Pronunciation
The following seems to be the general consensus (among non-native Greek speakers!) as to how Greek was pronounced in Homeric times. The table refers to my transliteration of the Greek. All letters are pronounced roughly as in English except for:
|
Greek |
Translit in text |
Translit in music |
Pronounced as |
| alpha | a |
a (short) |
first a in italian amare |
| alpha | â |
a (long) |
second a in amare |
| alpha iota | ai |
ai |
in English high |
| alpha upsilon | au |
au |
in English how |
| epsilon iota | ei |
ei |
in German Beet |
| epsilon | e |
e |
in English pet |
| eta | ê |
e |
in French tête |
| kappa | k |
k |
French c |
| chi | kh |
kh |
c in English cat emphatically pronounced) |
| omicron | o |
o |
in German Gott |
| omega | ô |
o |
in English saw |
| omicron upsilon | ou |
ou |
in pool |
| pi | p |
p |
French p |
| phi | p'h |
p'h |
p in English pot (emphatically pronounced) |
| tau | t |
t |
French t |
| theta | t'h |
t'h |
t in English top (emphatically pronounced) |
| upsilon | u |
u |
in French lune |