learning the Greek alphabet

This is a lot easier than it seems at first, largely because our (Roman) alphabet is directly descended from the Greek.

First, as anyone who has looked over Greek letters can see, many of them closely resemble ours. Indeed, many are virtually identical, especially the vowels. The following Greek letters look like and sound like their modern counterparts:

α, β, ε, ι, κ, ο, τ, υ – Eight letters, so close that I’m not even going to define them.

Next are several letter whose form is so close to their English equivalent that they are easily recognized:

δ – delta, like our ‘d’
γ – gamma, like ‘g’
λ – lambda, like ‘l’
μ – mu, like ‘m’ (Compare to a script ‘m.’)
ν – nu, like ‘n’ (Sure, it might look more like a ‘v.’)
ς,σ – sigma, like ‘s’ (two forms, ς at the end of words, σ in the middle)
ω – omega, with an ‘aw’ sound

Then are a few letters whose shapes seem odd, but correspond directly to English letters:

π – pi, like our ‘p’ and π = 3.1415926, as everyone knows anyway
ρ – rho, like our ‘r’ (which does look more like a ‘p’)
ξ – xi, ‘x’ sound
ζ – zeta, ‘z’ sound

Thus, we are left with a few tricky ones, mostly consonant combinations:

η – eta, a vowel, sounds like ‘eh’
θ – theta, ‘th’ sound
φ – phi, ‘f’ sound
ψ – psi, ‘ps’ sound
χ – chi, hard ‘ch’ sound (or like a ‘k,’ but not like x’)

So, that’s all 24, re-capped here, in alphabetical order:

α – alpha
β – beta
γ – gamma
δ – delta
ε – epsilon

ζ – zeta
η – eta
θ – theta

ι – iota
κ – kappa
λ – lambda
μ – mu
ν – nu
ξ – xi
ο – omicron
π – pi
ρ – rho
σ,ς – sigma
τ – tau
υ – upsilon

φ – phi
ψ – psi
χ – chi

ω – omega

I broke them up into several groups, to help memorize them. Note that the first five match ABCDE very closely and that the other long group matches our letters I.KLMN.OP.RSTU closely (omitting the unommon “J” and “Q” and inserting xi in an odd place).

Then there are two little groups of rhyming letters “zeta, eta, theta,” and “phi, psi, chi.” (Think of ‘phi’ as sounding like ‘v’ – it does, and it IS related)

Of course, as in the phrase “from the alpha to the omega,” the letter ‘omega’ comes at the end.

The history of the alphabet, from Semitic letters, through Greek capitals, through Latin letters, and some changes in Medieval times, further helps to learn the Greek alphabet. These things are not just arbitrary constructs invented by boney-fingered crones who teach grammar in seventh grade. They evolved naturally, in response to people’s need to communicate.

consonant-declension adjectives, from Mastronarde Unit 22

noun
τύχη, τύχης – fate; chance; fortune (good or bad); happening, event [Tyche]

sigma-stems
ἀληθής, ἀληθές – true, genuine; truthful
ἀσθενής, ἀσθενές – without strength, weak [myasthenia]
ἀσφαλής, ἀσφαλές – steadfast; safe, secure; trustworthy
δυστυχής, δυστυχές – unlucky, unfortunate
εὐγενής, εὐγενές – well-born; noble, high-minded [eugenics]
εὐτυχής, εὐτυχές – lucky, fortunate
πλήρης, πλήρης – full, full of (+ gen.)
σαφής, σαφές – sure, reliable; clear, distinct
ψευδής, ψευδές – lying, false, untrue

nu-stems with two endings

ἄφρων, ἄφρον – senseless, foolish
εὐδαίμων, εὔδαιμον – blessed with good δαίμων; fortunate, happy; wealthy [eudaemonism]
σώφρων, σώφρον – of sound mind; prudent; self-controlled; temperate, chaste

upsilon stems with three endings

βαθύς, βαθεῖα, βαθύ – deep, high [bathyscaph]
βαρύς, βαρεῖα, βαρύ – heavy [barometer]
βραχύς, βραχεῖα, βραχύ – short; small [brachylogy, brachistochrone]
γλυκύς, γλυκεῖα, γλυκύ – sweet, pleasant, delightful [glycerine, glucose]
ἡδύς, ἡδεῖα, ἡδύ – pleasant, welcome; glad, pleased
ἥμισυς, ἡμίσεια, ἥμισύ – half [hemisphere]

nu-stems with three endings

μέλας, μέλαινα, μέλαν – black, dark [melanism, melancholy]

ντ-stems
πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν – all, every, the whole [pantomime]
… ἄπaς, ἄπασα, ἄπαν – all, the whole (strengthened form πᾶς)
χαρίεις, χαρίεσσα, χαρίεν – graceful, beautiful, elegant; clever

possessive adjectives (1st and 2nd person)
ἐμός, ἐμή, ἐμόν – my, mine
σός, σή, σόν – your, yours (sing.)
ἡμέτερος, ἡμέτερα, ἡμέτερον – our, ours
ὑμέτερος, ὑμέτερα, ὑμέτερον – your, yours (plural)

Reading Morice’s Easy Greek Stories

I reached a neat milestone last night with Morice’s (Easy) Stories in Attic Greek. I was able to plow thru an entire story, before turning to the glossary to look up words. By no means did I know all the words, not at all. But I could understand most of the little words (prepositions, those goddam pronouns, and the connective adverbs) and the “real” words (nouns and verbs and such) I either knew, or could figure out from context, or could mentally leave the word untranslated. For example, the story was clearly about a poor man, who had a gift for the king — a ῥαφανῖδα “raphanida.” It was beautiful and large. His neighbors were amazed at it, and thought it was magical. And so on. I guessed that a ῥαφανῖδα was a domestic animal, or maybe a precious stone, or even a big tree. Whatever. I could go thru the story leaving ῥαφανῖδα and LOT of other words uncertain, but still get the gist of “who was doing what to whom.” THEN, at the end, having plowed thru all the little words, figuring out the sentence structures, and already knowing some of the words, only then did I go look up all the words I didn’t know. :)

Oh yes … ῥαφανῖδα means “radish.”

Morice’s Stories in Attic Greek really is a good book. It has 260 short stories, very short — about one hundred words each, that an intermediate Greek student can struggle through. “Intermediate” is a somewhat flexible term. At this point I am more of an “advanced beginner.” But reading these little stories is a valuable, and enjoyable, adjunct to Mastronarde’s grammar text, Introduction to Attic Greek, although I might have jumped the gun a little. Given the frequent use of participles in any Greek writing (including Morice’s 19th Century ‘retro’ pedagogical efforts), it might be a good idea to get through “Uses of the Participle” (Unit 28) in Mastronarde, before attempting to read even “easy” Greek stories.