THE SECRET CODE & MEANINGS OF THE GREEK ALPHABET

LETTERS-WORDS-SYMBOLISM

Presentation to the 2nd IAPTI CONFERENCE

Saturday 21st September 2014

by

Maya Fourioti

Translator –IAPTI Member

Bio

I am a multilingual freelance translator and I have studied languages all my

life. I was educated in France at Lyon II University and more precisely EN-FR/
FR-EN translation and specialized in the Semiology of Poetry. I am also a
History of Art –Museology graduate. Since then I have been working as a
translator and EFL teacher in the private and public sector for 30 years. In
2003 I decided to fully shift into translation and I run my private business
Transforum Translations. My working languages are EN-FR-IT and Greek, my
mother tongue.

Why this presentation?

I wanted to share with you a story, some hi-story of my mother tongue.

GREEK.

After reading it you might sit back and reflect about how important was the
contribution of this language to science, the arts, drama, philosophy and to
the shaping of our modern civilization.

With this presentation I also want to honour my tutor at the University of Lyon
II MICHEL CUSIN- he died in 2012- a master of language, a dedicated
semiologist and researcher.

I owe him what I am today, my career and passion for writing and exploring
language.

Michel Cusin showed us a way to be and bear life, fight for life, be conscious
of what we do and say, live for life and deal with loneliness through
consciousness.
For this presentation I have used reference material from my two specialisms

Linguistics/Semiology & Archaeology

δet us tell the story…

A. How much do you know about Greek?

1. How old is Greek?

Greek is more than 4.000 years old.
Along with the Chinese language it has been used, spoken, written for
more than 4.000 years in the same geographical area, by the same
people until today. Some people might have objections supporting that
Ancient Greek is totally different to Modern Greek but this is not true.
Language is a living thing it develops beyond our will; it changes,
propagates and becomes something different in the course of time.
Our Nobel Prize in Literature 1979 poet O. Elytis used to say:
“I am convinced there is only one language: the Greek language. The
fact that today a poet uses the same words (κ κυλαθσμ- the sky, β
γΪζα α- the sea, κ άζδκμ the sun , β ζάθβ- the moon, κ Ϊθ ηκμ-the
wind) in the same way the poets Sappho and Archilochos did is
something marvellous. We communicate with the roots of our
language, Ancient Greek, and this never stops.”

HOMER

Some words from the time of Homer are still used today either in
contracted or compound form.
Τ ΧΡ (θ λσ) WATER Τ λκφσλα (water carrier) , Τ λαΰωΰ έκ
(Aquaduct), φυ Ϊ ω β (Dehydration) and many more.

It is believed that Homer lived around 1.000 BC. Given that the
language in his two master pieces “The τdyssey “ and “The Iliad” was
so elaborate, technical, musical, perfect and unrivalled one might
think:
How many years did it take people from the time they produced
unarticulated sounds to reach the perfection of Homer’s
language?
How long did it take to create words like
«ρο ο ά ος» rose-fingered, ώ ος» white-armed, «ω ύ ορος»
(fading or that dies unexpectedly)?

However, Homer was not the first but the last and most famous epic
poet. Before him there were some illustrious poets before like
(Κλ υφυζκμ-Kreofyllos, Πλσ δεκμ-Prodikos, λε έθκμ-Arktinos,
θ έηαχκμ-Antimachos, Κδθαέγωθ-Kinaethon, Καζζέηαχκμ-Kallimachos)
and the names of their poems are known even today (Φκλωθέμ-
Phoronis, Φωεα μ-Phokais, αθα μ-Danais, δγδκπέμ-Ethiopis,
 πέΰκθκδ-Epigonoi, Οδ δπσ δα-Oedipodeia, Θάίαδμ Σβ ί ) although
their work did not survive.1

2. Has Greek been continuously used?

Yes, it definitely has. The proof is the language we use today.

a) What evidence is there?

