
|U+0345||U+037A||( {{unicode|&nbsp;ͅ}} )||"ypogegrammeni / ]".
|}

== See also ==
{{Commons|Greek alphabet}}
*]
*]
*], a system of acrophonic representing numbers using letters of the Greek alphabet
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*], a system of sequential representing numbers using letters of the Greek alphabet
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite journal|first=Robert|last=Elsie|title=Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing|journal=Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies|volume=15|issue=20|year=1991|url=http://www.elsie.de/pub/pdf_articles/A1991AlbLitGreek.pdf|format=PDF 0.0&nbsp;bytes<!-- text/html, 0 bytes -->}}
*{{cite book|last=Humez|first=Alexander|coauthors=Nicholas Humez|title=Alpha to omega: the life & times of the Greek alphabet|publisher=Godine|year=1981|isbn=0-87923-377-X}} — A popular history, more about Greek roots in English than about the alphabet itself.
*{{cite book|last=Jeffery|first=Lilian Hamilton|title=The local scripts of archaic Greece: a study of the origin of the Greek alphabet and its development from the eighth to the fifth centuries B.C.|publisher=Oxford|year=1961|isbn=0-19-814061-4}}
*{{cite book|first=Michael S. (ed.)|last=Macrakis|title=Greek letters: from tablets to pixels: proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Greek Font Society|publisher=Oak Knoll|year=1996|isbn=1-884718-27-2}} — Includes papers on history, typography, and character coding by ], ], Nicolas Barker, John A. Lane, Kyle McCarter, Jerôme Peignot, Pierre MacKay, Silvio Levy, ''et al.''
*{{cite book|last=Hansen and Quinn|title=Greek - An Intensive Course, Second Revised Edition|publisher=Fordham University Press|year=1992 - especially noted for an excellent discussion on traditional accents and breathings, as well as verbal formation}}
*{{cite book|last=Powell|first=Barry B.|title=Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet|year=1991|}} — discusses dating, early inscriptions, and ties to origin of texts of Homer. ISBN 052158907X
*{{cite book|last=Macrakis|first=Stavros M.|title=Character codes for Greek: Problems and modern solutions|year=1996|url=http://www.writingsystems.net/systems/greek/languages.htm}} — Includes discussion of the Greek alphabet used for languages other than Greek.
*C. J. Ruijgh (1998) Sur la date de la création de l’alphabet grec. Mnemosyne, 51, 658–687
</small>

=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* Greek range
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

=== Typography ===
*Collection of free fonts:
*{{El icon}} Collection of free truetype polytonic fonts:

{{writing systems}}

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Revision as of 18:38, 23 November 2008

This article contains special characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.
Greek alphabet
Script type Alphabet
Time period~800 BC to the present
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesGreek, with many modifications covering many languages
Related scripts
Parent systemsProto-Canaanite alphabet
Child systemsGothic
Glagolitic
Cyrillic
Coptic
Armenian alphabet
Old Italic alphabet
Latin alphabet
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Grek (200), ​Greek
Unicode
Unicode aliasGreek
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between , / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Greek alphabet
Αα Alpha Νν Nu
Ββ Beta Ξξ Xi
Γγ Gamma Οο Omicron
Δδ Delta Ππ Pi
Εε Epsilon Ρρ Rho
Ζζ Zeta Σσς Sigma
Ηη Eta Ττ Tau
Θθ Theta Υυ Upsilon
Ιι Iota Φφ Phi
Κκ Kappa Χχ Chi
Λλ Lambda Ψψ Psi
Μμ Mu Ωω Omega
History
Archaic local variants
Ϝ Digamma Ͱ Heta
Ϻ San Ϙ Koppa
Ͷ Ͳ Sampi
Diacritics and other symbols
Diacritics Ligatures Numerals (Attic)
Related topics

The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is the first and oldest alphabet in the narrow sense that it notes each vowel and consonant with a separate symbol. It is as such in continuous use to this day. The letters were also used to represent Greek numerals, beginning in the 2nd century BCE.

The Greek alphabet is descended from the Phoenician alphabet, and is not related to Linear B or the Cypriot syllabary, earlier writing systems for Greek. It has given rise to many other alphabets used in Europe and the Middle East, including the Latin alphabet. In addition to being used for writing Modern Greek, its letters are today used as symbols in mathematics and science, particle names in physics, as names of stars, in the names of fraternities and sororities, in the naming of supernumerary tropical cyclones, and for other purposes.

