As a matter of fact, in modern Greek the word for “seven” occurs in two forms: as επτα (epta) and as εφτα (efta), and each of them is pronounced according to its particular spelling.
CI I LXIX. E. H. Sturtevant, W. S. Allen).7 Of the Greeks, who brought the Greek letters —and hence the historical pronunciation of Greek— to the West both before and after the fall of Constantinople, the following specimen may be given: The Hesychian monk Barlaam the Calabrian (1290-1348) having studied at Constantinople University (founded in A.D. 1045) was one of the first Greeks to spread the knowledge of Greek in Italy. Such inexactitudes about Modern Greek abound in F. Blass, Über die Aussprache des Griechischen (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1st ed. In particular, the material that evinces not the official historical spelling, often found in public inscriptions, but the popular, often uneducated people’s spelling, that tried to reproduce the sounds of the spoken language, is the safest guide to the pronunciation of Greek in antiquity. This pronunciation is presented as the scientific pronunciation of Greek in contradistinction to the Modern Greek pronunciation, which is considered to be a departure from it.
ecclesia ) rather than with i (i.e. Careful study of the evidence leads to the following results:The letters α, ε, ι, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, χ, ο, π, ρ, σ, τ, φ, ψ__are not in dispute. English pronunciation is the most un-Greek pronunciation of all European pronunciations so how can it be right. This article exposes the evolution of the pronunciation of Greek since the origins of the language.On being taught how to pronounce Greek words, the student of New Testament Greek is told that he is learning to pronounce the language not in the Modern Greek fashion, which is a late development, but in the way in which ancient Greeks used to pronounce it. Why is modern Greek pronunciation almost completely ignored by English linguists. His translation of Homer was used by Petrarch and Boccacio in their educational reform; Manuel Chrysoloras was professor of Greek at Florence University (1396-1399); he lectured also in Pavia, Milan and Rome; Georgios Gemistos Plethon (1360-1452), an observer at the Synod of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1439), lectured during that period to the learned of Italy on Plato, and his superiority to Aristotle, introducing his audience to the differences between the two philosophers. It was not necessary for the Redeemer to die in order to save the world; a drop of his blood, a single tear, or prayer, was sufficient to procure salvation for all; for such a prayer, being of infinite value, should be sufficient to save not one but a thousand worlds. The significant material comes to us in the form of inscriptions from the 7th century B.C. Priests are chosen by God to manage on earth all his concerns and interests. Thus, by the celebration of a single Mass, in which he offers Jesus Christ in sacrifice, a priest gives greater honor to the Lord, than if all men by dying for God offered to him the sacrifice of their lives. Written records take us back three and one half millennia. He ended both the 2nd and 3rd editions of his work by a remarkable sentence expressing arrogance and at the same time admission to have perverted (“Verhunzung”) the pronunciation of Greek: “_ die wirkliche Sprache aber mag eher noch mannigfaltiger gewesen sein, und es ist hiernach wohl vollends klar, welche ungeheuren Schwierigkeiten die griechische Aussprache für den Ausländer dargeboten haben muss. It is the priest, who, in giving absolution, exerts the arm and voice of God, by which he rescues souls from hell.According to St. Ambrose, a priest, in absolving a sinner, performs the very office of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of souls. 1. Erasmians] für sich in Anspruch nehmen, eine gänzlich nichtige und wertlose” (italics mine), and considered that the German pronunciation of Greek was practically identical with the true and genuine pronunciation not only of Homer, but also of the entire period during which the Greek language flourished — a strange position in view of the enormous epigraphical evidence to the effect that the pronunciation was undergoing deep changes in vth and ivth c. The impression he made was such as to lead the Medici to found the Platonic Academy of Florence (1459); Archbishop Bessarion founded with the help of Pope Nicolas V an Academy for Greek philosophy in Rome; Ioannes Argyropoulos was professor of Greek at Florence 1456-1470, where one of his pupils was Politian; he was invited by Hungarian king Matthias I Corvinus to introduce Greek learning in Hungary; Demetrios Chalkokondylis (1423-1511) taught in Padua, then in Florence for 16 years, as well as in Milan at the invitation of Ludovico Sforza, at whose court at this time resided also Leonardo de Vinci and Bramante; Constantinos Lascaris taught Greek in Milan as well as at the monastery of San Salvatore (1468-1501), where he succeeded another Greek, Andronikos Galesiotis; Andronikos Kallistos taught in Padua, Bologna, Rome, Florence (1471-1475), and presumably in London, where he died; Georgios Hermonymos was the first Greek to teach at the Sorbonne: among his pupils were German Joh.