Greek pronunciation?
Eric S. Weiss
eweiss at gte.net
Tue Oct 8 16:55:51 EDT 2002
CORRECTIONS to what I just wrote re: Modern Greek and Buth's
pronunciation:
After listening to Zodhiates's tapes for about 6 weeks, you'll get the
hang of it, and you'll probably never be able to go back to Erasmian.
Randall Buth's
reconstructed Koine pronunciation is probably closer to NT times, and it's
very close to Modern Greek -- some exceptions include pronouncing OI the
same as U (Upsilon) (i.e., a French "u" -- say "ee" with your lips tightly
rounded), rather than the Modern Greek "ee" sound; Buth uses a long "o"
sound for Omicron and Omega, vs. Modern Greek which uses a short "o" for
both; etc. Also, Buth (from listening to the CDs) seems to more often use
a gutteral G instead of a "y" sound for Gamma than Modern Greek does.
It took me a while to get Buth's pronunciation, but having listened to
Zodhiates first made it easier. Words like hUIOS are pronounced like
"oo-yose" (again, no breathing/h sound) in Buth's method; Modern Greek
would say "ee-ee-oss". Erasmian says "hwee-oss". Neither in Koine times
(Buth) nor in Modern Greek is there a distinction between Omega and
Omicron.
Go see MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING and listen closely during the
baptism/wedding scenes to what the priest is saying!
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