Hundreds of years before the conception of α, ί, and so on, Greek
scribes had already started work and were engaged in giving
orthographic expression to their language. It is only within the broader
context of Greek literacy that the origin of the Greek alphabet can be
rightly perceived.2 The δinear syllabic script, the syllabary of the
Cypriot Greeks, and the Greek alphabet each stand as points along an
unbroken continuum of Greek literacy which stretches from the
Mycenaean era to the present.3
b) Archaeology has revealed writing in its primitive form on pottery
stones, shells and caves.

3. How different is Greek to other languages?

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of
languages, native to the southern Balkans, the Aegean Islands,
1 M. Davies, Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, Göttingen 1 .
2
Roger Woodard, A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the Continuity of
Ancient Greek Literacy, Oxford University Press, 1997
3
https://web.duke.edu/classics/grbs/FTexts/46/Scafoglio.pdf
 western Asia Minor and Cyprus. It has the longest documented history
of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written
records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the
majority of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot
syllabary, were used previously.
4. Why are there so many Greek words in other languages?
Greek roots are often used to coin new words for other languages;
Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific
vocabulary.

The Greek language holds an important place in the histories of Europe, the
more loosely defined Western world, and Christianity; the canon of ancient
Greek literature includes works of monumental importance and influence for
the future Western canon such as the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Greek was also the language in which many of the foundational texts of
Western philosophy, such as the Platonic dialogues and the works of
Aristotle, were composed; the New Testament of the Christian Bible was
written in Koiné/Common Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions
of the Roman world, the study of the Greek texts and society of antiquity
constitutes the discipline of classics.

During classical antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the
Mediterranean world and beyond and would eventually become the official
parlance of the Byzantine Empire. In its modern form, it is the official language
of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 23 official languages of the European
Union. The language is spoken by at least 11 million people today in Greece,
500.00 in Cyprus, large parts of Albania and the Greek Diaspora of around
5.500.000 people.

5. Greek and Other Languages

There are around 6.000 languages in the world today. The Bible had been
translated into 1577 of them until 1976.There are also thousands of
languages lost – non-spoken, non-written, ancient languages, Chinese, Indian
etc-

All languages have a central core of words which is more resistant to change
and development and which shows their affinity with other languages .These
are family names, numbers 1-1.000, personal and possessive pronouns and
the verb to be

The primeval element in a language is shown by onomatopoeic words like

Crack-ελΪαω , λί λίαω =squeak, φζκυ-φζκυ –φζκέ ίκμ (waves
breaking)Πα – πΪ αΰκμ ( big noiseΨ πα ω (smash-strike,smite), ίλκθ -
ίλκθ ά (thunder) θ κυπ,ΰ κτπκμ =thud, thump, εκπ, εσπ ω οcut, χ - χίαωο
tear, ζ ζ - ζαζ = say, χ λ χ λ, χαλ ω etch, plot, score, χ λ βμ map,
χαλαε ήλ character, ΰλ - ΰλ φω write (= ΰλα κυθ scratch) ηέ - ηβε ηαδ
graze (for sheep and goats) ηκύκυ - ηυε ηαδ graze (for a cow called Μυεήθβ
Mykini, Μύεκθκμ-Mykonos (the place where cows graze) - Μυε ζβ-Mykali)
εζπ.

Bible Hebrew is considered to be the most ancient language with the oldest
written documents with Greek coming second, followed by Latin.

Greek is the richest language in the world in terms of vocabulary, the most
flexible in syntax, the most expressive, the most resistant to change, the most
conservative in development and the most glorious (It is the language of the
Bible, it is taught in Secondary Education in all EC member states and in
many, American, African, Asian and Australian countries. It is the language
with the most scientific and technical terms which are part of international
terminology, a language that has absorbed most of the lost languages and
changed others by lending the most of vocabulary).

Ancient Greek includes 170.000 words and 46.000 proper names.Modern

Greek includes 50.000 words and 20.000 proper names (where 80% of
modern Greek derives from Ancient Greek ).

