O AlphabetGreek, an adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet, is a phonetic writing system compoundper24letters that can represent vowels and consonants.
It is only used in the Greek language, but as it was the basis of most of the existing alphabets in the West, it is common to be used until today.
This is what can be seen in sciences such as Astronomy, in which letters are used in the nomenclature of stars.
In the archaeological record, the first occurrences of the Greek alphabet appear in engravings made on ceramics, the best known of which were found in Athens in the middle of the 8th century BC. Ç. From it comes the alphabet used in the Portuguese language.
Full Greek Alphabet
| Capital letters | Lowercase | Values | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Α | α | The | alpha |
| B | β | B | beta |
| Γ | γ | ç | gamma |
| Δ | δ | d | delta |
| Ε | ε | and | epsilon |
| Ζ | δ | z | seventeen |
| Η | η | ê | ok |
| Θ | θ | t | tit |
| Ι | ι | j | iota |
| Κ | k | k | cover |
| Λ | λ | L | lambda |
| M | μ | m | mu |
| N | ν | no | naked |
| Ξ | ξ | x | ksi |
| Ο | ο | O | omicron |
| Π | π | P | pi |
| Ρ | ρ | r | ro |
| Σ | σ | s | sigma |
| Τ | τ | t | fine |
| Υ | υ | u | upsilon |
| Φ | φ | f | fi |
| Χ | χ | what | Thu |
| Ψ | ψ | ps | psi |
| Ω | ω | ô | omega |
Check the pronunciation of the lyrics on audio.
Origin
O alphabetPhoenician originated in Lebanon and reached the Greeks through Phoenician merchants, whose commercial activity was growing.
As these people traded their wares, so did their writing system.
The Phoenician alphabet was phonetic and not based on ideograms. It was composed only of consonants, in the same way as Arabic and Hebrew.
The Greeks felt the need to adapt this alphabet by introducing vowels. He was so precise in the transmission of speech that it soon became accessible writing.
Before, there were few who mastered the art of writing; they were, in fact, experts, known as scribes.
In addition to the introduction of vowels, another feature that distinguishes the Greek and Phoenician alphabets is the fact that the Phoenicians write from right to left.
This form was initially adopted by the Greeks, who later assumed the direction started from the left side used in Portuguese until today.
But, according to historians, the Greek alphabet was not the first writing system used in Greece.
Around 1100 BC Ç. there was a script called LinearB, which, however, was lost, so that only centuries later would the Greek alphabet have appeared.
Portuguese alphabet
Initially there were a number of versions of the Greek alphabet. Only after an official version was adopted did it become widespread and, given the Greek influence at the time, writing systems based on the Greek model were being developed.
O Portuguese language alphabet arises, thus, through Greek colonists who inhabited the Italian Peninsula in the VII century; C., giving rise to the alphabetLatin, or Roman - the most used in the world.
Note that the word alphabet is of Greek origin, it results from the joining of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha and beta).
Want to know more about this topic? Read:
- Alphabet Origin
- Alphabet Types
- History of Writing
- Morse code