The Greek Alphabet

The alphabet is among the few linguistic elements that have remained essentially unchanged between the Ancient and
Modern Greek languages. Before listing the letters, let us make a brief comment on the pronunciation of the language, as
it evolved through the millennia.

Pronunciation
How close is the sound of Modern Greek to that of Classic Greek?

Phonetically, Classic Greek would sound rather alien to contemporary Greeks, but don’t ever say this to them! It is an
issue that most Greeks, even educated ones, ignore.(1) I suspect it is because the alphabet has stayed unchanged, so
Greeks can read classic texts with no trouble at all (pronouncing in Modern Greek). After all, it all looks Greek to them!
If any (non-Greek) scholar attempts to pronounce classic texts in the reconstructed(2) pronunciation, that, to Greeks is
tantamount to sacrilege. As a contemporary Greek myself, I can give you my personal feeling for how the reconstructed
pronunciation sounds: it is as if a barbarian is trying to speak Greek.(3) For example, take the word “barbarian” itself
(which is of Greek origin): in Classic Greek it would be pronounced [bár·ba·ros]. In Modern Greek, it is [vár·va·ros]. In
general, the second letter of the alphabet, beta, was pronounced as [b] in Plato’s time, but was changed to [v] by the
time the Gospels were written. Now, to the modern Greek ear, [v] is a soft sound (a “fricative” in linguistics), sort of
smooth and gentle, while [b] is a hard one (a “plosive”), kind of rough and crass. The same can be said about the letter
delta, which was pronounced as [d] by Plato, and as [ð] (as in this) since around Christ’s time; and the letter gamma ([g]
in Classic Greek, [γ] later the latter sound is a “voiced velar fricative”; click here to see the full repertoire of Modern
Greek sounds). Greek readers of this text who do not believe that Plato, Socrates, etc., were sounding so barbaric, may
take a clue from this very word: “barbaros” was coined after somebody who, as a non-native speaker of Greek would
produce incomprehensible speech, which sounded like... well, what? Could it be “var-var-var”? Wouldn’t it sound more
barbaric if it were like “bar-bar-bar”? Besides this word, direct evidence for beta comes from a fragment of Attic comedy
where it is said that the voice of the sheep is BH-BH. (4) In Modern Greek this would read as “vi-vi”, rather un-sheepish-
like; while in the reconstructed way it would be “beeh-beeh”, exactly the sound that we, contemporary Greeks, attribute
to the animal. (If the reader would like to make a comment on the above issues, email to me, and let me know what you
think; but please make sure to have first read the links that say “Evidence” on the rightmost column of the table, below.)

However, the truth is when non-Greek scholars attempt to pronounce Classic Greek in the reconstructed way, they think
they pronounce accurately. To me, American scholars sound distinctly American (like Platos with spurs and cowboy hats),
Germans sound German, etc. Probably nobody can reproduce exactly the Classic Greek pronunciation: we might know
the rules of the reconstructed system, but when it comes to moving our jaws, tongue, and lips, something different
comes out of our mouths. As native speakers of this or that language we necessarily carry over our native phonology.
Finally, let it be noted that Classic Greek used pitch to differentiate vowels in words, while nearly all modern European
languages (including Modern Greek) use stress instead.(5)

The Alphabet
(Click on the speaker icon, next to the letter name, to hear the pronunciation in Modern Greek)

