[B-Greek] Pronunciation rules
Eric Weiss
papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Wed Oct 5 15:08:13 EDT 2005
Ooops! I did it again. I accidentally sent this from the wrong (unregistered) email address.
Here it is from my regular address:
Most Biblical Hebrew texts use a modern Hebrew pronunciation, I believe, even though it's
different for several consonants than the "classical" Hebrew pronunciation. Why shouldn't the
same be done with NT Greek - i.e., use the Modern Greek pronunciation?
Granted, there are difficulties with using a Modern Greek pronunciation for Koinê - e.g., too
many vowels pronounced as "ee" and the consequent aural indistinguishability between the
first and second person plural personal pronouns (I can imagine a "Who's On First" scenario
by Koinê speakers using a Modern Greek pronunciation). But my understanding, if I read and
understood Caragounis and Buth correctly, is that a very-close-to-Modern-Greek pronunciation,
including the "ee" for many vowels, had pretty much arrived within the first few centuries of the
Christian era (the rough breathing had certainly disappeared by the 1st century), and the Greek
of the Church Fathers was very similar to the Koinê that they were reading and preaching and
writing about.
Hence, I see no really valid arguments against using the Modern Greek pronunciation for NT
Greek other than some initial difficulties and having to change the textbooks (and, in texts like
GREEK TO ME, having to change the mnemonics for the vocabulary flashcards and grammar
pictures, as GTM relies on the Erasmian pronunciation for the pictures to correspond to the
word sounds).
I purchased a MEGAS KAI IEROS SUNEKDHMOS ("companion") ORQODOXOU
CRISTIANOU - the 1300-page prayer/service book of the Greek Orthodox Church - and am
reading it with a Modern Greek pronunciation, which I understand is how it is read and
pronounced in Greek Orthodox Churches in Greece, even though the style and grammar and
vocabulary is all Koinê/Byzantine. Other than vocabulary, I seem to be able to navigate it fairly
well - i.e., the grammar resembles Koinê, at least the parts I've read (and I've only read parts of
it).
Eric S. Weiss
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