Many people find the Greek alphabet unusual: it does not look like the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, but, nevertheless, it is not as far away from us as it might seem at first glance. Many letters of the Greek alphabet have been known since school: in the lessons of mathematics, physics and chemistry, each of us diligently drew these squiggles, hardly thinking that they can denote not only the density or amount of a substance, but also fully write or speak.

History and origin of the alphabet

The Greek alphabet served as the basis for many languages ​​​​of Europe and the Middle East, and its elements were borrowed for the writing systems of many countries of the world, including Latin and Cyrillic.

The alphabet developed from Phoenician and has been in use since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It became the first in the world to contain both vowels and consonants and use different signs to represent them.

Each of the letters of the Phoenician alphabet corresponded to a word that began with the same letter. Thus, the first was called aleph (“bull”), the second - bet (“house”), the third - gimel (“camel”), etc.

When the Greeks began to use Phoenician letter names to write their language, they slightly changed their sound to better match their phonology. So aleph, bet, gimel turned into alpha, beta, gamma, while losing all their original meaning. Later, some new or changed initial letters acquired more meaningful names. For example, omicron and omega mean "little o" and "big o" respectively.

The current state of the alphabet

In total, the modern Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each of which corresponds to a specific sound:

	Name	Designated sound (transcription)
		[Δ] (Δ is pronounced like the English th in this)
		[between E - E]
	Θita (Θ is pronounced like the English th in this)	[Θ] (Θ is pronounced like the English th in theme)

There are also several letter combinations that give a certain sound. In addition, and this is more unusual for us, making it more difficult to learn to write and take dictation, different letters and letter combinations can be used for some similar-sounding sounds.

γγ - similar to the English nasal sound [ŋ]

γκ - resembles a hard Russian sound [g]

αυ - [av], [af]

ευ - [ev], [eff]

ει, οι, υι, ι, υ, η - sound [and]

αι, ε - [between e - e]

ντ - [d] at the beginning of a word, [nd] in any other position

μπ - [b] at the beginning of a word, [mb] in any other position

Also, do not forget that the final sigma is always written as ς (in writing as a regular English s), in all other cases Σ, σ (6).

Young people use block letters in writing, while older people write mostly in written form. For example, here are several options for writing the same letters by hand:

Lettering options

That's all you need to know about the Greek alphabet to get started. Of course, it will take some time and practice to get used to it, but over time you will appreciate its simplicity and convenience, having received the key to understanding the origin and many letters, words and designations in your native language.

Useful articles:

Wow! Only twenty-four letters? Are there any sounds missing? That's exactly what it is. There are sounds specific to other languages ​​that are not found in Greek. Such sounds are all post-alveolar affricates (as in “ w ov” (only softer), [Z] as in the word “ well uk”, as in the word “ h erta”, and as in the English word “ j ob”). So, what do the Greeks do when they want to pronounce foreign words with these sounds? If you cannot pronounce the sound correctly, then it simply transforms into the corresponding alveolar sound: [s], [Z] [z], , . What about other common sounds like [b],[d],[g], etc.? They don't seem to be in the alphabet either! Are they also not included in the list of sounds of the language? Not! They exist in the form sounds language. There are simply no separate letters to designate them. When the Greeks want to write sounds, they write them as a combination of two letters: [b] is written as a combination of μπ (mi + pi), [d] as ντ (ni + tau), and [g] as γκ (gamma + kappa), or as γγ (double gamma). Why all these difficulties? Recall, as written in the introduction to this article, the sounds [b], [d], and [g] existed in classical Greek. Later, perhaps some time after the New Testament was written in the so-called Greek koine(single), these three sounds shifted in pronunciation and began to sound like “soft” sounds ([v], , and). There was a phonological void. Words that had a combination of “mp” and “nt” began to be pronounced as and, respectively. Therefore, "explosive" sounds were reintroduced, but letter combinations began to be used to designate them. There is another sound that is not in the alphabet: “and ng ma”, pronounced as in the English word “ki ng". This sound is very rare in Greek, and when it appears (as in "άγχος": alarm; "έλεγχος": check), it is indicated by the combination gamma + chi, where gamma is pronounced as ingma. For your convenience, below is a pronunciation table of letter combinations (2 letters) that give new sounds not included in the Greek alphabet:

cluster	Pronunciation in Modern Greek
ΜΠ μπ	[ b], as in the word “ b yt”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [mb], as in the word “to mb at".
ΝΤ ντ	[ d], as in the word “ d at”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [nd], as in the word “fo nd”.
ΓΚ γκ ΓΓ γγ	[ g], as in the word “ G orod”, at the beginning of words or in borrowed words; or: [g], as in the word “ri ng". Please note: shapeγγ never occurs at the beginning of words, so it is always pronounced as [g], as in the word “ri ng”.
ΓΧ γχ ΓΞ γξ	Beforeχ (chi) letter(ri ng) . Beforeξ (xi) letterγ (gamma) is pronounced like “ingma”:(ri ng) . Please note: combinationγξ is rare; it only appears in unusual words likeλυγξ (lynx).