Classic Greek
Name &
Letter Modern Greek pronunciation Pronunciation
Sound
(Attic)
[a], as in “father”. Same as [a] in Spanish and Italian. Phonetically, this sound As in Modern
1 Alpha
is: open, central, and unrounded. Greek
[b], as in “bet”;
a voiced
2 Beta [v], as in “vet”; a voiced labiodental fricative.
bilabial plosive.
Evidence
[γ], a sound that does not exist in English. If followed by the sound [u] then it
sounds almost like the initial sound in “woman”, but with the back of the tongue
touching more to the back (soft) palate. To pronounce [γa], try to isolate “w”
[g], as in “got”;
from “what” without rounding your lips, and then say [a]. In Castilian Spanish
a voiced velar
3 Gamma this sound exists in “amiga”. Same is true for [γo]: try eliminating the [u] sound
plosive.
from “water”. (C. Spanish: “amigo”.) On the other hand, due to a phonetic
Evidence
phenomenon called palatalization, [γe] sounds a bit like “ye” in “ yes”, and [γi]
sounds a bit like “yi” in “ yield”. Phonetically, gamma is a voiced velar fricative.
(Its palatalized version is a voiced palatal fricative.)
[d], as in “do”;
a voiced
4 Delta [th], as in “this”; a voiced dental fricative. alveolar
plosive.
Evidence
[e] as in “pet”, except that the [e] in “pet” (and other similar English words) is
lax, whereas in Greek it is tense. To pronounce a tense [e] pull the edges of
As in Modern
5 Epsilon your lips to the sides a bit more than when you say “pet”. (We pull the edges of
Greek
our lips to the sides when we smile; but I don’t mean you need to smile every
time you pronounce the Greek epsilon, OK? )
 time you pronounce the Greek epsilon, OK? )
[zd], as in
[z], as in “zone”, a voiced alveolar fricative. Actually, the remark for sigma (see
“Mazda”. Also:
6 Zeta below) applies to zeta as well (it is shifted a bit toward [ʒ], as in “pleasure”).
[z], and even:
Read the remark for sigma to understand why, and how to pronounce it.
[dz]. Evidence
long open mid-
[i], as in “meet”, but shorter, not so long. This is one of the three [i]’s in the
[e], as in
7 Eta Greek alphabet; they all have identical pronunciation. The reason for this
“thread” (but
redundancy has to do with Classic Greek, where they were not redundant.
long). Evidence
[t h], as in
“top”, but
8 Theta [θ], as in “think”; a voiceless dental fricative. In Castilian Spanish: “zorro”. more
aspirated.
Evidence
[i], exactly like eta (see above). The name of the letter is pronounced “yota” in
As in Modern
9 Iota Modern Greek. (The reason for the y-sound in front of the letter’s name is due to
Greek
the phonetic transformation of [io] into [yo]).
[k], as in “skip”. Notice that in English [k] is aspirated if it appears word-
initially; Greek makes no such distinction. When followed by the vowels [e] or [i]
As in Modern
10 Kappa it becomes palatalized — for the exact pronunciation please check the page on
Greek
palatalization. Phonetically, it is a voiceless velar plosive. (Its palatalized
version is a voiceless palatal plosive.)
[l] as in “lap”. When followed by the vowel [i] it becomes palatalized, turning to
a sound that does not exist in English (check the page on palatalization) . The As in Modern
11 Lambda
name of the letter is pronounced [lamða] ([b] is eliminated because it is difficult Greek
to pronounce it between [m] and [ð]). A voiced alveolar lateral approximant.
[m], as in “map”; a voiced bilabial nasal. Notice that the name of the letter is As in Modern
12 Mu
pronounced [mi] (mee), not “mew” as in American English. Greek
[n], as in “noble”; a voiced alveolar nasal. When followed by the vowed [i] it
becomes palatalized, turning to a sound that does not exist in English (but As in Modern
13 Nu
exists in Spanish, written as ñ; see the page on palatalization). Notice that the Greek
name of the letter is pronounced [ni] (ñee), not “new” as in American English.
[ks] as in “fox”. Contrary to the English “x”, the letter ksi does not change
pronunciation at the beginning of a word (it does not become a [z]; Greeks have
no trouble starting a word with [k]+[s]). For example, in the word ksenofovia As in Modern
14 Ksi
( ξενοφοβία = xenophobia) the initial sound [k] is not omitted. Don’t put any Greek
aspiration between [k] and [s] when pronouncing this letter. The remark for
sigma applies to the [s]-sound of ksi, too.
Same like [o] in “got” the way it is pronounced in British English. Notice how
As in Modern
15 Omicron the vowel in British “got” is tense, which means that you should really round
Greek
your lips when you pronounce the Greek [o]. A mid-close back rounded vowel.
[p], as in “spot”; a voiceless bilabial plosive. Notice that in English [p] is As in Modern
16 Pi
aspirated if it appears word-initially; Greek makes no such distinction. Greek
[r]: between vowels it is a sound that exists in American English in the
Probably as in
pronunciation of “tt” in “butter” (but not in Brittish English). Sounds like the
Modern Greek
Spanish [r] in “pero” . (Spanish speakers: in Greek there is no difference in
when single,
whether you trill your rho as in “perro” or not; but normally Greeks pronounce
17 Rho and as a trill
it more as in “pero” than as in “perro”.) Otherwise it’s a trill, like the Italian [r].
when double.
Almost every Greek can pronounce rho as a long trill if they wish (like the
Word-initially:
Russian [r]), and you will hear it pronounced like that in some Greek songs.
aspirated: [hr]
Phonetically, it is a voiced alveolar tap (and occasionally a trill).
[s], as is “soap”; a voiceless alveolar fricative. Actually, if you listen carefully to
native Greek speakers, it sounds a bit like between [s] and [sh] (probably
because there is no [sh] in Greek, so the sound is somewhat shifted in the
phonological space). However, to the native English ear it sounds much closer
to [sh] than to [s], whereas every native Greek speaker would swear they
pronounce it exactly like the English [s], unless forced to admit the difference
by looking at spectrograms. In reality, you can produce it like this: feel where
your tongue is when you say [s]: very close to the front teeth, right? Now feel Probably as in
18 Sigma
where it is when you say [sh] (far back). Place it somewhere midway, and you Modern Greek
will produce the Greek [s]. You’ll find that you’ll need to make a similar
adjustment to the shape of your lips, midway through rounded for [sh] and
tense for [s]; in the Greek sigma the lips are relaxed. This is the way “s” is

