Re: Usual Transliteration scheme on this List

From: David L. Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Wed Jul 24 1996 - 18:57:52 EDT


Edward Hobbs wrote:
>
> Periodically, newcomers have raised the question of what system
> of transliteration is used on the B-Greek List. After several
> promptings, a small group of "senior" (read: "old") members of
> the List have put together an agreed-on message. This message
> has the approval of our List Owner, David John Marotta, who will
> try to add it to the Welcome message for new subscribers. He has
> also recommended that it be posted regularly, for the benefit of
> everyone on the List. Note that nothing herein is prescriptive!
> The text of the message follows.
>
> TRANSLITERATING GREEK into ASCII
>
> B-Greek has from the beginning allowed every poster to use
> any scheme he/she found comfortable, since we all could usually
> figure out what text was meant. For those who wish some
> guidance, a generally accepted scheme has evolved on the List,
> with two or three matters still not fully settled.
>
> (1) CAPITALS are used when transliterating Greek letters, on a
> one-to-one basis, reserving lower-case {i} to represent
> iota-subscript and lower-case {h} to represent rough breathing.
> No accents, no smooth breathings. And no distinction between
> medial and final Sigma.
>
> (2) If accents are really necessary, to distinguish otherwise
> identical words, acute is represented by {/}, grave by {\}, and
> circumflex either by tilde {~ [preferable]} or {=} -- always
> AFTER the vowel over which it would be written.
>
> (3) A few characters without Roman single-character form are
> usually done with almost-look-alike Roman characters otherwise
> unused:
>
> Theta = Q
> Eta = H
> Psi = Y (upsilon is always U)
> Omega = W
>
> (4) Digraphs (in the usual Roman transliteration) are handled in
> three different ways to avoid two-letter transliterations, all
> involving otherwise-unused Roman letters:
>
> THeta uses Q ("look-alike", as above).
> PSi uses Y ("look-alike", as above).
> PHi uses F (sound equivalence).
> CHi uses C (first letter of traditional digraph).
>
> (5) Xi and Chi: There being no single Roman letter for "Xi"
> other than X, the "look-alike" use of X for "Chi" is confusing,
> though some use it. And some seem to like to use C for "Sigma."
> Since S is otherwise unused, and poses no confusion whatever,
> using C for "Sigma" makes for problems in decoding back to Greek,
> especially since it is the only letter available for "Chi"
> (unless X is used, thus posing a problem for "Xi"). And
> occasionally someone uses P for "Rho", making problems for how to
> represent "Pi".
>
> *****************************************************************
>
> Usual in Traditional
> B-Greek (uses macrons and digraphs)
>
> alpha A a
> beta B b
> gamma G g
> delta D d
> epsilon E e
> zeta Z z
> eta H e with macron
> theta Q th
> iota I i
> kappa K k
> lambda L l
> mu M m
> nu N n
> xi X x
> omicron O o
> pi P p
> rho R r
> sigma S s
> tau T t
> upsilon U u
> phi F ph
> chi C ch
> psi Y ps
> omega W o with macron
>
> rough breathing h h
> iota-subscript i (i)

        Some of us use C for xi and X for chi since this conforms to the
CCAT system of transliteration which is already widely used in
computer-readable Greek texts. The rest of the system outlined above by
Dr. Hobbs is essentially an adaptation of the CCAT transliteration
conventions. Of course, if the list generally adopts a de-facto
transliteration scheme, I'll use it, too.

-- 
David L. Moore                             Director
Miami, Florida, USA                        Department of Education
dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com                     Southeastern Spanish District
http://www.netcom.com/~dvdmoore            of the Assemblies of God


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