It is quite possible that the following pairs do not produce original sounds, but are perceived by native Greek speakers as "one whole":

What about vowels? Is there any similarity with vowels in Russian, or with vowels in other languages? Vowels in Greek do not cause difficulties. In Greek, vowels are similar to vowels in Italian, Spanish ( Russian approx.transl.) or Japanese: [a], [e], [i], [o], and [u]. The alphabet currently has three letters for the sound [I] (eta, iota and upsilon) that are pronounced the same, and two letters for the sound [o] (omicron and omega) that are also pronounced the same. For the sound [u], a combination of letters ου (omicron + upsilon) is used. So, pronouncing vowels is easy. Is there anything else special about vowel sounds? Not in pronunciation, but in writing. There are three "diphthongs" that are no longer diphthongs but have become digraphs. (A diphthong is a long sound consisting of two elements, each of which has a different quality, as in the words: “r ay nd”, or“b oh”; a digraph is two letters that are read together as one letter, for example in English th in the word " th ink", or ph in the word "gra ph .) Below are Greek digraphs consisting of vowels.

Greek language(in Greek ελληνικά (elinika)) belongs to the Greek group of languages ​​of the Indo-European language family, which is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece and Cyprus, where it is the official language. Greek is also recognized as an ethnic minority language in some regions of Italy, as well as in Albania, Armenia, Romania and Ukraine.

The first script in Greek was discovered in Mycenae, known as Linear B, which was used between 1500 and 1200. BC. This type of Greek is known as Mycenaean. In Crete, another script known as the Cypriot syllabary was used to write the local dialect of Greek from 1200 to 300 BC.

Origin

The Greek alphabet has been in constant use for the past 2,750 years or so, beginning in 750 BC. e. It originated from the Canaanite / Phoenician alphabet, in particular, the order and names of the letters were borrowed from the Phoenician. The original Canaanite meanings of the letters were lost when the alphabet was adapted to the Greek language. For example, the name of a letter in the Greek alphabet "alpha" came from the Canaanite aleph(bull), and "beta"- from beth(house).

In the beginning, there were different versions of the alphabet, which were used in different Greek cities. Local alphabets can be divided into three groups: green, blue and red. From the blue group came the modern Greek alphabet, and from the red group the Etruscan alphabet, as well as other alphabets of ancient Italy, and eventually the Latin alphabet.

At the beginning of the IV century. BC e. local variants of the alphabet replaced the Eastern Ionian alphabet. The capital letters of the modern Greek alphabet are nearly identical to those of the Ionian alphabet. Lowercase Greek letters appeared around 800. Their appearance is associated with the Byzantine cursive script, which, in turn, developed from cursive writing.

Peculiarities

• Type of writing: alphabet (the first alphabet, which included vowels).
• Direction of writing: originally - horizontally from right to left, and there was also a variant of boustrophedon ( βουστροφηδόν ), in which the direction of writing alternated - from right to left and from left to right. After 500 BC. e. the direction of writing was established from left to right, horizontally.
• Diacritics for stress and aspiration were added to the alphabet around 200 BC. e. In 1982, the breath diacritics, which had been infrequently used after 1976, were formally abolished by presidential decree.
• At the letter "sigma" there is a special form that is used at the end of a word.

As is known

Greek (Ελληνικά)- one of the Indo-European languages, which is spoken by about 14 million people, mainly in Greece and Cyprus, for which this language is official. Greek is also recognized as a national minority language partly in Turkey, Italy and Albania.

Today, the Greek alphabet is used only for writing in Greek, although in the past at various times it was also used by such languages ​​as Lydian, Phrygian, Thracian, Gaulish, Hebrew, Arabic, Old Ossetian, Albanian, Turkish, Aromanian, Gagauz, Urum and sealing wax.

ancient greek alphabet

The ancient Greek alphabet is based on inscriptions from Crete dated to about 800 BC. e. At this time, the Greek language used the direction of writing from right to left, horizontally. The names of the letters were slightly different from the names in the later variants of the Greek alphabet.