Latin comprises 45.000 words, Arabic languages around 30.000 words, and
others below 30.000 words.

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full
entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this
may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over
half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about one
seventh are verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions,
prepositions, suffixes, etc.

But only 6.000 words are original English words because·the rest of them
have been borrowed from other languages mainly Greek and Latin.

French contains 43.000 words.

The most poetic languages are those that in their majority contain two or three
syllable words such as Bible Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Romanic Languages,
Arabic and English.
5.1 Greek and English

The Greek language has contributed to the English vocabulary in five main
ways:

1. Vernacular borrowings, transmitted through Vulgar Latin directly into Old

English e.g. 'butter' (Old English butere < Latin butyrum ξ ίκτ υλκθ = cheese
from beef), or through French, e.g. 'ochre' υχλα.

2. Learned borrowings from classical Greek, e.g. 'physics' (< Latin physica <
ύreek φυ δεΪΨν

3. A few borrowings via Arabic scientific and philosophical writing, e.g.

'alchemyΥ Χξ χβη έαΨν

4. Coinages in post-classical Latin or modern languages using classical Greek

roots, eέgέ ΥtelephoneΥ Χξ ῆζ + φωθάΨ or a mixture of ύreek and other roots,
eέgέ ΥtelevisionΥ Χξ ύreek ῆζ + English ΥvisionΥ ξ δatin visioΨν these are often
shared among the modern European languages, including Modern Greek.

The English–French word place was borrowed both by Old English and by
French from Latin platea, itself borrowed from Greek πζα έα (ὁ σμ) 'broad
(street)';

5. Direct borrowings from Modern Greek, e.g. bouzouki, souvlaki, tzatziki

Many more words were borrowed by scholars writing in Medieval and

Renaissance Latin. Some words were borrowed in essentially their original
meaning, often transmitted through classical Latin: topic, type, physics,
iambic, eta, necromancy. A few of them result from scribal errors:
encyclopedia < ἐΰετεζδκμ παδ έα 'the circle of learning', not a compound in
Ancient Greek; acne (skin condition) < erroneous ἀεθά ξ ἀεηά Υhigh point,
acmeΥέ Some kept their δatin form, eέgέ podium ξ πσ δκθέ
Other words were borrowed unchanged as technical terms, but with specific,
novel meaningsμ telescope ξ βζ εσπκμ Υfar-seeing' refers to an optical
instrument for seeing far awayν phlogiston ξ φζκΰδ σθ Υburnt thingΥ is a
supposed fire-making potential.

But by far the largest Greek contribution to English vocabulary is the huge
number of scientific, medical, and technical neologisms that have been coined
by compounding Greek roots and affixes to produce novel words which never
existed in the Greek language: utopia (1516, κὐ ΥnotΥ + σπκμ ΥplaceΥΨ, zoology
Χ1θθλ, α κθ + ζκΰέαΨ, hydrodynamics Χ1ιγκ, ὕ ωλ + υθαηδεσμΨ, photography
Χ1κγζ, φ μ + ΰλαφδεσμΨ, oocyte Χ1κλη, ᾠσθ + ετ κμΨ, helicobacter Χ1λκλ, ἕζδι
+ ίαε άλδκθΨέ Such terms are coined in all the European languages, and
spread to the others freely—including to Modern Greek. Traditionally, these
coinages were constructed using only Greek morphemes, e.g.
metamathematics, but increasingly, Greek, Latin, and other morphemes are
combined, as in television Χύreek ῆζ + δatin vision), metalinguistic (Greek
η Ϊ + δatin lingua + ύreek -δ άμ + ύreek -δεκμΨ

5.2 Statistics

The contribution of Greek to the English vocabulary can be quantified in two

ways, type and token frequencies: type frequency is the proportion of
distinct words; token frequency is the proportion of words in actual texts.

