# κανταϊφι or καταϊφι ?



## akhooha

I was discussing desserts with a Greek friend of mine and brought up kanafeh, which is the Arabic word. I told her I thought the Greek word for it was καταϊφι, which is the word that appeared on the box of dough that I used to buy to prepare this dessert. She, however, corrected me and said the word was  κανταϊφι. I should mention that she is from Thessaloniki ---- perhaps this is the way they say it there?  Are both spellings acceptable?
Thank you.


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## Acestor

Yes, both spellings are acceptable:

*κανταΐφι* το [kadaífi] & *καταΐφι* το [kataífi]
Παράλληλη αναζήτηση

Kadaif
Greek kataifi
In this variant, called also καταΐφι (kataïfi) or κανταΐφι (kadaïfi) in Greek...
Kanafeh - Wikipedia


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## akhooha

Thanks for your quick reply, Acestor.    So, in modern Greek, the combination "nt" ("ντ") is pronounced as a "d" ?


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## Acestor

Excellent question!

As a matter of fact, the standard pronunciation of "ντ" is [d] at the beginning of a word (ντίβα, diva) and [nd] when not at the beginning. There is a modern tendency to drop the [n] and pronounce it as [d]; and, exceptionally, when the word corresponds to a familiar foreign word spelled with "nt", you may also hear the pronunciation as [nt]. Κανταΐφι pronounced as [kadaífi] may always have been an exception, probably because people preserved the Turkish pronunciation.


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## Tr05

akhooha said:


> Thanks for your quick reply, Acestor.    So, in modern Greek, the combination "nt" ("ντ") is pronounced as a "d" ?


Hi! Well, the thing is that "ντ" is supposed to be pronounced as "d" at the beginning of the word and as "nd" inside it, but the vast majority of Greeks pronounce it as "d" only. In official announcements and advertisements, the "d/nd" pattern is mostly followed, indeed. Personally, I just pronounce it as "d" all the time, but I've noticed that when people talk slowly, they are actually going to pronounce "d" and "nd" correctly! Same goes for "μπ" (b/mb). On the other hand, in Cyprus, everyone makes that distinction.


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## akhooha

Thank you Tr05 and Acestor.


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## bearded

Tr05 said:


> Same goes for "μπ" (b/mb)


And also for gamma+kappa (g/ng)? 
Thank you.


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## Tr05

bearded said:


> And also for gamma+kappa (g/ng)?
> Thank you.


Hi, bearded! Actually, the combinations "-γκ-"and "-γγ-", are supposed to have the same pronunciation: /ng/. Thsese two as well, however, are falsely pronounced as /g/ by most people from Greece, but not from Cyprus. That /g/ sound seems to be an influence coming from the respective English sound (Italian "-gh-"). So, the correct version is /ng/, theoretically, but most people won't pronounce it that way, myself included. For example, the word "αγγειογραφία" is translated in English as "aNGiography" (just like "angiografia" in Italian). Again, in this case, speaking slowly is probably going to elicit the correct pronunciation.


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