Greek and Latin alphabet

Greek and Latin alphabet

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Greek alphabet, writing system that was developed in Greece about 1000 bc. It is the direct or indirect ancestor of all modern European alphabets. Derived from the North Semitic alphabet via that of the Phoenicians, the Greek alphabet was modified to make it more efficient and accurate for writing a non-Semitic language by the addition of several new letters and the modification or dropping of several others. Most important, some of the symbols of the Semitic alphabet, which represented only consonants, were made to represent vowels: the Semitic consonants ʾalef, he, yod, ʿayin, and vav became the Greek letters alpha, epsilon, iota, omicron, and upsilon, representing the vowels a,e,i,o, and u, respectively. The addition of symbols for the vowel sounds greatly increased the accuracy and legibility of the writing system for non-Semitic languages.

Before the 5th century bc the Greek alphabet could be divided into two principal branches, the Ionic (eastern) and the Chalcidian (western); differences between the two branches were minor. The Chalcidian alphabet probably gave rise to the Etruscan alphabet of Italy in the 8th century bc and hence indirectly to the other Italic alphabets, including the Latin alphabet, which is now used for most European languages. In 403 bc, however, Athens officially adopted the Ionic alphabet as written in Miletus, and in the next 50 years almost all local Greek alphabets, including the Chalcidian, were replaced by the Ionic script, which thus became the classical Greek alphabet.

The early Greek alphabet was written, like its Semitic forebears, from right to left. This gradually gave way to the boustrophedon style, and after 500 bc Greek was always written from left to right. The classical alphabet had 24 letters, 7 of which were vowels, and consisted of capital letters, ideal for monuments and inscriptions. From it were derived three scripts better suited to handwriting: uncial, which was essentially the classical capitals adapted to writing with pen on paper and similar to hand printing; and cursive and minuscule, which were running scripts similar to modern handwriting forms, with joined letters and considerable modification in letter shape. Uncial went out of use in the 9th century ad, and minuscule, which replaced it, developed into the modern Greek handwriting form.

Classical Greek alphabet

The table indicates the Classical Greek alphabet.

Classical Greek alphabet

letters				equivalent
capital	lower case	combi- nations	name	EB preferred	alter- natives	approximate classical Attic pronunciation
Α	α, α*		alpha	a		are
		αι		ae in proper nouns, ai in common words	e	ice
		αυ		au		now
Β	β		beta	b		baby
Γ	γ		gamma	g		go
		γγ		ng		angle
		γκ		nk	nc	ink
		γξ		nx		thanks
		γχ		nch	nkh	in case
Δ	δ, ∂*		delta	d		dog
Ε	ε		epsilon	e		bet
		ει		ei	e or i	day
		ευ		eu		bet + now
Ζ	ζ		zeta	z		used
Η	η		eta	ē	e	air
		ηυ		ēu	eu	airway
Θ	θ, ϑ*		theta	th		tin
Ι	ι		iota	i		even or pin
Κ	κ		kappa	c in proper nouns, k in common words		pocket
Λ	λ		lambda	l		lil</>y
Μ	μ		mu	m		maim
Ν	ν		nu	n		not
Ξ	ξ		xi	x		ax
Ο	ο		omicron	o		Ger. so
		οι		oe in proper nouns, oi in common words		Ger. so + day
		ου		ou		own
Π	π		pi	p		spin
Ρ	ρ		rho	initial, rh; medial, r		rose
		ρρ		rrh		Ger. Naturrecht
Σ	σ**		sigma	s		sand
Τ	τ		tau	t		stay
Υ	υ		upsilon	y	u	Fr. du
		υι		ui		Fr. concluiez
Φ	ϕ, φ*		phi	ph		pin
Χ	χ		chi	ch	kh	kin
Ψ	ψ		psi	ps		perhaps
Ω	ω		omega	ō	o	call
*Old-style character.    **Final, ç.

Classical Greek numerals

The table indicates the Classical Greek numerals.

Classical Greek numerals

Greek	Arabic
α′	1
β′	2
γ′	3
δ′	4
ε′	5
ζ′	6
ξ′	7
η′	8
θ′	9
ι′	10
ια′	11
ιβ′	12
ιγ′	13
ιδ′	14
ιε′	15
ιζ′	16
ιξ′	17
ιη′	18
ιθ′	19
κ′	20
κα′	21
κβ′	22
κγ′	23
κδ′	24
λ′	30
μ′	40
ν′	50
ξ′	60
ο′	70
π′	80
ϙ′	90
ρ′	100
σ′	200
τ′	300
υ′	400
ϕ′	500
χ′	600
ψ′	700
ω′	800
ϡ′	900
′ α	1,000

Modern Greek alphabet

The table indicates the modern Greek alphabet.

Modern Greek alphabet

Greek letters
capital	lower case	combinations	name	equivalents	approximate pronunciation
Α	α, α*		álfa	a	bother
		αι		e	bed
		αï		ai	life
		αυ		av/af	lava**, waft
		αϋ		ai	life
Β	β		víta	v	van
Γ	γ		ghámma	gh before α, ο, ου, ω, and consonants other than γ, ξ, and χ, y before αι, ε, ει, η, ι, οι, υ, υι; n before γ, ξ, and χ	wit, yet, sing
		γκ		initial, g; medial, ng	go, finger
Δ	δ, ∂ *		dhélta	dh; d between ν and ρ	then, wondrous
Ε	ε		épsilon	e	bet
		ει		i	even
		εï		eï	day
		ευ		ev/ef	revel, left
Ζ	ζ		zíta	z	zone
Η	η		íta	i	fig
		ηυ		iv/if	even, leaf
Θ	θ, ϑ *		thíta	th	thin
Ι	ι		ióta	i	even
Κ	κ		káppa	k	kin, cook
Λ	λ		lámbdha	l	lily
Μ	μ		mi	m	maim
		μπ		initial, b; medial, mb	bake, ambush
Ν	ν		ni	n	not
		ντ		initial, d; medial, nd	dog, fender
		ντζ		ntz	chintz
Ξ	ξ		xi	x	ax
Ο	ο		ómikron	o	saw
		οι		i	even
		οï		oi	boy
		ου		u	food
Π	π		pi	p	pin
Ρ	ρ		ro	r	rose
Σ	σ***		sígma	s	sand
Τ	τ		taf	t	tie
Υ	υ		ípsilon	i initially and between consonants	even
		υι		i	even
Φ	ϕ, φ*		fi	f	fifty
Χ	χ		khi	kh	Ger. Buch
Ψ	ψ		psi	ps	perhaps
Ω	ω		oméga	o	bone
*Old-style character. **Pronounced with a long a. ***Final, ç.