History

Main article: History of the Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet emerged centuries after the fall of the Mycenaean civilization and consequent abandonment of its Linear B script, an early Greek writing system. Linear B is descended from Linear A, which was developed by the Minoans, whose language was probably unrelated to Greek; consequently the Minoan syllabary did not provide an ideal medium for the transliteration of the sounds of the Greek language.

The Greek alphabet we recognize today arose after the Greek Dark Ages — the period between the downfall of Mycenae (ca. 1200 BC) and the rise of Ancient Greece, which begins with the appearance of the epics of Homer, around 800 BC, and the institution of the Ancient Olympic Games in 776 BC. Its most notable change, as an adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet, is the introduction of vowel letters, without which Greek would be illegible.

Vowel signs were originally not used in Semitic alphabets. Whereas in the earlier West Semitic family of scripts (Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite etc.) a letter always stood for a consonant in association with an unspecified vowel or no vowel; because these languages were Semitic, they lost no legibility in having no vowels, as Semitic words are based on triliteral roots that make meaning clear with only the consonants present, and vowels are clear from context. Greek, however, is an Indo-European language, and thus differences in vowels make for vast differences in meanings. Thus the Greek alphabet divided the letters into two categories, consonants ("things that sound along") and vowels, where the consonant letters always had to be accompanied by vowels to create a pronounceable unit. Although the old Ugaritic alphabet did develop matres lectionis, i.e., use of consonant letters to denote vowels, they were never employed systematically.

History of the alphabet

The first vowel letters were Α (alpha), Ε (epsilon), Ι (iota), Ο (omicron), and Υ (upsilon), modifications of Semitic glottal, pharyngeal, or glide consonants that were mostly superfluous in Greek: /ʔ/ ('aleph), /h/ (he), /j/ (yodh), /ʕ/ (]), and /w/ (waw), respectively. In eastern Greek, which lacked aspiration entirely, the letter Η (eta), from the Semitic glottal consonant /ħ/ (heth) was also used for the long vowel /εː/, and eventually the letter Ω (omega) was introduced for a long /ɔː/.

Greek also introduced three new consonant letters, Φ (phi), Χ (chi) and Ψ (psi), appended to the end of the alphabet as they were developed. These consonants made up for the lack of comparable aspirates in Phoenician. In western Greek, Χ was used for /ks/ and Ψ for /kʰ/ — hence the value of the Latin letter X, derived from the western Greek alphabet. The origin of these letters is disputed.

The letter Ϻ (san) was used at variance with Σ (sigma), and by classical times the latter won out, san disappearing from the alphabet. The letters Ϝ (wau, later called digamma) and Ϙ (qoppa) also fell into disuse. The former was only needed for the western dialects and the latter was never truly needed at all. These lived on in the Ionic numeral system, however, which consisted of writing a series of letters with precise numerical values. Ϡ (sampi), apparently a rare local glyph form from Ionia, was introduced at latter times to stand for 900. Thousands were written using a mark at the upper left ('A for 1000, etc).

Because Greek minuscules arose at a much later date, no historic minuscule actually exists for san. Minuscule forms for the other letters were only used as numbers. For the number 6, modern Greeks use an old ligature called stigma (Template:Polytonic, Template:Polytonic) instead of digamma, or ΣΤ/στ if this is not available. For 90 the modern Z-shaped qoppa forms were used: Template:Polytonic, Template:Polytonic. (Note that some web browser/font combinations will show the other qoppa here.)

Originally there were several variants of the Greek alphabet, most importantly western (Chalcidian) and eastern (Ionic) Greek. The former gave rise to the Old Italic alphabet and thence to the Latin alphabet, while the latter is the basis of the present Greek alphabet. Athens originally used the Attic script for official documents such as laws and the works of Homer: this contained only the letters from alpha to upsilon, and used the letter Η for the sound "h" (heta) instead of the long "e" (eta). In 403 BC Athens adopted the Ionic script as its standard, and shortly thereafter the other versions disappeared.

By then Greek was 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, in the so-called boustrophedon style, where successive lines alternate direction.

Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens

In the Hellenistic period, Aristophanes of Byzantium introduced the process of accenting Greek letters for easier pronunciation. During the Middle Ages, the Greek scripts underwent changes paralleling those of the Latin 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 Latin long and short s.

Letter names

Each of the Phoenician letter names was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus 'aleph, the word for “ox”, was adopted for the glottal stop /ʔ/, bet, or “house”, for the /b/ sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, 'aleph, bet, gimel became alpha, beta, gamma. These borrowed names had no meaning in Greek except as labels for the letters. However, a few signs that were added or modified later by the Greeks do in fact have names with a meaning. For example, o mikron and o mega mean “small o” and “big o”. Similarly, e psilon and u psilon mean “plain e” and “plain u”, respectively.

