[B-Greek] Koine Greek pronunciation
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Apr 12 12:51:56 EDT 2008
On Apr 12, 2008, at 10:55 AM, JMonte2000 at aol.com wrote:
> I'm taking a course with someone and they pronounce an omicron as a
> long O
> like an Omega. He didn't know why we pronounce the omicron
> differently, does
> anyone know why this is? I'm pronouncing how Bill Mounce does on
> his Lecture's
> CD's. They are using Machen's book for 1st year. I'm doing the last
> few
> chapters with them, his exercises are very hard, much harder then
> Mounce's. Then
> we'll start on syntax using Dana and Mantey.
Don't assume that Mounce's pronunciation has any authority other than
tradition. Realize too that there are other traditions. Although I
don't know this for a fact, I would assume that Mounce's pronunciation
is Erasmian, and that is notoriously artificial. You ought to take a
look at Randall Buth's notes on Koine Pronunciation at
http://www.biblicalulpan.org/PDF%20Files/PRONSYS1%202005.pdf
This pronunciation is based on a carefully-reasoned analysis of how
Greek was pronounced in the NT era; Omicron and Omega are indeed
pronounced alike at this time.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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