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Rome was a little quiet town on the shores of the Tiber river when her Latin-speaking citizens learned writing from the Etruscans. A few hundred years later, the Romans brought their alphabet to wherever they went (more specifically, conquered). Because of the prestige of Roman culture, many non-Roman "barbarian" nations embraced Latin for court use, and adopted the Latin alphabet to write their own language. Consequently, Western European nations all wrote using the Latin alphabet, and with European imperialism in the last 500 years, the Latin alphabet (with local modifications) is probably the most ubiquitous writing system in the world.

Even though the Latin alphabet is essentially what you're seeing in front of you, the original version was quite different. As Latium (the region where Latin is spoken and Rome is located) and Etruria (the region where Etruscan is spoken) are adjacent to each other, the very first examples of the Latin alphabet resemble the Etruscan alphabet. Nearly all the letters were adopted with the same phonetic values and graphical shapes. Also, the direction of writing was like Etruscan, either right-to-left, boustrophedon, or even left-to-right for about a hundred years during the 6th century BCE (once again influenced by Etruscan fads). On the other hand, the Latins did modify the Etruscan alphabet to suit their language. They threw away the signs , , , , and ([š>], [z], [p^h], [t^h], and [k^h] respectively) because Latin didn't have those sounds. On the flip side, Latin also had sounds not present in Etruscan. One solution was to invent the letter G by adding a vertical stroke to the letter C. Similarly, the Latins "resurrected" the letters O and D, which were not used in Etruscan but kept for tradition. The letter F, which in Etruscan represented the sound [v], was eventually reused for [f]. Etruscan wrote the [f] sound with the digraph HF, a convention also used in the earliest Latin inscriptions. The Latins also took Q and used it for their [k^w] sound most likely since it already appears in front of V in Etruscan.

Slowly the Latin alphabet became increasingly standardized. Writing direction settled on left-to-right toward the 5th or 4th century BCE, and letter shapes became more or less the same in Latium. And by Rome's Republican period (3rd century BCE), the Latin alphabet has evolved to the "modern" form:

The letters Y and Z were added for to write Greeks loan words during the early Imperial period (1st century BCE). With these two additions, the Latin alphabet at the late antiquity was nearly identical to most Western European alphabets. During the middle ages, new letters were created by slightly modifying an existing letter. The letter I was used for both [i] and [y], and so J was created from to represent the [y] semi-vowel. Similarly, V doubles as [u] and [w], and so U was created to denote [u] while V stood for [v] only. Still later, the letter W was created in Germanic-speaking regions from doubling U to represent the [v] sound (while the letter V shifted to represent [f]). This doubling trick is also found in other places such as Spanish where the letter Ñ originated from the NN.

As you might have noticed, the classical Roman Latin alphabet only has what we called "upper case", or majuscule, letters. So where did "lower case", or minuscule, letters come from? By the 4th century CE, a semi-cursive style called uncial was being used for handwriting. Uncial is considered a majuscule style but with rounded letters. Eventually this evolved into the minuscule style by the 8th century CE. Originally the two styles were used separately, majuscules for monumental inscription, and minuscules for manuscripts. However, during the reign of Charles the Great (early 9th century CE) the Carolingian Reform forced the merging of the two styles and the creation of the "dual alphabet". With this, our modern Roman alphabet was born.

Slowly the Latin alphabet became increasingly standardized. Writing direction settled on left-to-right toward the 5th or 4th century BCE, and letter shapes became more or less the same in Latium. And by Rome's Republican period (3rd century BCE), the Latin alphabet has evolved to the "modern" form:

The letters Y and Z were added for to write Greeks loan words during the early Imperial period (1st century BCE). With these two additions, the Latin alphabet at the late antiquity was nearly identical to most Western European alphabets. During the middle ages, new letters were created by slightly modifying an existing letter. The letter I was used for both [i] and [y], and so J was created from to represent the [y] semi-vowel. Similarly, V doubles as [u] and [w], and so U was created to denote [u] while V stood for [v] only. Still later, the letter W was created in Germanic-speaking regions from doubling U to represent the [v] sound (while the letter V shifted to represent [f]). This doubling trick is also found in other places such as Spanish where the letter Ñ originated from the NN.

As you might have noticed, the classical Roman Latin alphabet only has what we called "upper case", or majuscule, letters. So where did "lower case", or minuscule, letters come from? By the 4th century CE, a semi-cursive style called uncial was being used for handwriting. Uncial is considered a majuscule style but with rounded letters. Eventually this evolved into the minuscule style by the 8th century CE. Originally the two styles were used separately, majuscules for monumental inscription, and minuscules for manuscripts. However, during the reign of Charles the Great (early 9th century CE) the Carolingian Reform forced the merging of the two styles and the creation of the "dual alphabet". With this, our modern Roman alphabet was born.