Main letters

Below is a table listing the Greek letters, as well as their forms when romanized. The table also provides the equivalent Phoenician letter from which each Greek letter is derived. Pronunciations transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The classical pronunciation given below is the reconstructed pronunciation of Attic in the late 5th and early 4th century (BC). Some of the letters had different pronunciations in pre-classical times or in non-Attic dialects. For details, see History of the Greek alphabet and Ancient Greek phonology. For details on post-classical Ancient Greek pronunciation, see Koine Greek phonology.

Letter Corresponding
Phoenician
letter
Name Transliteration Pronunciation Numeric
value
English Ancient
Greek
Medieval
Greek
(polytonic)
Modern
Greek
Ancient
Greek
Modern
Greek
Classical
Ancient
Greek
Modern
Greek
Α α Aleph Aleph Alpha Template:Polytonic άλφα a 1
Β β Beth Beth Beta Template:Polytonic βήτα b v 2
Γ γ Gimel Gimel Gamma Template:Polytonic γάμμα
γάμα
g gh, g, y , 3
Δ δ Daleth Daleth Delta Template:Polytonic δέλτα d d, dh 4
Ε ε He He Epsilon Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic έψιλον e 5
Ζ ζ Zayin Zayin Zeta Template:Polytonic ζήτα z
(]])
later
7
Η η Heth Heth Eta Template:Polytonic ήτα e, ē i 8
Θ θ Teth Teth Theta Template:Polytonic θήτα th 9
Ι ι Yodh Yodh Iota Template:Polytonic ιώτα
γιώτα
i , 10
Κ κ Kaph Kaph Kappa Template:Polytonic κάππα
κάπα
k , 20
Λ λ Lamedh Lamedh Lambda Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic λάμδα
λάμβδα
l 30
Μ μ Mem Mem Mu Template:Polytonic μι
μυ
m 40
Ν ν Nun Nun Nu Template:Polytonic νι
νυ
n 50
Ξ ξ Samekh Samekh Xi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic ξι x x, ks 60
Ο ο Ayin 'Ayin Omicron Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic όμικρον o 70
Π π Pe Pe Pi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic πι p 80
Ρ ρ Res Resh Rho Template:Polytonic ρω r (Template:Polytonic: rh) r , 100
Σ σ ς Sin Sin Sigma Template:Polytonic σίγμα s 200
Τ τ Taw Taw Tau Template:Polytonic ταυ t 300
Υ υ Waw Waw Upsilon Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic ύψιλον u, y y, v, f
(earlier )
400
Φ φ origin disputed
(see text)
Phi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic φι ph f 500
Χ χ Chi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic χι ch ch, kh , 600
Ψ ψ Psi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic ψι ps 700
Ω ω Ayin 'Ayin Omega Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic ωμέγα o, ō o 800
  1. For details and different transliteration systems see Romanization of Greek.

Variant forms

Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval minuscule handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in Unicode.

  • The symbol ϐ ("curled beta") is a cursive variant form of beta (β).
  • The letter epsilon can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped ϵ {\displaystyle \epsilon \,\!} ('lunate epsilon', like a semicircle with a stroke) or ε {\displaystyle \varepsilon \,\!} (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol ϵ (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϑ ("script theta") is a cursive form of theta (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϰ ("kappa symbol") is a cursive form of kappa (κ), used as a technical symbol.
  • The symbol ϖ ("variant pi") is an archaic script form of pi (π), also used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter rho (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol ϱ (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter sigma, in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form ϲ ("lunate sigma", resembling a Latin c) is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction.
  • The capital letter upsilon (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin Y, or slightly curled. The symbol ϒ (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
  • The letter phi can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as ϕ {\displaystyle \textstyle \phi \,\!} (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as φ {\displaystyle \textstyle \varphi \,\!} (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol ϕ (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol.

Obsolete letters

The following letters are not part of the standard Greek alphabet, but were in use in pre-classical times in certain dialects. The letters digamma, san, qoppa, and sampi were also used in Greek numerals.

