Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

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Matthew Longhorn
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Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

There are two books upcoming by Bejamin Kantor of koinegreek.com (not Mike Aubrey's koine-greek.com), both scheduled for a July release.
The first is $99
The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek - Judeo-Palestinian Greek Phonology and Orthography from Alexander to Islam
https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7831/ ... greek.aspx
What did the apostles’ Greek sound like?

How would New Testament Greek have been pronounced? Often students are taught Erasmian pronunciation, which does not even reproduce Erasmus’s own pronunciation faithfully, let alone that of the New Testament authors. In his new book, Benjamin Kantor breaks a path toward an authentic pronunciation of Koine Greek at the time of the New Testament.

The first comprehensive phonological and orthographic study of Judeo-Palestinian Koine Greek, The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek surveys thousands of inscriptions and papyri to determine its historical pronunciation. Benjamin Kantor covers his cutting-edge methodology, the chosen sources, and their context before explaining the pronunciation of each Greek phoneme individually. Written for interested students and specialists alike, this guide includes both explicatory footnotes for novices and technical analysis for veterans.

The second is a condensed version at $14.99
https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7832/ ... greek.aspx
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by Stephen Carlson »

I’m willing to bet the apostles spoke Greek with a foreign accent.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Stephen Carlson wrote: February 16th, 2023, 5:21 am I’m willing to bet the apostles spoke Greek with a foreign accent.
Probably correct, it will be interesting to see how / whether he touches on that. I do believe that some of his currently published research looks at pronunciation in different broad regions but I can’t recall where I saw that.
Do you see any value in the exercise of trying to reconstruct ancient pronunciation?
James Spinti
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by James Spinti »

Ask Randall Buth, a long-time contributor here. He has tapes and a live-in institute in Israel:
https://www.biblicallanguagecenter.com/

He's done a good deal of work on the ancient papyri, recreating the ancient dialects. According to him, there is a great deal of value (and I would agree).
Proofreading and copyediting of ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies monographs
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

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James Spinti wrote: February 18th, 2023, 11:53 am According to him, there is a great deal of value (and I would agree).
I have triedd to adopt his pronunciation scheme as best I can and shifted from Erasmian a few years back. Was hard but I am glad I made the shift in the end, if for nothing else than the Greek lady at work doesn’t look at me like I am butchering her language as much. Those stares chill me still
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Matthew Longhorn wrote: February 18th, 2023, 11:46 am
Stephen Carlson wrote: February 16th, 2023, 5:21 am I’m willing to bet the apostles spoke Greek with a foreign accent.
Probably correct, it will be interesting to see how / whether he touches on that. I do believe that some of his currently published research looks at pronunciation in different broad regions but I can’t recall where I saw that.
Do you see any value in the exercise of trying to reconstruct ancient pronunciation?
There's always value in understanding the past better, of course, but I know that one can be fluent even with a strong, non-native accent.

The main thing is thinking about who are you speaking to, and being understood. Ideally, this would involve not merging distinct phonemes (e.g., pronouncing ει as η, which were distinct back then, or how a lot of Americans pronounce α and ο the same when they never were in the history of Greek). But as to whether β sounded like /b/ or /v/, that was within first-century variation and in any case would not impede intelligibility.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Kantor - The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Looks like these are now published as of today
https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7831/ ... greek.aspx
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