pronounced in Castilian Spanish (as opposed to Latin American Spanish). Notice

that the second way of writing the lower case sigma is used exclusively when
the letter appears at the end of a word (there is only one capital form).
[t], as in “stop”; a voiceless alveolar plosive. Notice that in English [t] is As in Modern
19 Tau
aspirated if it appears word-initially; Greek makes no such distinction. Greek
Rounded [i], as
[i], exactly like eta and iota (see above). The name of the letter is pronounced in French
20 Upsilon
[ipsilon] (ee-psee-lon), not “yupsilon” as it is called in American English. “une”.
 [ipsilon] (ee-psee-lon), not “yupsilon” as it is called in American English. “une”.
Evidence
[ph], as in “pit”,
but more
21 Phi [f] as in “fat”; a voiceless labiodental fricative.
aspirated.
Evidence
[x], a sound that does not exist in English (but exists in Scottish, as in “loch”;
[k h], as in
German: “Bach”; Spanish: “Jorge”). When followed by vowels [e] or [i] it is
“cut”, but more
22 Chi pronounced as in German “ich”. For the exact pronunciation in this case, please
aspirated.
check the page on palatalization. Phonetically, it is a voiceless velar fricative.
Evidence
(Its palatalized version is a voiceless palatal fricative.)
[ps] as in “lopsided”. Contrary to English, the sound of the letter does not
change at the beginning of a word (it does not become a [s]; Greeks have no
trouble starting a word with [p]+[s]). For example, in the word psychologia As in Modern
23 Psi
(ψυχολογία = psychology) the initial sound [p] is not omitted. Don’t put any Greek
aspiration between [p] and [s] when pronouncing this letter. The remark for
sigma applies to the [s]-sound of psi, too.
Long open mid-
[o], exactly like omicron. (Once again, the reason for the redundancy is to be back [o], as in
24 Omega
found in Classic Greek.) “law”.
Evidence

Phonology and Orthography

Oops! Twenty-four letters only? Surely some sounds must be missing?

