6 Transliteration

There is a standard system for representing, or ‘transliterating’, Greek letters in English. A transliteration can be a useful tool in the initial stages of learning Greek, because it can confirm that you have understood each individual letter correctly.

For example:

• Ποσειδων Poseidо̄n
• λεγω legо̄ (= ‘I say’)
• σοφος sophos (= ‘wise’)

The following letters are represented in English by two letters:

• θ (theta) th
• φ (phi) ph
• χ (chi) ch
• ψ (psi) ps

The long vowels are represented by their English equivalents, ‘e’ and ‘o’ with a horizontal line above, called a macron.

• η (eta) ē
• ω (omega) о̄

Gamma is transliterated as ‘n’, when it precedes gamma, kappa, xi or chi. This reflects the way in which these combinations of letters were pronounced by the ancient Greeks:

• αγγελος angelos (= ‘messenger’)
• αγκυρα ankura (= ‘anchor’)

Upsilon can be represented as ‘u’ or ‘y’.

The transliteration of Greek names often follows a Latinised form, especially if a name is well known. Thus ‘Aeschylus’ is the usual spelling of the name of the Greek playwright, rather than the technically correct ‘Aischulos’ (Αἰσχύλος).