Questions about ancient Greek

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Hornet
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Questions about ancient Greek

Post by Hornet »

I would like to learn both Classical and Koine Greek. Are there differences in pronunciation between the two dialects? Is the pronunciation of the Greek letters the same for both dialects?

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IreneY
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Post by IreneY »

In a nutshell no and no. Koine is much closer to modern Greek especially as you travel toward the Byzantine era. That however does not mean that you have to learn to different pronunciations (which would anyway represent a sort of happy medium of the general pronunciation in most regions throughout the centuries when such a pronunciation was used if that makes any sense). When it comes to letters though the vast majority of them are pronounced the same.

Hornet
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Post by Hornet »

According to the book, Athenaze, the Greek letter, "Eta", is pronounced as "the sound of bed, but held longer" and the Greek letter, "Omicron", is pronounced as "the sound in boat or goat".

According to the book, Fundamental Greek Grammar, "Eta", is pronounced as "a as in gray" and "Omicron" is pronounced as "o as in ought".

Which is the correct pronunciation or are they all correct?

Bert
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Post by Bert »

Hornet wrote:According to the book, Athenaze, the Greek letter, "Eta", is pronounced as "the sound of bed, but held longer" and the Greek letter, "Omicron", is pronounced as "the sound in boat or goat".

According to the book, Fundamental Greek Grammar, "Eta", is pronounced as "a as in gray" and "Omicron" is pronounced as "o as in ought".

Which is the correct pronunciation or are they all correct?
I think the first is correct.

IVSTINIANVS
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Post by IVSTINIANVS »

Bert wrote:
Hornet wrote:According to the book, Athenaze, the Greek letter, "Eta", is pronounced as "the sound of bed, but held longer" and the Greek letter, "Omicron", is pronounced as "the sound in boat or goat".

According to the book, Fundamental Greek Grammar, "Eta", is pronounced as "a as in gray" and "Omicron" is pronounced as "o as in ought".

Which is the correct pronunciation or are they all correct?
I think the first is correct.
Neither; or rather, they are both half-correct.

Eta was like the vowel in "where" or French même.
Omega was like the sound in "ought"
Epsilon was like the sound in "hey" but pronounced more tightly, and without the glide that English speakers add to it. More accurately, it was like the sound in French été.
Omicron was like the sound in "goat" but without the glide one hears in English; more like the French "eau".
I would also bet that long and short iota had the same quality and differeed only in length; the short one probably like French "vite" and the long one probably like French "vive".

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Post by Rindu »

Another difference is the value of "zeta". In classical greek, this letter represented /sd/, whereas in koine it corresponds to the english /z/.

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