That’s correct. There are sounds common in other languages that do not exist in Greek. Such sounds are all the
postalveolar fricatives and postalveolar affricates ([ʃ] as in “shop”, [ʒ] as in “pleasure”, [tʃ] as in “church”, and [dʒ] as in
“job”). So what do Greeks do when they want to pronounce foreign words with these sounds? If they are not trained to
pronounce correctly, they simply transform these postalveolar sounds to their corresponding alveolar ones: [ʃ] → [s], [ʒ]
→ [z], [tʃ] → [ts], [dʒ] → [dz]. Ask a Greek to pronounce “fish ’n chips” next time you want to have some linguistic fun.

And what about other very common sounds, like [b], [d], [g], etc.? These seem to be missing from the alphabet, too! Are
they also missing from the repertoire of the sounds of the language?

No! These are existent as sounds in the language. It is just that there are no single letters to denote them. When Greeks
want to write those sounds they write them as two-letter combinations: [b] is written as μπ (mu + pi), [d] as ντ (nu +
tau), and [g] as γκ (gamma + kappa), or as γγ (double gamma). Why all this trouble? Remember, as explained in the
introductory paragraph on this page, the sounds [b], [d], and [g] used to exist in Classic Greek. Later, probably some
time after the New Testament was written in the so-called Koine (common) Greek, these three sounds had shifted in
pronunciation to the corresponding “soft” ones ([v], [ð], and [γ]). This left a void in the phonological space. Words that
contained combinations like “mp” and “nt” started being pronounced as [mb] and [nd], respectively. So the “plosive”
sounds were re-introduced, but pairs of letters were used now to denote them.

There is one more sound in the language which is absent from the alphabet: it is [ŋ], the “ingma”, the last consonant in
“king”. This sound is very rare in Greek, and when it appears (as in “άγχος”: anxiety; “έλεγχος”: checking) it is denoted
by the combination gamma + chi, with the gamma pronounced as [ŋ].

All of the above plus much more, including the pervasive phenomenon of palatalization, can be found in this page on the
details of Modern Greek pronunciation, which includes sound samples with the author’s voice for all of the presented
examples.

You may also find useful this page, showing the sounds of Modern Greek against all possible sounds of any language in
the world. The tables for consonants and vowels in that page are very familiar to linguists, but you don’t need to be a
linguist to understand it.

For your convenience, here is a table to use as quick reference, listing the two-letter clusters that result in new sounds,
not included in the Greek alphabet:

Cluster Modern Greek pronunciation Further:

[b], as in “bee”, at the beginning of words or in loanwords; otherwise: [mb], as in see more details and

ΜΠ μπ “combat”. examples
[d], as in “do”, at the beginning of words or in loanwords; otherwise: [nd], as in see more details and
ΝΤ ντ
“fund”. examples
[g], as in “go”, at the beginning of words or in loanwords; otherwise: [ŋg], as in
ΓΚ γκ “fungus”. see more details and
ΓΓ γγ Note: the form γγ never appears at the beginning of words, so it is always [ g], as examples
in “fungus”.
In front of χ (chi) the letter γ (gamma) is pronounced as an “ingma”: [ŋ] (king),
ΓΧ γχ followed by χ.
In front of ξ (ksi) the letter γ (gamma) is pronounced as an “ingma”: [ŋ] (king), see more details and
ΓΞ γξ
followed by ξ. examples
Note: the cluster γξ is too rare; it appears only in uncommon words such as λυγξ
 Note: the cluster γξ is too rare; it appears only in uncommon words such as λυγξ
(the lynx).

Arguably, there are also the following pairs, which do not result in unique sounds but are perceived as “one thing” by
native speakers of Greek:

Cluster Modern Greek pronunciation Further:

[ts], as in “cuts”, but without separating [t] from [s].
see more details and
ΤΣ τσ Note: in rare cases where τσ is at the end of a word, the sigma (σ) is written as a
examples
final sigma (ς); thus: τς.
see more details and
ΤΖ τζ [dz], as in “rods”, but without separating [d] from [z].
examples

What about vowels? Is there any similarity with the English vowels, or with those of any other language?

