PHIL 310 Lesher Ancient Greek: An Introduction The original language of most of the philosophical texts we will read in this course was Attic Greek, the language spoken and--from approximately the 7th century forward--written on mainland Greece, then known as Attica. Some presocratic fragments were written in Ionic Greek, the dialect of the province of Ionia on the Asiatic mainland. (The New Testament of the Bible was written in a later form of Greek known as Koinê, a somewhat simplified form of Attic Greek). Modern Greek, especially formal or literary Greek, closely resembles its classical forerunner. Learning Ancient Greek Like other languages, Greek reflects the special experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and local circumstances of its speakers. Since it is impossible to acquire a satisfactory understanding of ancient Greek thought without knowing something about their special ways of speaking about themselves and the world around them, we will pay attention from time to time to various terms that the Greek philosophers employed in expressing their views. Because Greek was and still is written in an alphabet with its distinctive characters, and because you will sometimes encounter 'real Greek' in the books and articles you will read, it will be helpful to learn how to recognize the letters of the Greek alphabet and to transliterate them into English. (Translation from ancient Greek into English is of course a more difficult task than transliteration, since it requires learning the vocabulary and mastering the grammar of ancient Greek). Two lat preliminaries: Attic Greek uses two characters unknown in English: accent marks and breathings. Three accents ( Å, Ä, Ç, called 'grave', 'acute', and 'circumflex') originally marked changes in the pitch of the voice, but now mark the stressed syllable. (You may ignore the accents in transliterating.) Any Greek word beginning with a single vowel (a, e, h, i, o, v, u), or with any combination of vowels, will also have a breathing mark (either Ñ--rough, or É--smooth) indicating whether or not the sound of the vowel is aspirated. Words with a rough breathing should be preceded by 'h' (e.g. ır«n = horôn). Some vowel combinations (vi, hi, ai) are commonly written with the iota placed below the vowel (called an iota subscript): e.g. ƒ, ˙, &. The Letters and Sounds of Ancient Greek English English Letter (Name) Equivalent Pronunciation A a (alpha) a as in papa, father B b (beta) b as in be G g (gamma) g as in go D d (delta) d as in do E e (epsilon) e as in let Z z (zeta) z as in gaze H h (eta) ê as in late Y y (theta) th as in thin I i (iota) i as in bead or as in bin K k (kappa) k as in kill L l (lambda) l as in land M µ (mu) m as in men N n (nu) n as in now J j (xi) x as in wax O o (omicron) o as in obey P p (pi) p as in pet R r (rho) r as in run S s/w ( sigma) s as in sit T t (tau) t as in tell U u (upsilon) u as in French lune or German Müller F f (phi) ph as in graphic X x (chi) ch as in chaos C c (psi) ps as in lapse V v (omega) ô as in tone Exercises--Some Practice in Transliterating Step 1: Next to each of the following Greek words write the transliterated English equivalent (for example, next to y e Ò w --- write th e o s). Step 2: Next to that, write what you think the Greek word means--for example, next totheos, write the word 'god' (compare the English words 'theology', 'theism', 'atheist'). If you're not sure, take a guess anyway. Greek Word English Transliteration Meaning Example: yeÒw theos god 1. dhµokrat€a ______________ _____________ 2. èrµon€a ______________ _____________ 3. §pistƵh ______________ _____________ 4. logikÆ ______________ _____________ 5. po€hµa ______________ _____________ 6. gevµetr€a ______________ _____________ 7. µan€a ______________ _____________ 8. skeptikÒw ______________ _____________ 9. ÉAristot°lhw ______________ _____________ 10. Sapf≈ ________________ _______________.