JWW First Greek Book

[Bert]

Hi, everyone. I am a beginner Koine Greek student and have been adviced to learn Classical Greek. This being a web site for Classical languages, I downloaded First Greek Book By John Williams White. In the Alphabet listing I don't see a Digamma. Is this book a Classical Greek Grammar or perhaps for some later dialect?<br />Thank you. <br />Bert de Haan

[annis]

The digamma only showed up in some dialects, none of them literary. So, you see them in stone inscriptions in local dialects, and sometimes literary critics used to shove them into Homer (which he may not actually have pronounced, but is useful for scanning strangenesses).<br /><br />But the digamma was long gone in Koine, Classical Attic and literary Ionic (Herodotus), so beginner's books rarely mention it, unless you start with Homer.<br /><br />--<br />wm

[Bert]

Thank you. How about the consonantal Iota. Was that ever a seperate letter of the alphabet or just a different pronounciation of the Iota?<br /><br />Bert de Haan