Since most words of Greek origin are specialized technical and scientific
coinages, the type frequency is considerably higher than the token frequency.
And the type frequency in a large word list will be larger than that in a small
word list. In a typical English dictionary of 80,000 words, which correspond
very roughly to the vocabulary of an educated English speaker, about 5% of
the words are borrowed from Greek.

According to a research conducted by Mr. Aristidis Konstantinidis4, the

English language and international scientific terminology contain a more than
150.000 Greek words. His study, which took 28 years to complete, led to the
conclusion that one out of four English words is of Greek origin. Lexicographic
research shows that Greek is the language of science and literature in the
English language. According to Mr. Konstantinidis, research on the effect of
the Greek language on European vocabulary revealed that, in 1991, French
contained 1250, and German 1450 words of Greek roots. Modern English
contains words from Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Hippocrates, Thukydides,
Homer, Hesiodos, and Galinos.

4
Konstantinidis A. (2006) "The Universal Reach of the Greek Language", ISBN 960-90338-2-2. Athens:
self-published
All words that have been recorded by Mr. Konstantinidis in his research are
words that the English and the Americans recognize in their dictionaries as
words of Greek origin. The research therefore, has not been based on
personal interpretations of etymology. Moreover, a number of dictionaries,
except for the Oxford dictionary, identify many words as being of Latin roots,
disregarding the fact that some Latin roots may actually come from Greek.
E.g., the word "electric" (electricity), is reported as coming from the Latin
"electrum," however, without mentioning that this word, in turn, comes from
the Greek "electron" (amber) or "kechrimpari."

The Oxford Dictionary includes 10,500 Greek words, which constitute 21,6%
of the dictionary.

Ancient Greek words, that were loan words from Persian, such as the word
"agaria" (chore) or Hebrew words, such as "satanas" (satan), have not been
included in the study. It is worth mentioning that according to Merriam-
Webster's dictionary, the English language has borrowed 57 words from
Turkish and 34 words from all Slavic languages. Greek, however, has
contributed 41,614 words.

B.THE GREEK ALPHABET

The Greeks learned many inventions for their Eastern neighbours and the
greatest of them was the art of alphabetic writing. The North Semitic script
was a model for the Greeks. Yet the full history of the birth and the first growth
of the Greek alphabet is still unknown.
 The North Semitic Script, the model for Greek alphabetic writng

1. Questions
a. Where in the Greek or Semitic area did the first transmission to
Greek from Semitic take place?
b. When did it take place?
c. By what routes was it then transmitted throughout Greece?
d. When and how did those additions and divergences appear which
distinguish a)The Greek alphabetic system as a whole from the
North Semitic (the creation of the vowel system, the alteration of
some letter forms, the addition of the letters following tau and b) the
local Greek scripts from each other?
e. What are the natural reactions of an illiterate people when
learning a method of writing from another people?
Initially they feel curious or somehow apprehensive of this novelty
and the idea of using an alphabet/signs to transcribe/transliterate
their language.
f. How do an illiterate people A normally achieve literacy?
f. 1 with close contact with a literate civilization B to acquire the
knowledge
 f. 2 literate members of B are scattered throughout A (the diffusion
of the Roman alphabet country by country)
f. 3 both A and B
Possibilities
A member of A or B , outstanding in position and personality and
with a thorough knowledge of the B script creates a script for A by
synthesis, basing it upon the B script and adding extra signs
necessary for the A language either borrowing them from other
scripts or by newly invented signs. The underlying motives might be
commercial or religious or both.

g. How was the North Semitic Alphabet brought to the Greeks?

