[B-Greek] Koine Greek pronunciation

Eric S. Weiss papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Sat Apr 12 14:51:58 EDT 2008


> Cory Taylor wrote:
> 
> Pronouncing omicron with the same length as omega is a 
> feature of modern Greek. Some argue (e.g. Caragounis) 
> that Koine Greek should be pronounced like Modern Greek.
> 
> Classical Greek pronunciation had omicron as a short "o" 
> sound, and omega as a long "o." This comes out in the 
> names of the letters - "omicron" is actually "o micron," 
> which means "little o;" likewise, "o mega" is "big o." 
> In other words, "omicron" is a "short o" and "omega is 
> a "long o."
> 
> Hope this helps!

But ... was the difference between "short o" and "long o" 
the difference between "pot" and "note"? Or was it simply 
a difference in how long the sound was sustained?

Both Chrys Caragounis and Randall Buth argue from the 
evidence we have from misspellings that omicron and omega 
had the same sound in Koinê times - whether "pot" or 
"note" or "or."




  Eric S. Weiss
  

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