Letter Corresponding
Phoenician
letter
Name Transliteration Pronunciation Numeric value
English Early
Greek
Later
Greek
(polytonic)
Ϝ ϝ
Ͷ ͷ (alternate)
Waw Waw Digamma Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic w 6
Ϻ ϻ Sade Tsade (position)
Sin Sin (name)
San Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic s
Ϟ ϟ
Ϙ ϙ (alternate)
Qoph Qoph Qoppa Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic q 90
Ͳ ͳ
Ϡ ϡ (alternate)
Origin disputed,
possibly Sade Tsade
Sampi Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic ss probably affricate,
but exact value debated;
, , are proposed
900
  • Digamma disappeared from the alphabet because the sound it notated, the voiced labial-velar approximant , had disappeared from the Ionic dialect and most of the others. It remained in use as a numeric sign denoting the number six. In this function, it was later conflated in medieval Greek handwriting with the ligature sign stigma (ϛ), which had a similar shape in its lower case form.
  • Sampi (also called disigma) notated a geminated affricate that later evolved to Template:Polytonic (probably ) in most dialects, and Template:Polytonic (probably ) in Attic. Its exact value is heavily discussed, but is often proposed. Its modern name is derived from its shape: (ω)σαν πι = like (the letter) pi.

The order of the letters up to Τ follows that in the Phoenician or Hebrew alphabet.

Diacritics

Main article: Greek diacritics

In the polytonic orthography traditionally used for ancient Greek, vowels can carry diacritics, namely accents and breathings. The accents are the acute accent (´), the grave accent (`), and the circumflex accent (῀). In Ancient Greek, these accents marked different forms of the pitch accent on a vowel. By the end of the Roman period, pitch accent had evolved into a stress accent, and in later Greek all of these accents marked the stressed vowel. The breathings are the rough breathing (῾), marking an /h/ sound at the beginning of a word, and the smooth breathing (᾽), marking the absence of an /h/ sound at the beginning of a word. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, always carries a rough breathing when it begins a word. Another diacritic used in Greek is the diaeresis, indicating a hiatus.

In 1982, the old spelling system, known as polytonic, was simplified to become the monotonic system, which is now official in Greece. The accents have been reduced to one, the tonos, and the breathings were abolished.

Ligatures

Main article: Greek ligatures

Scribes made use of a number of ligatures to save space and time, in Greek as in other languages. Early Greek typefaces such as Claude Garamond's Les Grecs du Roi included a large number of ligatures, but modern typography uses none of them, except occasionally the Ȣ ligature for ου — resembling a V above an O; some modern alphabets based on the Latin alphabet use this as a letter, Ou. In printed 17th-century English works, there sometimes occurs a ligature of Ο with ς (a small sigma inside a capital omicron) for a terminal ος. Other ligatures include ϗ for καί, (equivalent to an ampersand) and stigma Template:Polytonic for στ, also used as noted above to replace digamma as a number 6.

Digraphs and diphthongs

Further information: ]

A digraph is a pair of letters used to write one sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters in sequence. The orthography of Greek includes several digraphs, including various pairs of vowel letters that used to be pronounced as diphthongs but have been shortened to monophthongs in pronunciation. Many of these are characteristic developments of modern Greek, but some were already present in Classical Greek. None of them is regarded as a letter of the alphabet.

During the Byzantine period, it became customary to write the silent iota in digraphs as an iota subscript (Template:Polytonic).

Use of the Greek alphabet for other languages

The primary use of the Greek alphabet has always been to write the Greek language. However, at various times and in various places, it has also been used to write other languages.

Early examples

With additional letters

Several alphabets consist of the Greek alphabet supplemented with a few additional letters:

In more modern times

Derived alphabets

The Greek alphabet gave rise to various others:

It is also considered a possible ancestor of the Armenian alphabet, and had an influence on the development of the Georgian alphabet.

Greek in mathematics

Greek symbols are traditionally used as names in mathematics, physics and other sciences. When combined with Latin characters, the Latin characters usually indicate variables while the Greek ones indicate parameters. Many symbols have traditional meanings, such as epsilon for `a small number, which move towards the infinitesimal', capital sigma for `sum' and lower case sigma for standard deviation.

Greek encodings

For the usage in computers, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in RFC 1947.

The two principal ones still used today are ISO/IEC 8859-7 and Unicode. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports the polytonic orthography.

ISO/IEC 8859-7

For the range A0-FF (hex) it follows the Unicode range 370-3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings it is equal to ASCII for 00-7F (hex).

Greek in Unicode

Unicode supports polytonic orthography well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for epigraphy. With the use of combining characters, Unicode also supports Greek philology and dialectology and various other specialized requirements. However, most current text rendering engines do not support combining characters well, so, though alpha with macron and acute can be represented as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: Template:Polytonic.

There are 2 main blocks of Greek characters in Unicode. The first is "Greek and Coptic" (U+0370 to 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 the Coptic alphabet. Formerly most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with no Greek equivalents still remain in this block.

To write polytonic Greek, one may use combining diacritical marks or the precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF).