g. 1 By close contact between Greeks and Phoenicians in one
territory?
g. 2 Was it introduced by a gifted individual Greek or Phoenician
who had lived in both territories, realized the advantages of the
Semitic alphabet and adapted to the Greek language?
Modern scholars believe it was the work of ONE MAN. They hold
that the creation of the Greek vowels α, , δ, κ, υ from the North
Semitic alep, he, yod, ayin and waw suggests the deliberate
brilliant innovation of a single creator. He probably realized the
limitations of the Semitic alphabet and tried to improve it.
 The Greek Alphabet and other alphabets in the ancient world

h. The context of the illiterate Greek

1. He is faced with 22 signs, sounds and names of the North
Semitic alphabet
2. He may know that other nations ( the Egyptians, the Assyrians or
the late Hittite cities in Cilicia) possess systems of writing which are
technical mysteries, not understood by ordinary people but confined
to a class of trained writers.
3. He may have a tradition of signs/ άηα α (the Mycenaean Linear
B’ systemΨ according to which his ancestral heroes could write
( Hermes, Prometheus, Danaos, Palamides, Kadmos)
4. He is aware that he is learning 22 symbols which will enable him
to put his language into writing
5. He will learn the names and copy the letters; he will adopt the
sounds, as instructed by his teacher because there is nothing to
compare them with.
6. He will accept as complete the system presented to him and all
the sounds in his language which cannot be represented by the
 existing letters will be represented by two letters combined or by a
letter closest to the required sound.

i. Where was the Greek alphabet first introduced?

It has been long established by scholars that the Greek letters from
alpha to tau derived from the North Semitic alphabet.
In the late 5th century BC the Ionians already called the letters of
their alphabet Phoenician and this was attested by Herodotus as
well. The names of the letters in alphabets, the order, the shape –
despite some local changes and later changes-
The material used for writing was clay, ostrakon (shells), leather,
wood, metal, stone and imported papyrus.

The Greek alphabet must have had its birth either in a part where
the Phoenicians were active or in a part of North Semitic area
where the Greeks were active.
The fact that the Greeks did not fully adopt the Phoenician alphabet
or had difficulty with it (right to left writing was only adopted for the
first line and they mispronounced some sounds) leads us to believe
that their teachers were only practical users of the alphabet
probably for trading purposes.
Therefore the place of birth of the Greek alphabet must have been
a well frequented trade-route or must have had a good connection
with the major trading routes of Greece, such as the island of
Cyprus where both peoples lived.
By excluding several possible birth places, both literary and
archaeological evidence suggest that the most probable places
might have been Crete and Rhodes. If Crete received the alphabet
originally then Rhodes, in close vicinity would have been the first
place to benefit from it. However, recent research tends to support
that the place must have been somewhere near, on the Syrian
coast, where the Greeks had settled for trading purposes and they
learnt the alphabet and carried it to Crete and Rhodes, Euboea and
the rest of Greece.(excavations at Al Mina proved that)
 δinear B’ script
j. When was the alphabet introduced?
Linear B writing syllabic script was in use in the Greek mainland in
the late Helladic period III (1425-1100).Scholars believe the
Mycenaean script died with Late Helladic Civilization, the Dorian
invasion and that there was some kind of a Dark Age of illiteracy
before the Phoenician alphabet was introduced.
Researchers and archaeologists place the introduction of the
Phoenician alphabet around the 9th -8th century BC.
The existence of the poems the Iliad and the Odyssey does not
pose a problem because researchers believed they might have
been composed in the late Geometric period in the form we have
them now. The trained memory, of illiterate people, can construct
poems of this length for recitation without the aid of writing.
Besides, the repetitive element in the Homeric poems is
characteristic of oral, not literary composition. However, the quality
of the poems might lead us to believe that the Greeks might have
written them on a leather roll as soon as the alphabet had
established itself in Ionia.
 The primary transmission from North Semitic to Greek must have
occurred in the middle of the eight century BC somewhere in
Phoenicia on the Syrian coast.
The secondary transmission throughout Greece was to be carried
by Greeks. The earliest beneficiaries must have been Crete and
Rhodes. As the alphabet was transmitted to various places of the
Greek world there were many different types of writing for the
individual letters. It is believed that much of the spreading must
have been done by professional teachers the γραμμα ι αί.
Writing was an art and had to be taught like an art. In this way,
when transmission lay in the hands of a single person, omissions
and mistakes were more than probable. Also differences in writing
and pronunciation were more than probable, which explains the
variety of local dialects and adaptations of the alphabet. This
secondary transmission of the alphabet occurred in the late 8 th to
mid 7th centuries.

