ELEMENTARY GREEK

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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• GREK 1001
• M-Th 840-930

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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• Writing the Greek alphabet

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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• Greek has twenty-four letters.
• upper-case
• ? ? G ? ? ? ? T ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? S ? F ? ? ? O
• lower-case
• a ß ? d e ? ? ? ? ? ? µ ? ? ? p ? s ? t f ? ? ? ?

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An inscription in Classical Greek
the upper-case letters represent the versions
used in stone-cut inscriptions
law code of Gortyn 5th century BC
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An inscription in Classical Greek
the upper-case letters were also used in early
writing on papyrus
papyrus of the poet Archilochus P.Oxy. LXIX
4708 see http//www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk
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the lower-case letters represent the
hand-writing from later manuscripts
page of medieval manuscript of Euripides Hekabe
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From manuscript to modern printed edition
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modern printed editions began as reproductions of
manuscripts, so they retain this use of the
lower-case letters
modern printed edition of Euripides Hekabe
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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• We use lower-case letters normally. Use
  upper-case letters for only two reasons
• the first letter of a proper name (person, place,
  ?t?)
• the first letter of a direct quotation

?t? Greek for etc and the rest, and so on
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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• Imagine if English were printed in a cursive
  script all the time.
• Imagine if English were printed in a cursive
  script all the time.
• This is why printed Greek texts can look like
  chicken scratch, but once you know the alphabet,
  it is just like reading someones handwriting.

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letter name sound English
? a alpha ah A a
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letter name sound English
? ß beta b B b
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letter name sound English
G ? gamma g G g
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letter name sound English
? d delta d D d
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letter name sound English
? e epsilon eh E e
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letter name sound English
? ? zeta z Z z
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letter name sound English
? ? eta ay E e
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letter name sound English
T ? theta th Th th
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letter name sound English
? ? iota ih I i
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letter name sound English
? ? kappa k C c K k
(Latin) or
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letter name sound English
? ? lambda l L l
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letter name sound English
? µ mu m M m
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letter name sound English
? ? nu n N n
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letter name sound English
? ? xi ks X x
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letter name sound English
? ? omicron o O o
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letter name sound English
? p pi p P p
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letter name sound English
? ? rho r R r
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letter name sound English
S s ? sigma s S s use ? only at the end
of words (s is a cursive formed designed to
continue into the next letter at the end of the
word, this link is unnecessary)
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letter name sound English
? t tau t T t
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letter name sound English
? ? upsilon u Y y
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letter name sound English
F f phi f Ph ph
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letter name sound English
? ? chi kh Ch ch Kh kh
(Latin) or
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letter name sound English
? ? psi ps Ps ps
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letter name sound English
O ? omega oh O o
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Sing the Greek alphabet to Itsy Bitsy Spider!
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Sing the Greek alphabet to Frère Jacques!
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ELEMENTARY GREEK

• for tomorrow (Wednesday, August 24, 2005)
• Quiz
• Look over the sounds and diacritical marks in
  Shelmerdine (pp. 2-3) or Alphabet Sounds in
  Moodle