Greek alphabet (classical Attic phonetic transcription)

Note

Σ = [z] before voiced consonants

diphthongs

Combinations of consonant sounds | Special character

Greek numerals and other symbols

The ancient Greeks used two number systems: The Acrophonic or Classical (Attic) system used the letters iota, delta, gamma, eta, nu and mu in various combinations. These letters were used as the first letters of numeral names, except for the letter iota: Γ έντε (gente) for 5, which became Π έντε (pente); Δ έκα (Deka) for 10, Η ἑκατόν (Hektaton) for 100, Χ ίλιοι (Khilioi) for 1,000 and Μ ύριον (Myrion) for 10,000. This system was used until the first century BC.

The ancient Greeks assigned numerical values ​​to the letters of the alphabet to represent numbers. Three obsolete letters, stigma, koppa, and sampi, were used in addition to the standard Greek letters, and the apostrophe symbol was used to indicate that the letters were used as numerals.

Greek alphabet (modern phonetic transcription)

Notes

• Γ = [γ] before back vowels. Pronounced as [ʝ] before front vowels and rendered as γ
• Κ = [k] before back vowels, and [c] before front vowels
• Λ = [ʎ] before an unstressed i followed by another vowel, e.g. λιώμα [ʎóma]
• Ν = [ɲ] before an unstressed i followed by another vowel, e.g. νιώθω [ɲóθo]
• When [i] is preceded by a voiced consonant and followed by another vowel, [i] becomes [ʝ], for example, διάκος [ðʝákos]. When [i] is preceded by a voiceless consonant and followed by another vowel, [i] is pronounced as [ç], for example, φωτιά. In both cases, this sound is unstressed.
• Σ = [z] before voiced consonants
• Χ = [χ] before back vowels, and [ç] before front vowels

diphthongs

Notes

• αυ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ευ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ηυ = before vowels and voiced consonants; in another position.
• ντ = in the middle of a word; [d] at the beginning.
• μπ = in the middle of a word; [b] at the beginning.
• γγ & γκ = [ŋg] in the middle of a word; [g] at the beginning. If this sound combination is followed by [i] or [e], it is pronounced as [ŋɟ] in the middle of words and [ɟ] at the beginning.
• Diarese is used to indicate the separate pronunciation of vowels, for example Αϊτή . However, if the first of the two letters is stressed, the sharp sign is optional, for example γάιδαρος [γáiðaros].
• If the consonants κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, and τσ: are preceded by a word that ends in v, they become voiced, and N in the final position becomes the corresponding nasal sound, e.g. τον πατέρα .

The set of letters in the Greek system. lang., located in the accepted order (see table below). Letters G. a. used in publications in Russian. lang. as symbols mat. and physical designations. In the original, the letters G. a. it is customary to enclose in a circle of red ... ... Publishing Dictionary

Greek alphabet- The Greeks first used consonant letters. In 403 BC. e. under Archon Euclid, the classical Greek alphabet is introduced in Athens. It consisted of 24 letters: 17 consonants and 7 vowels. Letters were first introduced to represent vowels; α, ε, η … Dictionary of linguistic terms T.V. Foal

This article is about the Greek letter. For the Cyrillic numerical sign, see the article Kopp (Cyrillic) Greek alphabet Α α alpha Β β beta ... Wikipedia

Self-name: Ελληνικά Countries: Greece ... Wikipedia

Language Self-name: Ελληνικά Countries: Greece, Cyprus; communities in the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Italy ... Wikipedia

It is the latest development in the history of writing. This name denotes a series of written characters arranged in a certain constant order and conveying approximately completely and accurately all the individual sound elements of which the given language is composed ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

This term has other meanings, see Alphabet (meanings). Wiktionary has an entry for "alphabet" Alphabet... Wikipedia

Alphabet- [Greek. ἀλφάβητος, from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet alpha and beta (modern Greek vita)] a system of written signs that convey the sound image of the words of the language through symbols depicting individual sound elements. Invention… … Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary

It is the latest phenomenon in the history of writing (see Letter). This name denotes a series of written characters arranged in a certain constant order and transmitting approximately completely and accurately all the individual sound elements, of which ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

ALPHABET- a set of letters or similar characters used in writing, where each letter stands for one or more phonemes. Alphabets were not the oldest basis of writing, having developed from hieroglyphs or written images used, ... ... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia

Books

• Introduction to Ancient Greek. Textbook for academic baccalaureate, Titov O.A. The textbook discusses a brief history of the development of the Greek language from ancient times to the present day, gives the Greek alphabet, reading rules, types and features of stress. ...
• Introduction to Ancient Greek 2nd ed., rev. and additional Textbook for academic baccalaureate, Oleg Anatolyevich Titov. The textbook discusses a brief history of the development of the Greek language from ancient times to the present day, gives the Greek alphabet, reading rules, types and features of stress. ...