Greek and Coptic

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
0370 Ͱ ͱ Ͳ ͳ Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Ͷ ͷ     Template:Polytonic ͻ ͼ ͽ Template:Polytonic  
0380         Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
0390 Template:Polytonic Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο
03A0 Π Ρ   Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
03B0 Template:Polytonic α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο
03C0 π ρ Template:Polytonic σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Ϗ
03D0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
03E0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic (Coptic letters here)
03F0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic

Greek Extended (precomposed polytonic Greek)

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
1F00 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1F10 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic     Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic    
1F20 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1F30 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1F40 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic     Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic    
1F50 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic
1F60 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1F70 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic    
1F80 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1F90 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FA0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FB0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FC0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FD0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic     Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FE0 Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic
1FF0     Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic   Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic Template:Polytonic  

Combining and letter-free diacritics

Combining and spacing (letter-free) diacritical marks pertaining to Greek language:

combining spacing sample description
U+0300 U+0060 ( Template:Polytonic ) "varia / grave accent"
U+0301 U+00B4, U+0384 ( Template:Polytonic ) "oxia / tonos / acute accent"
U+0304 U+00AF (  ̄ ) "macron"
U+0306 U+02D8 (  ̆ ) "vrachy / breve"
U+0308 U+00A8 (  ̈ ) "dialytika / diaeresis"
U+0313 U+02BC (  ̓ ) "psili / comma above" (spiritus lenis)
U+0314 U+02BD (  ̔ ) "dasia / reversed comma above" (spiritus asper)
U+0342 (  ͂ ) "perispomeni" (circumflex)
U+0343 (  ̓ ) "koronis" (= U+0313)
U+0344 U+0385 (  ̈́ ) "dialytika tonos" (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
U+0345 U+037A (  ͅ ) "ypogegrammeni / iota subscript".

See also

Bibliography

  • Elsie, Robert (1991). "Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing" (PDF 0.0 bytes). Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 15 (20).
  • Humez, Alexander (1981). Alpha to omega: the life & times of the Greek alphabet. Godine. ISBN 0-87923-377-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) — A popular history, more about Greek roots in English than about the alphabet itself.
  • Jeffery, Lilian Hamilton (1961). The local scripts of archaic Greece: a study of the origin of the Greek alphabet and its development from the eighth to the fifth centuries B.C. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-814061-4.
  • Macrakis, Michael S. (ed.) (1996). Greek letters: from tablets to pixels: proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Greek Font Society. Oak Knoll. ISBN 1-884718-27-2. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help) — Includes papers on history, typography, and character coding by Hermann Zapf, Matthew Carter, Nicolas Barker, John A. Lane, Kyle McCarter, Jerôme Peignot, Pierre MacKay, Silvio Levy, et al.
  • Hansen and Quinn (1992 - especially noted for an excellent discussion on traditional accents and breathings, as well as verbal formation). Greek - An Intensive Course, Second Revised Edition. Fordham University Press. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Powell, Barry B. (1991). Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) — discusses dating, early inscriptions, and ties to origin of texts of Homer. ISBN 052158907X
  • Macrakis, Stavros M. (1996). Character codes for Greek: Problems and modern solutions. — Includes discussion of the Greek alphabet used for languages other than Greek.
  • C. J. Ruijgh (1998) Sur la date de la création de l’alphabet grec. Mnemosyne, 51, 658–687

Notes

  1. Pierre Swiggers, Transmission of the Phoenician Script to the West, in Daniels and Bright, The World's Writing Systems, 1996
  2. ^ Coulmas, Florian (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-631-21481-X.
  3. "Greek Letter Sampi". Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  4. see S. Macrakis, 1996 for bibliography
  5. New Findings in Ancient Afghanistan — the Bactrian documents discovered from the Northern Hindu-Kush, lecture by Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (University of London)
  6. "Dva balgarski rakopisa s gracko pismo", Balgarski starini 6, 1920; André Mazon and André Vaillant, L'Evangelaire de Kulakia, un parler slave de Bas-Vardar, Bibliothèque d'études balkaniques 6, 1938; Jürgen Kristophson, "Das Lexicon Tetraglosson des Daniil Moschopolitis", Zeitschrift für Balkanologie 9:11; Max Demeter Peyfuss, Die Druckerei von Moschopolis, 1731-1769: Buchdruck und Heiligenverehrung in Erzbistum Achrida, Wiener Archiv für Geschichte des Slawentums und Osteuropas 13, 1989.
  7. For extended discussion of problematic Greek letter forms in Unicode see Greek Unicode Issues.

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