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Byzantine Greek

From:Peter Clark <peter-clark@...>
Date:Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 20:47
        Since Enamyn's pronunciation is known only through a couple of Enamyn
phrases written in both Greek letters and Enamyn letters, it makes sense that
I should try to pin down what Greek letters would have been used around the
8th or 9th century A.D. to transcribe Enamyn.
        The vowels are somewhat easy, I just need to make sure that I am using the
right ones for the time period. /a/ = alpha, /E/ = eta, /i/ = iota, /O/ =
omega (or omicron?), /M/ (unrounded /u/) = ? For /M/ I think I'll need a
digraph, like omicron-upsilon.
        The consonants are a little harder. The easy ones: /p/ = pi, /t/ = tau, /d/
= delta, /k/ = kappa, /m/ = mu, /n/ = nu, /f/ = phi, /T/ = theta, /s/ =
sigma, /x/ = chi, /l/ = lambda, /r/ = rho. That leaves /b/, /v/, /S/, /K/,
and /j/. (/tS/ and /ts/ could probably be written as a digraph.) Now, my
understanding is that beta was (and is) pronounced either /v/ or /B/. So I
suppose I could use it for /v/, but that still leaves /b/. Does anyone know
how Greek would have transcribed foreign sounds (_besides_ just dismissing
them as "bar-bar"!)
        Although as I understand it, delta was once pronounced /D/. Would it have
been pronounced /d/ by the 8th century?
        Thanks,
        :Peter

Replies

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