Greek Alphabet

Letter Name Roman/English Equivalent Α α alpha ______drama Νηρέας Β β beta ______bit Ἔρεβός Γ γ gamma ______get Γαῖα, Γίγαντας Δ δ delta ______den Δήμητερ Ε ε epsilon ______get Ἔρος Ζ ζ zeta ______adds Ζῆνά Η η eta ______wait Δήμητερ, Ἥρη Θ θ theta ______thought Αἰθήρ Ι ι iota ______meet, bit Λάχεσίς Κ κ kappa ______kit Κλωθώ, Ὠκεανὸς Λ λ lambda ______lit Λάχεσίς , Κλωθώ Μ μ mu ______meet Νέμεσις Ν ν nu ______neat Νὺξ , Νέμεσις Ο ο omicron ______taxi Πόντος Ξ ξ xi ______thought Νὺξ Π π pi ______pen Πόντος Ρ ρ rho ______drama Ἔρος Σ σ ς sigma ______set Ἰαπετός Τ τ tau ______ten Τηθύς, Ἰαπετός Υ υ upsilon ______boot, put Ὑπερίονά Φ φ phi ______fit Φοίβης Χ χ chi ______backhand Χάος, Λάχεσίς Ψ ψ psi ______flaps Ψύχη

Ω ω omega ______total Ὠκεανὸς Review the letters on the other side of this page, and write in their equivalents on the empty line provided. See if you can tell the names of the Gods on the right, and try to the best of your ability to learn this alphabet before the start of school next year. (The first letter in the list is the capital, the second is the lowercase – it’s most important to learn the lower case letters).

Feel free to review the more complex info below, but the main thing is to learn the alphabet so we can jump right in when school begins!

Greek Pronunciation and other aspects of Writing

Short Vowels Long Vowels Diphthongs – (pairs of vowels which are pronounced together to produce one continuous sound) α sigma ᾱ father αι aisle defy αἰθήρ ε get η way ει wait, bait εἰρήνη ι bit ῑ meet οι boy οἶνος ο got ω total υι wit Εἰλείθυια υ put ῡ boot αυ plow αύτόνομος ευ ε + υ Ὀδυσσεύς ηυ η + υ ηὔρηκα ου boot Οὐρανὀς Funky double consonants: γγ = anger γκ = banker γξ = larynx γχ = lunkhead

Breating marks at the beginning of words Smooth breathing marks  Look like apostrophes (’)  Go over all initial first vowels or diphthongs.  Are written just before capital vowels  Are not pronounced. ὀλιγαρχίᾱ oligarchia (oligarchy) Ἀθηνᾶ Athena Rough breathing marks  Look like backwards apostrophes (‘)  Create an initial H sound  Go over initial vowels and initial rhos (ρ)  Are written just before capital vowels (or rho: Ρ) ἑξάγωνον hexagonon (hexagon) Ἑλένη Helene (Helen) ῥητορική rhetorike (rhetoric)

Iota subscript and adscript

When iota combines with ᾱ, η ω, the iota is written beneath that letter. It is not pronounced (*though some scholars disagree on this point) ᾱ + ι = ᾳ ω + ι = ῳ η+ι = ῃ

If the long vowel would normally have an iota subscript but must be capitalized, then the iota is written after and is not pronounced (same scholarly controversy about this pronunciation, too) ᾠδή vs. Ὠιδή