[b-greek] Re: Eta + Upsilon diphthong

From: Manolis Nikolaou (aei_didaskomenos@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Mar 31 2002 - 17:10:38 EST


> Re: the HU diphthong:
>
> The Erasmian pronunciation, per my NT Greek grammars, of HU is "ew" as
> in "few," just like the diphthong EU. None of my Modern Greek grammars
> list this diphthong and/or say how to pronounce it. Maybe it doesn't
> exist in Modern Greek.
>
> For reading the New Testament with Modern Greek pronunciation, Spiros
> Zodhiates shows on his pronunciation card that HU is to be pronounced as
> "eef" or "eev", which he distinguishes from EU, which he shows to
> pronounce as "ef" or "ev".
>
> SO ... what is the consensus on the "Modern Greek" pronunciation of HU,
> or how would a Modern Greek pronounce this diphthong if he/she
> encounters it in the NT?
>
> --
> Eric S. Weiss
> http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm
> S.D.G.

Eric, as you probably know, AU and EU , when occurring at the begging of
some Greek verb, turn into HU in the past tenses (e.g. EUCOMAI-
HUCOMHN-HUXAMHN).

In modern Greek, AU could be pronounced either as "af" or "av", while EU
might be pronounced either as "ef" or "ev". Well, the way HU is
pronounced, is depended on the way AU or EU are pronounced in the present
tense. For example, EU in EUCOMAI is nowadays pronounced as "ef", so HU in
HUCOMHN is apparently pronounced as "eef".

However, as to the verbs occurring in NT, I think you can trust in general
the pronunciation AU=af, EU=ef, HU=eef. As far as I know, only AULIZW-OMAI
(AU=av) and EURISKW (EU=ev) are the verbs excepted; go to the trouble of
pronouncing the HU occurring in their past tenses as "eev", OK Eric?

Regards,
Manolis Nikolaou
Greece

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