Greek Lessons!
This is a fun little thread to teach you some Greek perhaps and how to pronounce various Greek words (there are many especially in science) and what they mean.
@booinyoureyes can help me with it if he wants to.
So, I'll start with an example:
Psychology: Original Greek word from psyche (ΨΥΧΗ - ψυχη and pronounced "p-see-HEE" like psalm) and logy (ΛΟΓΟΣ - λογος, pronounced "LOH-goh-s" like Lego) meaning word, speech (Word of God), thought, research or reason (logic) depending on context.
So psychology means literally in Greek: "soul-research" or "the research of the soul".
@booinyoureyes can help me with it if he wants to.
So, I'll start with an example:
Psychology: Original Greek word from psyche (ΨΥΧΗ - ψυχη and pronounced "p-see-HEE" like psalm) and logy (ΛΟΓΟΣ - λογος, pronounced "LOH-goh-s" like Lego) meaning word, speech (Word of God), thought, research or reason (logic) depending on context.
So psychology means literally in Greek: "soul-research" or "the research of the soul".
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The hardest for many people in the States is the Delta sound. The "D" in Greek is pronounced like the "Th" in "The", "Then" and "There". People do struggle with it though.
If anyone has read the Silmarillion by Tolkien they would see that he expresses this sound in English by placing an "h" after the "d". He mentions it in the glossary. Therefore the name Caradhras would be pronounced "Car-ra-th-ras" with a strong "th" sound.
There actually is not Greek letter for the "D" sound, and it is replicated by using "nt" (or vt in Greek as the v is an n). So Daniel is "Ntanial". This drives my girlfriend crazy, since she loves my mom's dolmades but can't understand why the second "D" is pronounced in the Greek way while the first is pronounced normally X)
Studying science I notice the Psi sound was just made into an "ess" sound, just like in "psychology". Psoriasis is pronounced "so-eye-ah-sis" when it would start with a "pso" sound in Greek.
Just some tips on pronunciation
-"B" is pronounced like a "V" in English. Aurora Borealis means "Northern Lights". The North comes from Latin, but the second part comes for borias which is Greek for "North". Here b in borias is pronounced like a V. So "Vorias"
-"P" is pronounced like a rolling "R". A lot of people take Spanish so will understand it. So, like the previous example, lets take the word Borias (Greek for North). In Greek it would be spelled βορέας
-"H" is a hard one, and is represented by the letter "X" (Chi). Think of it as the H in "Ahmed" when the name is pronounced in Arabic. I usually think of it as the more "K" sounding version of "Cha" (as when Ahmed is spelled "Achmed")
-"G" is actually a hard "Y" sound. Also sometimes represented with a "gh" in English (to represent this sound from many different languages). This is the hardest to explain through text. It is like the normal Y sound in English, but you keep your tongue near the roof of your mouth a little longer with a little more pressure and you are almost there.
- Sine P and B are pronounced differently, what do we do with their normal sounds? Well, like the "D" sound we are all used to, the "B" sound does not have a letter representing it in Greek (yet Greek has three different "E"s... logic!). Instead it is represented as an "mp" (like members of Parliament in the UK). So Baseball is "Mpeizmpol"... which looks CRAZY.
The P sound has a letter we all know from geometry. Pi! nomnomnom
There is more but I'm a little tired now, so I'll contribute more later. This is actually really fun for me since I am trying to teach my girlfriend a little Greek here and there.
Many Greeks, write Giannis (John) like Giannis. Though Yiannis is more accurate.
So Yiannis = Ioannis (formal name) = Ionn = Jonn.
Or another very common name: George. It's Yioryos in Greek and the formal form is "Yeoryios" ( ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ)(yeh-OR-yee-oss).
So you can see how George and Yeoryios have similar roots. (ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ/GEORGE)
Yeoryios means farmer in Greek. Geo (ΓΕΟ-γεο = earth, pronounced "YEH-oh") and -ryios (-ΟΡΓΙΟΣ/-ργιος = work from ΕΡΓΟ-εργο, "er-YO" or "er-GO" if it helps).
Or Peter from the Greek "petra", which means stone or rock.
