[B-Greek] Pronunciation of Kappa, Pi and Tau

Arthur King amgking at sbcglobal.net
Thu Sep 28 15:30:01 EDT 2006



--- "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:

> 
> On Sep 27, 2006, at 2:12 PM, Arthur King wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> > Eric Weiss <papaweiss1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Current pronunciations for these Greek letters are given as
> follows:
> > [SNIP]>
> >>   I understand that before Koine times, the letters were
> pronounced
> >> as follows:
> > [SNIP]
> >
> > I have read with interest the many messages on this list concerning
>  
> > the
> > various pronunciations of Greek letters, and wondered - does
> > pronunciation have any effect on understanding a Greek text?
> 
> There is certainly some advantage to aural reinforcement of what  
> would otherwise be visual recognition alone;

AK:  I did not mean to suggest that mere visual recognition would be
sufficient.  I find "sounding" to be essential.  But what sound? 
Erasmian, the living language, a reconstructed Koine dialect?  I have
not seen any demonstration that the use of one type of  pronunciation
is superior in enabling the reader  to access the meaning of a Greek
text.  

>SNIP

> I must say that I rather dread the onslaught of a new thread . . . 
 

I do not think that there will be much of a thread if respondents stick
to the point - Proof that one type of pronunciation is substantially
superior to others with respect to getting at the meanng of a Greek
text; or to put it another way, superior in making the learning of
Greek easier for the student, particularl, one studying on their own.

 
> I think it is useful to be aware of what were homophones in Koine and
 therefore aware that scribal errors are particularly common when they
 are involved;  one of the most common is the shared enunciation of  
 hUMIN and hHMIN, both being pronounced something like an English EE
MEEN.


This example would suggest that the student adopt a different
pronunciation scheme.  I pronounce the upsilon and eta in the manner
indicated by Mounce (umlauted "u" and "e" [as in obey], respectively},
which avoids this confusion.   


Arthur King
Clinton, CT



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