More on pronunciation

From: Edward Hobbs (EHOBBS@wellesley.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 29 1996 - 15:47:02 EDT


Mark O'Brien wrote (in response to my comment on Jonathan Robie's post!):

>Reading Greek aloud every day (EVERY day!) can keep one's Greek
> alive for years, even when one can't spend time studying or
> "keeping up."

Of course, this raises the issue of pronunciation. I have a Greek friend who
has been trying to teach me to read Greek with the modern system of
pronunciation, and I must say that this does seem to allow one to read the text
with more "feeling", and it sounds more vibrant and less artificial than the
usual system we are taught. Any thoughts on this?

Mark O'Brien
Grad. student, Dallas Theological Seminary
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Edward Hobbs here:
                In my view, the primary issue on pronunciation is this:
Are you going to pronounce Greek outside your own home or study? If not,
pronounce it any way you like--no one will tell on you. If so, then
will that be among (modern-)Greek-speaking people? Use modern Greek
pronunciation. Will it be among other scholars, or students, or in gatherings
of scholars? In this case, you would be foolish not to use something close to
the so-called "Erasmian" pronunciation, with the usual simplifications common
to Hellenistic Greek teaching (e.g., Theta as in English "THing, Phi as in
English "PHilosoPHy", etc.). Using modern Greek pronunciation would leave you
largely not understood.
        Modern Greek has changed quite a bit over two millennia, but not nearly
as much as English has changed in 600-700 years. Even so, it isn't the
"correctness" of the prnunciation, but its use by the profession, which
matters most.
        Interestingly, until very recently, the British pronounced Greek as
though the vowels were British-English, and the accent were Latin! (Hence,
EIRHNH META SOU, "Peace be with you," became "Irene (I-REE-nee) met a sow"!)
The Germans even today do a little of this: the diphthong EI is usually
pronounced as though it were German, like "eye" in English. And of course the
famous example of Latin texts set to music (or even said in church!): The
pronunciation of modern Italian is used!

Edward Hobbs



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