Polytonic orthography

The polytonic orthography ( modern Greek πολυτονικό σύστημα γραφής politonikó sístima grafís ) is a system of accents and other characters that complement the letters, which was developed for the ancient Greek language . The Greek term Polyton or polytonisch ( πολυτονικός polytonikós ) literally means mehrtönig or much sounding (which compare polytonality and special in linguistic connections) several tone marks containing . For the official spelling of Modern Greek, it was abolished by the Greek parliament in 1982 in favor of monotonic orthography .

General

The polytonic orthography supplements the letters with eight different characters, called diacritics , which indicate the ancient Greek pronunciation of the classical period. They can be grouped into three accents for the different pitches, two puffs, one sign for the result of a krasis and two signs for the i-sound, which was silenced in the history of Greek language .

The acute , Greek " ὀξεῖα " ("oxeîa", sharp accent), which indicates a pitch tone .

The Gravis , Greek " βαρεῖα " ( "bareîa" heavy accent), for the Fallton .

The circumflex , Greek " περισπωμένη " ("perispōménē", bent accent), for a rising and falling tone.

The Spiritus asper , Greek " δασεῖα " ("daseîa", rough (breath)), which indicates that a word begins with the sound [ h ] (as in hygiene ( ὑγιεινή ) ).

The Spiritus lenis , Greek " ψῑλότης " and " ψιλή " (light (breath)), which indicates that a word does not begin with [ h ]. Partly, but not by the majority, it is assumed that the Spiritus lenis in ancient Greek stood for the sound [ ʔ ].

The Koronis, which looks exactly like the Spiritus lenis and inside the word indicates that a word was created by Krasis.

The Iota subscriptum under the relevant letter in modern texts is always in lower case.

The Iota adscriptum next to the letter in question in modern texts always with capital letters.

The acute accent and the grave accent can appear on all vowels . The circumflex can be used on all long vowels (i.e. not on epsilon and omicron, which are always short). In addition to vowels, breath sounds can also appear on the rho. The Iota subscriptum is restricted to Alpha, Eta and Omega. On the Ypsilon at the beginning of the word there is always a Spiritus Asper. In addition, the different groups of diacritics can be combined with one another, for example there is a large Eta with Spiritus asper, Gravis and Iota adscriptum: ᾛ .

Greek words can only be stressed on one of the last three syllables. The acute can indicate the stress on any of these syllables; on the last syllable it is changed to a grave accent if another stressed word follows, except if a punctuation mark follows before the next word; the circumflex can only be used on the last two syllables. Depending on the use of the accents, a distinction is made:

Oxýtonon - with acute (or grave accent) on the last syllable
Paroxýtonon - with an acute accent on the penultimate syllable
Proparoxýtonon - with an acute accent on the third from last syllable ^(note)
Perispómenon - with circumflex on the last syllable
Properispómenon - with circumflex on the penultimate syllable. ^(Note)
Barytonon - without an accent on the last syllable, i.e. all Paroxytona, Proparoxytona, Properispomena, as well as all words without accented characters

		Placement of the accent
		Antepenultima third to last syllable, penultimate syllable	Pänultima Vorendsilbe, penultimate syllable	Ultima final syllable, last syllable
Type of accent	circumflex		Properispomenon ^(note)	Perispomenon
	Acute	Proparoxytonon ^(note)	Paroxytonone	Oxytonone
	no accent on the last syllable			Barytonone

^(Note) Only possible if the final syllable is short.

history

Demonstration of the appearance of using the glyph Ͱ for [h] using the example ἭΡΑ ( Hera )

For the h-sound there was originally the letter Heta in the Greek alphabet . In this form it was taken over into the old Italian and so in turn into the Latin alphabet and our today's H from it. When this sound in Ionic fell silent, this letter was converted to the Eta for the sound [ ɛː ]. It was adopted in this form in Athens, where the h sound was still used. Therefore, the left half of the eta ( Ͱ , similar to ├) was partially used for this sound. Later the spiritus asper developed from it. The Spiritus lenis as the graphic equivalent for "no [h]", on the other hand, developed from the right half of the Eta (Ͱ, similar ┤). A few centuries later, the accents were added. The iota subscriptum was formed from the silent iota.

Over time, the phonetic character of the Greek script disappeared. With this the accents lost their sound-forming meaning. The h-sound generally fell silent. Nevertheless, these characters were retained for a long time in modern Greek texts. In the course of the spelling reform of 1982, however, all diacritics were abolished and replaced by a single accent, the tonos . The different spellings of the individual sounds (ι, η, υ, ει, οι and υι for [ i ], ο and ω for [ ɔ ], as well as αι and ε for [ ɛ ]) were retained.

In an intermediate phase (from the beginning of the 20th century to 1982) the grave accent was partially replaced by the acute, especially in handwritten texts, in the official spelling only from the 1960s onwards. Gravis was not taught in the primary schools where classes were held in Dimotiki . Greek typewriters from this period did not have keys for the grave accent.

