[B-Greek] Choice of transliterations for "David"?

Ranulf Doswell bgreek at ranulf.net
Wed Aug 27 04:14:02 EDT 2003


> This raises a question for me: Since modern Greek pronounces AU and EU
> as av/af and ev/ef, is it possible that this was also done in Koine
> times? E.g., I find the Greek forms of "Eve" (hEUA) and "Levi" (LEUI)
> more difficult to pronounce with the Erasmian pronunciation than if the
> EU has an "ev" sound. Likewise, POREUOMAI is easier as
> "por-ev-o-mai" than "por-yoo-o-mai.

As far as I know, even Classical greek pronounciation was more more our "v",
e.g. EUAGGELION = evangelion

Interesting, in Modern Greek, you'll find that B is now pronounced as v
(similiar idea to Spanish v pronounced as b) and the distinction between D
and Q (delta and theta) has largely been lost, e.g. D is pronounced as
thelta.

If you look at pronunciation charts where the letters are arranged by where
in the mouth these sounds are made, you'll see it all starts to make sense.

Ranulf Doswell, Coventry UK.




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