Vowels in Greek are easy. That is, if you are not a native speaker of English! That’s because although English is very
rich in vowel sounds, still, it lacks almost completely the Greek vowels. The latter are more like the vowels of Italian,
Spanish, or Japanese: they are the five sounds [a], [e], [i], [o], and [u](6). Now, there are three letters for [i] in the
alphabet (eta, iota, and upsilon), pronounced identically, and two letters for [o] (omicron and omega), also pronounced
identically. For the sound [u] (as in “loot”) the combination ου (omicron + upsilon) is used.

Here are three good rules of thumb for native English speakers:

1. Greek vowels never sound like glides. That is, English speakers tend to pronounce Greek [e] almost always as [ei]
(as in “bay”, “buffet”, “claim”, etc.), a phenomenon known as gliding. In Greek that’s wrong! Try to avoid adding
the sound [i] at the end just stay with [e] (almost like “bet”, but notice, that [e] in “bet” is lax; whenever the
tense [e] is pronounced in English, it glides and sounds like [e i]). The same is true for [o]: Avoid pronouncing it as
[ow] (as in “rope”, “bone”); just stay with [o], as in “awe”, “law”, etc., but make it a bit shorter (and don’t open your
mouth as much as is required by “awe”; that’s suitable for omega of the Classic Greek times; Modern Greek [o] is a
bit more closed).

2. If you know Spanish, Italian, or Japanese(6), there is a one-to-one correspondence between the five vowel sounds in
these languages and Greek. Trust your knowledge then, and use it.

3. Greek words often end in [s] (sigma), and when English speakers hear Greeks pronouncing such endings they think
they hear “sh”. (For an explanation read the comments of the letter sigma, in the table.) If you can’t reproduce the
Greek sigma exactly, simply approximate it with English “s”, as in “boss” . Remember, there is no “sh” in Greek
(except in the dialect of Crete, to be accurate), and that’s why hearing “sh” sounds very foreign to the Greek ear.

So, sounds simple. Is there anything else about vowels?

Not in pronunciation. In writing, however, there is. There are three so-called “diphthongs”, which are not diphthongs
anymore, but digraphs. (A diphthong is a long vowel with more than one part, each of which has a different quality, such
as the ou in “loud”, or the oy in “boy”; a digraph is two letters which, when put together, are read as one unit, such as
the English th in “think”, or the ph in “graph”.) Here are the Greek digraphs of vowels:

Classic Greek Pronunciation

Digraph Modern Greek pronunciation
(Attic)
Exactly like ε (epsilon, 5th letter, see above) [ai], as in “buy”. Evidence
Exactly like ι (iota, 9th letter, see above) [ei], as in “bay”. Evidence
Exactly like ι (iota, 9th letter, see above) [oi], as in “boy”. Evidence
Exactly like ι (iota, 9th letter, see above; also read comment below) ~[yui]. Evidence
[u], already explained in a previous paragraph As in Modern Greek
[av] if the following sound is voiced, and [af] if the following sound is
unvoiced [au], as in “loud”. Evidence

[ev] if the following sound is voiced, and [ef] if the following sound is
[eu]. Evidence
unvoiced
[iv] if the following sound is voiced, and [if] if the following sound is
unvoiced ~[e:u]. Evidence

Notes:

Thus, Archimedes’s famous “eureka!” (εύρηκα) in Modern Greek is pronounced as [évrika] (with the stress on
epsilon); but in ancient Greek it should be [éure:ka] (again with the stress on the first vowel of the diphthong, i.e.,
the [e]).

The digraph ηυ (eta + upsilon) is extremely rare in Modern Greek; it appears in three verb-forms only: εφηύρα
[efivra] (=“I invented”), απηύδησα [apivthisa] (=“I got fed up”), and απηύθυνα [apifthina] (=“I directed my speech to
sb.”); it was much more common in ancient Greek, though.

The digraph υι (upsilon + iota) appears only in a very small number of Modern Greek words: υιός [ios] (=“son”, but
this form is obsolete; the modern one is γιος), and its derivatives: υιοθετώ (=“adopt”), υιοθεσία (=“adoption”),
 υιικός (=“filial”) and a few rare ones, such as ά ρπυια (~a mythological creature), καθεστηκυία (=“established,
prevailing” [fem.]), etc.

