Thegreat - granddaddy of all modern European alphabets , the Greek first principle is used around the world , even by people who do n’t speak anyGreek . There ’s a dear probability you run across Greek more often than you realize . So why is that ? First , permit ’s suss out out the alphabet itself :
The Greek alphabet is composed of 24 letters , seven of which are vowel sound . Each one has a similar lowercase version .
Some of these letters arepronounced differentlythan you might await . For illustration , a lot of people pronounce " alpha " using the same " a " sound as you might employ in " alligator , " however , it ’s supposed to be more like the " a " in " Father-God . " Similarly , " iota " is often said as " optic - ota , " but it ’s supposed to be emit like the " i " in " it . " And " chi " should be pronounced like the " ch " in " Bach . " More orthoepy details can befound here .
The Greek Alphabet in Everyday Life
Despite the relative potency of the 26 - alphabetic character English first rudiment , Greek letter keep to exist and influence today ’s society . For exercise , a dominant mankind or dog is often known as the " alpha male person " or " alpha dog . " ( The less - rife might be the " beta . " ) fraternity and sororities are almost exclusively named for a serial of Greek letters , a holdover from the days when elect colleges routinely instructed students in Latin and Greek and thus Hellenic letters made the fraternitysound more exclusive .
Science and math are full of Greek influence , such as the bit 3.14 , known as " pi " or Π. " Gamma , " used to describe rays or radiation therapy , and " psi , " ( pronounced " sy " ) , used in quantum mechanic to denote wave function , are just a couple of the many ways science intersects with the Hellenic alphabet . And software developers might speak of " beta - testing " something , meaning the product is given to a modest group of end - exploiter to sample out . Hellenic alphabetic character have been used to be numberssince antiquity . Aristotle used them , for representative , and the custom carry on throughout story . ( As we say earlier , Greek is the oldest European speech . )
History of the Greek Alphabet
That ’s no modest amount of people , as there aremore than 10 millionin Greece alone ( Cyprus , the U.S. and Australia also have meaning Grecian populations ) . Several versions of the Hellenic alphabet have existed over metre , and it ’s believe thatthe firstwas adapt from a written material system pioneered by the Phoenicians , sometime around1000 B.C.E.In theearly years , it was write right to leftfield ( sometimes alternating right to left / left to rightfield ) , but 500 B.C.E. saw that substitution exclusively to left to right . The Greeks one - upped everyone else by having the first alphabet to let in vowels .