And I remember a part in the Bible that Jesus calls Peter like that because his faith would be as tough as stone.
If it helps "Γ" like in (Yiannis) is like a harder "yeah". And "Δ" (our Delta or ΔΕΛΤΑ-δελτα) is like "the".
You have to remember, that Ancient Greeks wrote only in what is today's capitals in Modern Greek.
So you have:
ΖΕΥΣ (zeus), ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ (hercules/heracles), ΑΘΗΝΑ (athena, with a softer "th" like "south"), ΟΛΥΜΠΟΣ (olympus).
Which makes it easier to pronounce wrong because many letters are similar.
About the Χ-χ (ch) sound, like @booinyoureyes said, you have:
ΧΑΟΣ (CHAOS)
ΧΑΡΙΣΜΑ (CHARISMA)
ΜΙΧΑΗΛ (MICHAEL)
ΧΑΡΤΗΣ (CHART, map or charter)
So it is Yannis (John) + Thanassis (Nathaniel)=John + Nathan= Johnathan
People always ask me why I have an extra "H" in my name, since most spell it Jonathan. This is the reason.
As @booinyoureyes said it's "CHA-ree-vthees". ("Th" like "the")
And Scylla as "SKI-lah". Scylla also means literally "bitch". As in, the female dog.|
Also the way to pronounce Zeus in Greek is "ZEH-ffs". What you read or heard online is just the English pronounciation.
Technically, both are right. It's just that the original one is pronounced differently.
It's a Greek word about a Greek monster in Ancient Greece.
In Greek it's "ΧΑΡΥΒΔΙΣ" or "ΧΑΡΥΒΔΗ". Pronounced "HAH-ree-vdees" or "HAH-ree-vdee".
XA = HA (like Ha!)
Ρ = R
Y = EE (I guess, the sound "e" not "eh")
B = V
Δ = D
I = EE (see above)
Σ = S
This is the purest pronounciation.
Also, each letter is pronounced:
A = Alpha
B = Veeta (or Vita or Beta for you)
Δ = Thelta or (Delta for you)
Σ = Siyma (same as above or Sigma if it makes it easier)
And generally, you can substitute the rough Y for G. If you go and call someone "Giorgo", they will tell that you're a foreigner but will understand you perfectly.
The same with using "D" instead of the hard "Th".
That's how they're commonly used to pronounce Greek words instead of messing with "th" and "y".
Here are the "E"s:
1. Epsilon (E/ε): the "eh" sound like in "better" or "met".
2. Eta (H/η): the "ee" sound like in "fee" or "three". Used as the last letter in feminine wordsl
3. Iota (I/ι): also an "ee" sound like Eta, but is a little shorter. I think of it this way: if Eta is the "ee" sound when you have two consecutive letter "E"s, then Iota is like the "I" in "Elite" or like the "ie" in "belief". Being a bit shorter is why it is often followed by other vowels, such as in my name "Ionnis", in which it almost serves as a "Y" (hence the Yanni). It is also used as the ending for neutral words.
4. Ipsilon/Upsilon (Y/υ): Is like a reeeaalllly short "ee". Almost like an I. If I was to spell it phonetically it would almost be like an "ih". In words derived from Greek in English it is usually preceded by and H (English H, not an Eta!!!). Like in "Hyphen" or in "Hyperdrive"
So they used different "techniques" instead of commas etc. Because they didn't have the luxury of virtually endless supply of paper (scrolls) or stones. So they were more efficient that way, I would guess.
Or maybe it's for a completely different reason, not sure.
EDIT: Actually, here's the etymology of it:
"Old English Grēcas ‘the Greeks’, from Latin Graeci, the name given by the Romans to the people who called themselves the Hellenes, from Greek Graikoi, which according to Aristotle was the prehistoric name of the Hellenes."
We call ourselves "Hellenes". ΕΛΛΗΝ (one Greek)-ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ (many Greeks), pronounced as "EL-in" and "EL-in-ess".
Greece would be ΕΛΛΑΣ (formal) - ΕΛΛΑΔΑ (informal), pronounced "EL-as" and "EL-ah-tha (or -da)"