k. Greek modifications

The Greeks not only adopted the Phoenician consonantal writing

system but modified it in a quite fundamental manner. Each of the characters
of the Phoenician script had only a consonantal value; vowel sounds were not
written. The Semitic language of the Phoenicians contained a number of
consonantal sounds which were quite alien to Greek. As is well known the
Greek scribes assigned vowel values and thus created the first alphabetic
writing system to represent systematically both consonant and vowel sounds.
In the Phoenician script the symbol Υaleλ’ was used to represent a glottal stop
/?/. As Greek had no such consonant phoneme, 'alep’ was utilized by the
Greek adapters to represent the vowel a (both long and short); that is, this
symbol was borrowed as the character alpha. Phoenician 'ayin’ represented a
voiced pharyngeal fricative,a commonly occurring consonant among the
Semitic languages but grossly unlike any sound which Greek possessed. To
'ayin’ the Greek adapters assigned the value ο (i.e. ήκμή, and ήκi/), calling the
symbol ou, later omicron. The Phoenician letter ‘he’ represented the sound
fh/—a sound which also occurred in Greek (though not in all dialects).
However, Phoenician ‘he’ was not used by the Greek adapters to spelt h (for
this, Phoenician heI, /h/, the ‘l’ was appropriated) but was instead used to
represent the vowel e (i.e, /e:/ and /e/), and to which was given the name e E
later epsilon. Phoenician ‘yod and waw’, the symbols for the glides />/ anil
/w/, were also adopted by the Greeks as vowel characters and were utilized to
spell long and short i\l (iota) and long and short ui (called u, later ypsilon)
respectively. In summary, then, the Greeks utilized Phoenician consonantal
characters for representation of Greek vowel phonemes as follows:
 • A, alep: > alpha:, /a:/

• B, he; /h/ -> epsilon:, /e:/

• C, 'ayin’: omicron: , /o:/, and /oi/

• D. yod: /y/ —> iota: ήi:ή and ήïή

• E. waw: /w/ —» upsilon ; /u:/ and /ûl

Changes in Consonantal Values

The assigning of vowel values to certain consonantal characters was not the
only change which the Greek adapters of the Phoenician writing system
effected; the value of a number of the Semitic symbols which continued to be
used for representing consonants was likewise altered. These adjustments in
consonantal value were a consequence of the significant variation in the
system of stops and fricatives which we have seen displayed by these two
languages.

For example, typical of Semitic languages, Phoenician possessed a set of so

called emphatic consonants: namely, those represented by the symbols /s/,
/t/, and /q/.

The Greek language had no such emphatic consonants, and so these

Phoenician symbols were utilized for spelling other kinds of consonantal
sounds by the adapting scribes: tet, /t/, became the ta (representing a
voiceless aspirated dental stop, qop, /q/, yielded qoppa (the symbol used to
spell a /k/ which occurred in the vicinity of a rounded vowel), and sade, /s/,
was adopted as san, the character which was used in certain epichoric Greek
alphabets to represent /s/.
Semitic samek represented the dental fricative /s/; to this character, however,
the Greek adapters ascribed not the value /s/ but that of the sequence /k/ +
/s/; that is, samek is the source of the Greek letter xi /Ξ.

Ιn the Greek alphabet a character which represents the consonantal

sequence /p/ + /s/, that is, the letter psi/Φ.

Φ,Υ,Φ,Ξ

Linguists support that these letters pre-existed in the various epichoric

alphabets, and that the Greeks simply incorporated and adapted them to the
new alphabet.

l. The direction of writing

The Greeks initially adopted the left to right direction of writing.

