[B-Greek] Olympics -- Off topic
Don Doherty
ddoherty at powerup.com.au
Tue Aug 17 23:11:07 EDT 2004
Arie,
Thanks for your response. It would seem that the adoption of AQHNA is a
fairly recent attempt to standardise the spelling. I well remember that
Greek-born friends of mine in Australia in the 1980's couldn't agree on the
'official' Greek spelling. At least, in terms of English
phonetic-transliterations of the name, plurality seems to have reigned
supreme. My 1971 map of Europe by cartographers George Philip & Son shows
"Athinai", as does my 1993 4th edn Collins World Atlas (which led me to
presume the Greek spelling was AQHNAI). A brochure on Athens issued by the
National Tourist Organisation of Greece in 1977 refers to "Athens (Athina)"
in the text, but to "Athine" in the end-cover map.
regards,
Don Doherty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arie Dirkzwager" <dirkzwager at pandora.be>
To: "Don Doherty" <ddoherty at powerup.com.au>; <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Olympics -- Off topic
> In modern Greek Athens is hH AQHNA.
> See for several instances
>
http://www.cityofathens.gr/portal/site/AthensPortal/menuitem.d4d98eab08c9c81
> 4802dd3102d4a76e3/?vgnextoid=66de92dae514ef00VgnVCM100000d2a4673eRCRD
>
> Arie
>
>
> Dr. A. Dirkzwager
> Hoeselt, Belgium
> e-mail dirkzwager at pandora.be
>
>
>
> ----- Oorspronkelijk bericht -----
> Van: "Don Doherty" <ddoherty at powerup.com.au>
> Aan: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Verzonden: dinsdag 17 augustus 2004 2:14
> Onderwerp: [B-Greek] Olympics -- Off topic
>
>
> > I was intrigued to see that during the entrance of the athletes at the
> > opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens, the large electronic
> > billboard proclaimed the legend AQHNA 2004. I presume this was intended
to
> > convey "ATHENS 2004" (as emblazoned on all the Olympic sporting venues).
> But
> > why AQHNA? Isn't this but one way of spelling the goddess's name (the
> > others, according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, being AQANA,
> > AQHNAIH(-A), and AQHNH)?
> > I'd always thought that the modern Greeks consistently spelled the
city's
> > name as AQHNAI.
> >
> > Why am I confused?
> >
> > Don Doherty
> > Alexandra Headland QLD
> > Australia
> > email: ddoherty at powerup.com.au
> >
> > ---
> > B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> > B-Greek mailing list
> > B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
> >
>
>
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