Re: Greek questions, on- and off-topic

From: Edward Cherlin (edward.cherlin.sy.67@aya.yale.edu)
Date: Wed Jan 24 2001 - 03:59:23 EST


At 20:16 -0800 2001/1/22, Curtis Clark wrote:
>First the off-topic; private responses, please.
>
>My wife has a ring of modern manufacture that has the lower-case
>Greek delta-iota-alpha, with circumflex on the iota. The catalog
>blurb represents the word as meaning "goddess". My textbook (Chase
>and Phillips, _A new introduction to Greek_) says that "goddess" is
>theta-eta-alpha, acute on the alpha.

My dictionaries, both Biblical and modern, say theta epsilon
alpha-acute. (Strong's, and NTC New College Greek and English
Dictionary).

>When I first saw the word on the ring, I thought of a declined form
>of Zeus, but of course that is masculine and accented on the
>ultimate. I tend to believe that it is not merely bogus, because (1)
>the designer got a Linear B inscription right on another ring, and
>(2) the circumflex (it's obviously not the preposition of the same
>spelling). Is it a word? What does it mean? Is it perhaps not Attic?

It isn't in either of my dictionaries.

>Now the on-topic:
>
>My Greek textbook has acute, grave, and circumflex (called by those
>names), but I'm not sure what these correspond to in the Greek and
>Greek Extended blocks (there seem to be many more diacriticals than
>those). Is there an on-line guide somewhere?

A hasty look turned up

http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/alphabet.html

It only covers the basics (three accents, two breathings, little iota
under). I'm sure there are others.

The acute and grave are oxia and varia, and circumflex is perispomeni
(1FC0, which looks like a tilde in the example). The breathings are
psili and dasia. That leaves dialytika, prosgegrammeni, vrachy, and
macron for others to explain.

>Thanks in advance.
>--
>Curtis Clark http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
>Biological Sciences Department Voice: (909) 869-4062
>California State Polytechnic University FAX: (909) 869-4078
>Pomona CA 91768-4032 USA jcclark@csupomona.edu

-- 

Edward Cherlin Generalist "A knot!" exclaimed Alice. "Oh, do let me help to undo it." Alice in Wonderland



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