Hello, my name is Ksenia, for several years I have been living in Greece and teaching Greek via Skype in the company website.
You can familiarize yourself with my teacher profile.

In my teaching practice, I have often encountered the fact that students find it difficult to learn the Greek alphabet. Perhaps a similar problem, when Greek letters do not want to be remembered and stubbornly confused with Latin (English), is familiar to you. The experience of overcoming this obstacle provided the material for the present article. I hope that my tips will help you in learning the Greek alphabet.

So how do you remember the Greek alphabet?

First of all, know that you are not alone, and in no case should you be upset, let alone despair! Difficulties with remembering the alphabet is a transient phenomenon, the letters will soon stop being confused, you just need to practice a little. Some of us learn new material faster, some more slowly. Show a little patience and diligence, and after a while reading in Greek will not be difficult for you!

In the process of working on the Greek alphabet, use all kinds of video and audio materials, for example, this one:

;

Or like this, with examples of words:
a) ΦΩΝΗΤΙΚO ΑΛΦΑΒΗΤO ME ΠΑΡΑΔΕΙΓΜΑΤΑ

;

;

Now, for clarity, let's divide the letters into the following groups:

The first group is letters that do not cause difficulties. Most of these letters are:

Second group- b Letters, which are often confused with the letters of the Latin alphabet:

To overcome this confusion, it is necessary to spend some time reading in Greek.

Third group- strange, unusual letters for us:

	Russian name	Sound in Russian transcription

These squiggles either merge with other letters, or get confused with each other, you need training to memorize!

Attention! Pay special attention to letters that convey sounds that do not exist in Russian!

Let's take a look at the alphabet again:

As you can see, many letters and sounds of the Greek alphabet are familiar to you, it remains to practice just a little bit.

If the Greek alphabet still defies memorization with your serious logical approach, try to remember your childhood. A positive attitude and good mood is the key to success!

Tip #1: Work with the songs

Here are some children's songs about the Greek alphabet:

a) ΕΝΑ ΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΜΙΑ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ | Το Τραγούδι της Αλφαβήτου

b) "Το τραγούδι της Αλφαβήτας" with subtitles

c) ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΑΛΦΑΒΗΤΟ

d) Μια τρελή τρελή Αλφαβήτα

Songs must not only be listened to, but sung or even memorized!

If you are not particularly interested in children's songs, here is a lyric-philosophical song about the alphabet (the video is subtitled):

Lyrics:

Άλφα, βήτα, γάμα, δέλτα
σκόνη γίνεται κι η πέτρα - becomes dust and stone
έψιλον, ζήτα, ήττα, θήτα
μοιάζει η νίκη με την ήττα - victory is like defeat

Βι, γα, δε, ζι, θι
κα, λα, μι, νι, ξι
πι, ρο, σίγμα, ταυ
φι, χι, ψι

Γιώτα, κάπα, λάμδα, μι
πόσο αξίζει μια στιγμή - how precious is one moment
νι, ξι, όμικρον, πι, ρο
φεύγω μα σε καρτερώ - I'm leaving, but I'm waiting for you

Σίγμα, ταυ, ύψιλον, φι
μοναξιά στην κορυφή - loneliness at the top
με το χι, το ψι, το ωμέγα
μια παλικαριά `ναι ή φεύγα - courage or flight

Tip #2:

For better memorization, print the Greek alphabet in pictures and attach the sheets in the apartment in a conspicuous place. At the very beginning of the study, transcription can also be attributed to letters, but keep in mind that not all sounds of the Greek alphabet can be conveyed in Russian letters. So, to convey the sounds δ and θ, you will need to use the transcription of the interdental sounds of the English language.

Tip #3:

Try to "animate" the letters. Think about what the most difficult letters of the Greek alphabet look like for you, and draw a comic picture for each letter. Ideas can be taken from a series of Greek cartoons about the letters of the alphabet: even if at this stage of learning you do not understand all the text of the cartoon, you will definitely remember the flying and singing letter!

(cartoon picture)

Cartoon about the letter Ζ (Zita)

Cartoon about the letters ξ and ψ (Xi and Psi)

Tip #4:

Use programs to learn the alphabet.

A good resource for learning the alphabet.

Tip #5:

And finally, you can use the tasks of the textbooks:

a) write each letter several times;

b) write down the letters of the Greek alphabet under dictation in order and randomly.

The alphabet and pronunciation rules are learned, it's time to move on to reading. We will write about how to practice reading in the next article.

Υ.Γ. How did you memorize the Greek alphabet and how long did it take you to do it? Tell us in the comments about your personal experience and write your opinion about the article!