Transliteration of Greek to the Latin alphabet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This table lists several transcription schemes from the Greek alphabet to the Latin alphabet.

Greek Traditional Scientific Beta code BGN/PCGN UN/ELOT Greeklish
Classical Greek Modern Greek
α a a A a a a
β b b B v v b,v
γ g g G g, y1 g g,y
δ d d D dh, d2 d d,dh
ε e e E e e e
ζ z z, zd Z z z z,s
η e ē H i i h,i,n
θ th th Q th th th,u,8,9,0
ι i i I i i i
κ c k K k k k,c
λ l l L l l l
μ m m M m m m
ν n n N n n n,v
ξ x x C x x ks, 3, x
ο o o O o o o
π p p P p p p,n
ρ r, rh3 r, rh3 R r r r,p
σ ς s s S s4 s s,6
τ t t T t t t,7
υ y u U i y y,u,i
φ ph ph F f f f,ph
χ ch ch X kh ch ch,x,h
ψ ps ps Y ps ps ps,y
ω o ō W o o w,o
Vowel combinations11
αι ae, e ai AI e ai ai,e
αυ au au AU av av5, af6 ay,au,af,av
ει i ei EI i ei ei,i
ευ eu eu EU ev ev5, ef6 ey,eu,ef,ev
ηυ eu ēu HU iv iv5, if6 hy,hu,if,iv
οι oe, e oi OI i oi oi,i
ου u ou OU u ou ou,u,oy
υι ui ui UI i yi yi,gi,i
Consonant combinations
γγ ng ng GG ng ng gg,gk,ng
γξ nx nx GC nx nx gks,gx
γκ nc nk GK g7, ng8 gk gk
γχ nch nch GX nkh nch nx,nch
μπ mp mp MP b7, mb8 b7, mp8 mp,b,mb
ντ nt nt NT d7, nd8 nt nt,d,nd
Modifiers (only classical Greek)
 ̔ h9 h9 ( (spiritus asper)
 ̓ none none ) (spiritus lenis)
 ͅ i? i? | (iota subscript)10
Obsolete letters
ϝ w V  
ϙ q #3  
ϛ st #2  
ϻ s, ś #711  
ϡ ss #5  
ϸ

Notes:

  1. before αι, ε, ει, η, ι, οι, υ, υι.
  2. between ν and ρ.
  3. with spiritus asper.
  4. sometimes doubled between vowels (ex. Larissa).
  5. before β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, ρ and vowels.
  6. before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ and at the end of a word.
  7. at the beginning of a word.
  8. in the middle of a word.
  9. on vowel: h before the vowel; on ρ: rh.
  10. under long vowels.
  11. except when there is a diaeresis ( ¨ ) on the second vowel

[edit] Diacritics

Ancient Greek was a polytonic language. Through the ages, the tone system has been simplified, leaving most of the diacritics (including spiritus asper and spiritus lenis) meaningless. In 1982, monotonic orthography was officially introduced for modern Greek. The only diacritics that remain are the acute accent (indicating stress) and the diaeresis (indicating that two consecutive vowels should not be combined). The acute accent and the diaeresis are kept in both the BGN/PCGN and the UN/ELOT romanization systems. There is one exception: in the vowel combinations αυ, ευ and ηυ the accent moves from the υ (that becomes v or f) to the preceding vowel.

[edit] See also

[edit] References