Later they adopted Boustrophedon from ύreek ίκυ λκφβ σθ,
(“ox-turning” from ίκῦμ, bous, “ox” and λκφά, strophē, “turn”ν that
is, turning like oxen in ploughing), a kind of bi-directional text,
mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. Every
other line of writing is flipped or reversed, with reversed letters.
 Rather than going left-to-right or right-to-left, alternate lines in
boustrophedon must be read in opposite directions. Also, the
individual characters are reversed, or mirrored.

It was a common way of writing in stone in Ancient Greece.

Archaeological evidence of that time has revealed the following:
a) Single lines written retrograde
b) Boustrophedon texts from left to right or right to left
c) Single lines written from left to right
d) Scattered examples of two or more lines written in continuous
retrograde

C. The Syllabic Predecessors of the Alphabet

It was the Minoans who taught the Greeks how to write (the first time), and
quite possibly it was also the Minoans who instructed the Greeks in the
notions of sound classes and the relative sonority of sounds. Whether the
δinear (and syllabic Cypriot) practice of utilizing a hierarchy of sonority (i.e.,
the hierarchy of orthographic strength) for the spelling of consonant clusters
was a Minoan or a Mycenaean innovation is undetermined and will remain so
until Linear A is deciphered.

The creation of the Greek alphabet, a script possessing symbols for

representing not only individual consonant sounds but individual vowel
sounds as well, was without question a highly significant achievement in the
history of writing.

Beyond this, the Greek incorporation of vowel symbols into a phonemic script
has been hailed as a salient event in the intellectual history of humanity. Yet,
even so, the addition of vowel characters to the Phoenician consonantal script
was probably not, in the final analysis, crucial. Had the Greeks simply
continued the Phoenician tradition of only representing consonants in their
writing system, those achievements of the human intellect and spirit realized
since antiquity through the alphabetic medium would not have been
compromised.

However, the fact remains that it is possible to record human speech, human
thoughts, and human ideas in a sufficiently efficient manner by representing
only consonants. While the presence of vowel symbols in a script in which
each symbol represents a single sound may indeed be an asset to the reader
in the cognitive processing of such writing, the history of Semitic writing amply
demonstrates that their occurrence is not essential.
Just why did the Greeks add vowels to the received Phoenician script? At an
earlier period in their history, the Greeks had shown themselves to be quite
willing to operate with a writing system which systematically underrepresented
the sounds of spoken language.

The Greeks added vowel characters to the Phoenician consonantal script in

order to minimize orthographic ambiguity and confusion, to distinguish words
which have a homophonous consonant structure. Consider, for example, a
ύreek consonantal spelling such as Κ P ΢; this might represent εβλσμ ΧKiros|,
ΥbeeswaxΥΨ, εΫλαμ (keras= horn) εσλυμ (|koriis|, helmetΥΨ, or εκτλκμ Χ|kûμros],
'young man )

However, a reader and speaker of the language comes to the written text with
an intimate knowledge of the language recorded in the text. The reader's
knowledge of the language is primary; the mechanism of giving graphic form
to that language is secondary. The reader comes lo the text equipped with
knowledge of the possibilities; it is the requirement of the static text only that it
provides sufficient graphic clues to direct the language-enriched mind of the
reader. We should bear in mind that the Greek adapters did in fact introduce
ambiguity into the new alphabetic system.

D. Εν α χ ην ο λόγο Λόγο "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God". (Gospel of John1.1)

Εν α χ ην ο λόγο = λ γω (speak)

According to the Bible the creation of our world was the expression of the
thought of a Super being, God.

To illustrate what one thinks, even God, one needs a means of expression.

This expression should be to transform the Thought-Word to Articulated-

Word (Sound) and then to Written-Word.

Before this stage, people only listened. They listened to the sounds around
them and combined them with pictures-mental pictures.