If you want to know the reason why these weird-looking combinations of letters exist, once again, blame ancient Greek,
in which those were true diphthongs. When later the vowel space was flattened to its present five members, and no long
vowels existed anymore, the diphthongs were transformed as the table above shows.

Does that mean that the sound [ai] (as in “buy”), for example, can never occur in Modern Greek, because if written as αι
it would be pronounced [e]?

I t is possible to have the letters alpha and iota next to each other and producing the sound [ai], but then we need to
show this in writing. We do this by putting a pair of dots, the diaeresis, over the iota, like this: αϊ, as in the word παϊδάκι
[paithaki] (=“rib steak”). It is even possible to have the stress together with the diaeresis over the iota: παΐδι [paithi]
(=“rib”). The diaeresis can “dismiss” any of the vowel-digraphs: αϊ, εϊ, οϊ, υϊ, οϋ, αϋ, and εϋ (whereas ηϋ does not occur in
Modern Greek), in which case the two constituent vowels are pronounced separately. More about the diaeresis in my
page on accent marks.

What are those short straight lines placed over some vowels in Greek texts?

That’s the stress. It shows which syllable should be pronounced slightly higher in pitch and volume than the rest. I
suggest that you click here to learn all the details about how to place accent marks to show the stress in Greek. But if you
want only a brief description, perhaps the following two paragraphs would suffice.

In Modern Greek, the accent mark is placed only in lowercase writing, and only over the vowel of the stressed
syllable. If the vowel is written with a digraph (see above), the accent mark is placed over the second letter of the
pair. Monosyllabic words are not shown with stress, since the information would be redundant. In Greek (of all
times), only one of the last three syllables of a word can be stressed. Native Greek speakers “internalize” this rule
(they also learn it explicitly at school), and tend to apply it even to languages that allow placement of stress on any
syllable, such as English. (For example, the word difficulty is often pronounced [dee-`fee-kal-tee] by Greeks who
start learning English as a second language.)

In Classic Greek there were no lowercase letters, only capitals. So there were no accent marks over the letters.
Later, during the Hellenistic times (last three centuries BC) lowercase letters were introduced, and along with them,
the accent marks. However, the situation was quite complex, because there were three marks for the stress, and
two “aspiration marks”, placed over the initial vowel of a word, if any. One of the latter two (the “rough breathing
mark”, written like a tiny “c”) stood in place of the by-then-obsolete initial letter H, and was pronounced like English
[h]. (In Classic times this letter was actually written.) So, words like “history”, “hydrogen”, “hour”, “Hellenic”, and
many others, passed into English (filtered first through Latin) with the initial “h” written and pronounced, while the
corresponding Greek words were written with the rough breathing mark over the initial vowel. Later, even the
pronunciation of this mark was dropped, so one had to learn what breathing mark to put over the initial vowel
without having any clue from pronunciation. This situation lasted until fairly recently. (As a child, I had to learn those
orthographic rules, too.) In 1982, all breathing marks were officially dropped, and the three types of stress marks
were reduced to one and even that one is used only on multisyllabic words.

Do Greek letters have some inherent meaning?(7) What are the dictionary definitions of words like “alpha”, “beta”, etc.?

No, there is no meaning in Greek letters. You are probably thinking of Chinese ideograms, or ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphs, which are symbols with some associated meaning. Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc., bear no more meaning
in Greek than a, bee, cee, dee, etc., bear in English. Their names are just a bit longer, that’s all, that’s why they might
look like meaningful words. Now, there is an English letter the name of which can be said to have some meaning,
however trivial: it’s w, which we pronounce “double-u”. The name of this letter is derived from ancient forms of it, when it
was written as two U’s, joined like this: UU. Similarly, there are a handful of Greek letters that can be said to have such
trivial meanings, associated always with their pronunciation: epsilon (εψιλον) is really e-psilon, meaning “light e”, “bare
e”, or “mere e”, a name introduced in Byzantine times, to distinguish it from the other [e], the digraph alpha-iota (see
above). In ancient (e.g., classical) times this distinction was unnecessary, because ε and αι had completely different
sounds, so the name of this letter was simply ε. Similarly, upsilon (υψιλον) is really u-psilon, meaning “mere u”,
distinguishing it from the other two [i]’s: ι and η; in ancient Greek its name was υ. Finally, omicron (ομικρον) is o-micron,
or “little o”, to distinguish it from o-mega (ωμεγα), or “great o”. Again, these names were introduced in later times, when
the pronunciations of the two letters had become identical; in ancient times their names were simply ο and ω.

