Let's start again, from the beginning, according to the Greek order:
- Α α ἄλφα
alpha a, at times short like cup,
at times long like rather
"long" a is marked in your book with a macron (a small horizontal line over the vowel a) to help you with pronunciation.
- Β β βῆτα
bêta Not too difficult either.
No acute accent this time, but a circumflex, a grumpy-looking one at that. No wonder, it makes the sound go up and back down again, or just long, drawn-out, whichever you prefer.
- up and go! acute ´ is short and snappy
- up and down circumflex ͂
is long
Andη is a rather vulgar, longer version of ε :
- η like accident, airport, Mary rather than
- ε like in get help
- Γ γ γάμμα
gamma Strange looking g. Uppercase gamma looks like the beginning of a game of hangman, lowercase like a y written by a 3 year-old.
- Δ δ δέλτα
delta not too difficult. The mouth of a river that widens out as it meets the sea-shore is called a delta because of its shape: an uppercase Greek letter delta.
Lowercase should present no problem being so similar to our own d, with a little righthand hook on top.
- Ε ε ἒ ψιλόν
epsilon.
Here is an example of grave accent: the e bowing gravely to its neighbour, in ἒ ψιλόν
ψιλός means "naked, hairless, simple", a simple ε instead of a vulgar, brash η
- Ζ ζ ζῆτα
dzêta Z comes as no surprise, lowercase ζ looks a little like a handwritten z that lost its loop at the bottom and fitted one in on top to make up for it. It is still pronounced dz according to some, sd according to others. You choose.
- Η η ἦτα
êta See vowels
- Θ θ θῆτα
thêta, th like in thick and thin Uppercase like the big zero on some computer/calculator printouts, lowercase the same but smaller.
- Ι ι ἰῶτα
iohta (long, open ohmega) make sure not to dot your i's in Greek.
- Κ κ κάππα
kappa, no problem, lower case just a little shorter than our k
- Λ λ λάμβδα
lambda, strange-looking letter: uppercase an inverted V, lowercase a tired old man leaning on a stick, or an idle worker resting on his shovel
- Μ μ μῦ
easy-peasy, if you know how to pronounce the υ
- Ν ν νῦ
Lower-case is funny, looks like a v.
But there is no "v" sound in ancient Greek, so
νετ would be pronounced "net", not "animal doctor"
- Ξ ξ ξῖ
pronounced "xi" like in "exit" which we would write, using Greek letters:
Ε Ξ Ι Τ or ἔξιτ
Funny letter, the letter ξῖ . Note that it comes between the n and the o. Important when looking up words in a dictionary.
- Ο ο ὂ μικρόν called small o. No problem
- Π π πῖ Everyone should know this letter from maths lessons. Pronounced pee, not edible like a pie, even if that is what mathematicians call it.
- Ρ ρ ῥῶ
Funny-looking letter:
uppercase Ρ looks like a p but is an r.
lower-case ρ in print looks a little like a p as well, but is more of an ο with a little tail
You may have noticed that lots of words start with rh:
rhinoceros, rheumatic, rhapsody, Rhodesia, rhyme etc.
Why? Because initial letter ρ is always aspirated and therefore carries a rough breating mark:
ῥ
ῥῶ looks sort of cute: funny o with a tail and little c hat,
followed by a funny-looking pot-bellied w.
- Σ σ, ς σίγμα
sigma, always pronounced sibilant like selflessness, not buzzing like in rose. Except, according to some, in front of β, γ, δ and μ.
Uppercase Σ looks like a fallen over backwards M
lowercase looks like a little 6
and, to complete the picture, at the end of words forbidden to write it as σ but must be written ς , like a c with a little backwards curving tail.
So, were we to write English with Greek letters, we would write:
λέττερς, πένς, πένσιλς, σίσσις (sissies)
- Τ τ ταῦ
no problem, just chop off the top of our t
- Υ υ ὒ ψιλόν
couldn't make up its mind: am I an u or a y, so:
lowercase υ
uppercase Υ
Try to pronounce a short letter i with round sticky-out lips shaped for "oo" (the i of Minnie, the oo of moon)
Now pay attention to the order of the last four:
- Φ φ φῖ
the escaped f sound from the beginning of our ἄλφα βῆτα
It replaces our letters: f, ph and v.
See: γράφειν 'to write' or 'draw' which gave us
- graffiti
- graphite, graphics
- to engrave
Most of our ph words come from Greek φ words. Like:
- philosophy φιλοσοφία friend and wisdom
- Philadelphia Φιλαδέλφια friend and brother/sister
- photography φοτογραφία light and writing, etc...
- Χ χ χῖ
Try saying halitosis as if showing the doctor the back of your mouth/throat while saying it. The English loch Ness, German ach sound.
Or just like a plain letter k followed by an h, as advocated by some. Your decision.
A whole lot of our k sounding but ch written words come from Greek:
- choreography χορός and γράφειν
- orchestra ὀρχήστρα
- chaos χάος etc....
- Ψ ψ ψῖ
looks and sounds like harpsichord.
- Ω ω ὦ μέγα
Exclamation: Oh, what a surprise, in admiration. Oh, how sad, in disappointment.
Uppercase Ω is used in electricity for measuring resistence in ohms. Any electrical appliance will have ... Ω written on it somewhere.
And lowercase is a funny, pot-bellied w reminiscent of the pronunciation: oh how awful.
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