Θλμμμμμμμ leaves rustling

Κλα-ελα flying vulture

The procedure went as follows:

1. Recognition and understanding of a sound

2. Connection of the sound with the relevant picture

 3. Creation of a mental phthong (usually vowel

ΦγΫΰΰκηαδ =ζαζυ, ζΫω, κηδζυ=say, speak, speak out)

4. The mental phthong is registered in people’s memory

5.Mimesis /Reproduction and information transmission in one’s

environment.

The Thought-Word conceives the plan/picture for the creation of something

new.

The Articulated Word takes shape into something audible, a small portion of
creation.

The language-any language – in the form of articulated words narrates what

is happening or has happened. The combination of letters to form words is a
code.

The code helps to decipher the world around us, the cosmos, what can be
seen, felt and what cannot be seen or felt.

When articulated words become written texts they make up a heritage for
study, research bequeathed to the generations to come.

The Greek alphabet of 17 consonants ant 7 vowels is a code of knowledge

bequeathed to us. Every letter, syllable or consonant denotes the natural
world, knowledge and science.

The 7 vowels attached to consonants are components of any syllable and

consequently any word.

Each syllable in the Greek language is a combination of a voiceless and a

voiced letter.

The voiceless part cannot be heard but combined with the voiced part CAN
BE HEARD.

The first syllables were created by adding the letter A and so on.

The Greeks from Prehistory had so much information stored in their minds
which led them to classify this information, organize their thoughts and
produce knowledge by combining the registered mental phthongs.

Entropy increased (measure of order and disorder)

The ancient Greeks had used painting to record what they could see around
them and then invented symbols to represent the mental phthongs they had
stored in their memory.

By adopting the North Semitic alphabet they codified knowledge for the
second time. By improving both written and oral speech they reduced
disorder/entropy.

Greek cultures and settlements used different systems to record information

to be transmitted depending on their own needs each time.

IDEOGRAPHIC SYSTEM stored in their memory

PICTORIAL SYSTEM to express their thoughts in pictures

LINEAR WRITING SYSTEM replacement of pictures

by lines-cuneiform A and Buntil 1.000 BC

SYMBOL SYSTEM (LINEAR ’ and ’) by using symbols each

of which represented a different syllable or composite mental phthong.

PHTHONG SYSTEM (phonemes) which is valid until today with

each symbol (letter) combined with others to create complicated

mental phthongs and then words.

 The Cosmos

E. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE

Every language in the world attempts to decipher, interpret,

communicate and exchange ideas about the cosmos. Languages create
texts to be deciphered.

However the cosmos/ the reality is made up of things one can see,
sense, hear, imagine and what one cannot see or sense. The ineffable
cannot be expressed by language. It is there and makes us speak and write.

Every language in the world detracts elements/items from reality and

gives them names – concrete and abstract ones-

But names are not things; we are using them by convention to be able
to communicate. The Greek language is still developing beyond our
conscience and knowledge; it reveals its secrets and deploys its symbols. It
has been there for more than 4.000 years and will be in the future.
 The achievement of the Greek language is that it detracted the best
possible percentage from reality to give the key to people to communicate,
progress, and discover the world and their inner selves. It gave them the key
to the arts, philosophy, science, architecture, astronomy, beauty, ideals,
democracy and many more.(170.000 nouns let alone the names).It was the
language of Γζαυευπδμ γάθβ (Athena with glittering eyes),

Athena

Homer, Epic Poetry, Ulysses and the Nostos (Nostalgia)

pathos, eros, pscyche, phantasy, drama, catharsis, polis, galaxy, poetry,
music, chorus, the marathon, Europe.
 Mt Olympus and the 12 Gods

There are three major questions any

language asks:
a. Birth and the origin of things
b. Death and beyond
c. Eros

The Greek language formulated these three questions through the arts,
philosophy, drama, science and music.

I am proud it is my mother tongue.

Some reference for further reading:

J.B Hoffman : Ancient Greek Dictionary

Lilian Hamilton Jeffery: The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece

Roger D.Woodard: Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer

Symbols, Terminology and Constants in Mathematics

List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names