That said, it should be mentioned that the origin of the Greek letters, which is the ancient Phoenician alphabet, did assign
meaning to each letter. For example, the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet (a close cousin of the Hebrew alphabet,
the first three letters of which are aleph, beth, and gimel) was written as an inverted A, a stylized depiction of the
triangular head of an ox with its horns. In Phoenician, the name of the letter was the word for “ox”. Similarly, the letter
gamma (Hebrew gimel) is derived from the Phoenician word for “camel”; and so on. But this is not specific to Greek, it is
present in Semitic languages. In Greek, the letters are just symbols, devoid of meaning.

Footnotes (clicking on the footnote-number, on the left, brings back to the text)
(1). As I was informed recently by a Greek reader of this page, now they do learn at school that the ancient pronunciation was different. Good, that’s
progress; in my high school years (late 70’s) we were left in the dark. However, I tested this reader’s information by asking a couple of young Greek
students (friends’ children), and found out that just about the only thing they learn is that some vowels, such as the omega and eta, were
pronounced differently by the ancients; at least that’s what was registered in those young students’ memory.

(2). An earlier version of this page referred to the “Erasmian” pronunciation of Greek, after the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), who
established a pronunciation system for ancient Greek that was geared towards the phonological abilities of speakers of Dutch. Later, his system was
adopted by speakers of various other languages, who adjusted it slightly to their own needs. Since today it is not known what exactly one refers to
when one mentions “the Erasmian system”, this page refers to the “reconstructed” system of pronunciation, as shown on the rightmost column,
“Classic Greek Pronunciation (Attic)”, and as explained if you follow the links that say “Evidence”.

(3). Some readers (esp. fellow Greeks) took this comment to mean that I do not believe the reconstructed pronunciation is right. Wrong! I do believe
it is right. However, what I believe or not is totally inconsequential. One should believe their eyes (looking at data, that is) and that is why I have
collected the data (which is known to me) under those links that say “Evidence” (last column of the table; you know, those blue underlined things?
Click on them!). I made this comment to explain to non-Greeks what it feels to hear the reconstructed pronunciation if you are a Greek, and if you
have been educated thinking that Pericles could have said to his wife, “Ασπασία, τι γκαντεμιά! Εγώ τη ψυλλιάζομαι τη δουλειά, φιρί-φιρί το πάνε να
μας την πέσουν οι Λακεδαιμόνιοι. Πρέπει να τους σπάσουμε τον τσαμπουκά!”

(4). Cratinus, in Dionysalexandros:

the fool goes about like a sheep saying “ba ba”.

(5). Not really all modern Indo-European languages, though; Serbo-Croatian, for example, uses pitch. There are probably other I-E languages using
pitch as well.

(6). But, English speakers beware: the symbol [e] does not stand for the sound of “ee” as in “meet”, but for the sound of “e” as in “get”. Likewise, [i]
stands for a shorter version of “ee” as in “meet”. Also note, since the Japanese language was mentioned: actually the Japanese [u] is unrounded,
whereas the Greek [u] is rounded.

(7). Occasionally young people from the U.S.A. who want to establish a new fraternity or sorority ask me this question, because they want to choose
“meaningful” Greek letters for their organization. If you are one of those people and are disappointed by the answer of this question, there is still
hope. Select two or three English words that are meaningful to you, ask me what the corresponding Greek words are, and choose the initial Greek
letters for your fraternity or sorority.

Where to go from here: want to learn more about Greek? Back to the “main” Greek language page