# Transliteration Of alphabet and pronunciation question



## SeñorDobleV

Hello, I have two small questions. 

My interest in Greek writing was piqued when seeing some inscribed ancient Greek pottery at the Getty Villa museum yesterday. So I guess I’ll start at the beginning. I wanted to use Quizlet to memorize the alphabet, but most only include one variant of each character, usually lowercase. However it doesn’t have a transliteration of the character names to differentiate between upper and lowercases.
For instance: A and α are both “alpha”, but the audio says something like ”alpha kefaye” and “alpha mikro”. I’m only guessing at how that’s spelled. Is this correct? Do you say kefaye for a capital ancient Greek letter and mikro for a lowercase one? 

And does anyone know of a good guide to transliterating/pronouncing those ancient Greek words? I would like to just be able to see the text and be able to pronounce it even though I don’t speak the language. Even though I will no doubt have an English translation of poetry and such ready on hand, I’d like to be able to recite it in the original to hear what it sounded like.


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## SeñorDobleV

Edit: Also what are the C and c variations of Sigma called in ancient Greek? And are the words kefaye and mikro different than what they would have been called in ancient times?


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## dmtrs

SeñorDobleV said:


> does anyone know of a good guide to transliterating/pronouncing those ancient Greek words?



You can try these sites:
Ancient Greek Tutorials @ AtticGreek.org

Ancient Greek pronunciation dictionary




SeñorDobleV said:


> alpha kefaye” and “alpha mikro



Capital letters are called κεφαλαία (singular: κεφαλαίο) and in small letters μικρά (singular: μικρό). [pronounced kephal*ae*o / mikr*o *- with the accent on the bold letter.]
Α or α is called alpha (άλφα) either it is capital or small; same thing for all letters.




SeñorDobleV said:


> are the words kefaye and mikro different than what they would have been called in ancient times



In ancient times all letters were capital. Small letters were introduced in the Hellenistic period (roughly 323 B.C. - 31 B.C.).




SeñorDobleV said:


> Also what are the C and c variations of Sigma called in ancient Greek?



I cannot understand your question. Can you please rephrase/explain?


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## sotos

SeñorDobleV said:


> Edit: Also what are the C and c variations of Sigma called in ancient Greek? And are the words kefaye and mikro different than what they would have been called in ancient times?


In byzantine/medieval script they were ofthe using C or c instead of the sigma (Σ, σ, S). Stiil used in hagiography. KefalEo means "capital letter" and mikro = small.


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## entangledbank

The C shape of sigma is called lunate sigma in English (lunate = moon-shaped or moonlike). I don't know if a similar term is used in Greek.


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## Perseas

In this wiki site it's called _μηνοειδές σίγμα_ (= _crescent-shaped_ _or moon-shaped sigma_).
Ancient Greek _μήνη _means_ moon._

There's also this information:
_In the Byzantine script it was also written as the C c, which is still used in hagiography and some publications. Despite the similarity to the Latin C c (and the fact that they represent the same sound in some languages) it is not the same letter. The Latin originated from a rounded form of Γ (Gamma).
_
<The translation into English is mine>


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## sotos

The modern final sigma (ς) originates from C.


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## SeñorDobleV

sotos said:


> The modern final sigma (ς) originates from C.


Oh, is that where the French get it? Why was it used?


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