Despite the introduction of the monotonic orthography in 1982, there are publishers and private individuals who continue to write polytonically for aesthetic reasons or for reasons of tradition (e.g. the newspaper " Estia "), often with the simplified system without a grave accent (see above).

Example of monotonic and polytonic orthography

**The Lord's Prayer**
monotonous	polytonic
Πάτερ ημών ο εν τοις ουρανοίς αγιασθήτω το όνομά σου · ελθέτω η βασιλεία σου · γεννηθήτω το θέλημά σου, ως εν ουρανώ και επί της γης · τον άρτον ημών τον επιούσιον δος ημίν σήμερον · και άφες ημίν τα οφειλήματα ημών, ως και ημείς αφίεμεν τοις οφειλέταις ημών και μη εισενέγκης ημάς εις πειρασμόν, αλλά ρύσαι ημάς από του πονηρού. αμήν.	Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου · ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου · γεννηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς · τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον · καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. ἀμήν.

Character map

A field with a gray background means that this character does not exist.

lowercase letters

	alpha	epsilon	Eta	Iota	Omicron	Ypsilon	omega	alpha	Eta	omega	Rho
	Pure vowel							Vowel with iota subscriptum
without alcohol / accent	α	ε	η	ι	ο	υ	ω	ᾳ	ῃ	ῳ	ρ
with acute	ά	έ	ή	ί	ό	ύ	ώ	ᾴ	ῄ	ῴ
with grave accent	ὰ	ὲ	ὴ	ὶ	ὸ	ὺ	ὼ	ᾲ	ῂ	ῲ
with circumflex	ᾶ		ῆ	ῖ		ῦ	ῶ	ᾷ	ῇ	ῷ
Spiritus lenis	ἀ	ἐ	ἠ	ἰ	ὀ	ὐ	ὠ	ᾀ	ᾐ	ᾠ	ῤ
Alcohol asper	ἁ	ἑ	ἡ	ἱ	ὁ	ὑ	ὡ	ᾁ	ᾑ	ᾡ	ῥ
Spiritus lenis and acute	ἄ	ἔ	ἤ	ἴ	ὄ	ὔ	ὤ	ᾄ	ᾔ	ᾤ
Spiritus lenis and gravis	ἂ	ἒ	ἢ	ἲ	ὂ	ὒ	ὢ	ᾂ	ᾒ	ᾢ
Spiritus lenis and circumflex	ἆ		ἦ	ἶ		ὖ	ὦ	ᾆ	ᾖ	ᾦ
Spiritus asper and acute	ἅ	ἕ	ἥ	ἵ	ὅ	ὕ	ὥ	ᾅ	ᾕ	ᾥ
Spiritus asper and gravis	ἃ	ἓ	ἣ	ἳ	ὃ	ὓ	ὣ	ᾃ	ᾓ	ᾣ
Spiritus asper and circumflex	ἇ		ἧ	ἷ		ὗ	ὧ	ᾇ	ᾗ	ᾧ

Capital letter

	alpha	epsilon	Eta	Iota	Omicron	Ypsilon	omega	alpha	Eta	omega	Rho
	Pure vowel							Vowel with iota subscriptum
without alcohol / accent	Α	Ε	Η	Ι	Ο	Υ	Ω	ᾼ	ῌ	ῼ	Ρ
with acute	Ά	Έ	Ή	Ί	Ό	Ύ	Ώ
with grave accent	Ὰ	Ὲ	Ὴ	Ὶ	Ὸ	Ὺ	Ὼ
with circumflex
Spritus lenis	Ἀ	Ἐ	Ἠ	Ἰ	Ὀ		Ὠ	ᾈ	ᾘ	ᾨ
Alcohol asper	Ἁ	Ἑ	Ἡ	Ἱ	Ὁ	Ὑ	Ὡ	ᾉ	ᾙ	ᾩ	Ῥ
Spiritus lenis and acute	Ἄ	Ἔ	Ἤ	Ἴ	Ὄ		Ὤ	ᾌ	ᾜ	ᾬ
Spiritus lenis and gravis	Ἂ	Ἒ	Ἢ	Ἲ	Ὂ		Ὢ	ᾊ	ᾚ	ᾪ
Spiritus lenis and circumflex	Ἆ		Ἦ	Ἶ			Ὦ	ᾎ	ᾞ	ᾮ
Spiritus asper and acute	Ἅ	Ἕ	Ἥ	Ἵ	Ὅ	Ὕ	Ὥ	ᾍ	ᾝ	ᾭ
Spiritus asper and gravis	Ἃ	Ἓ	Ἣ	Ἳ	Ὃ	Ὓ	Ὣ	ᾋ	ᾛ	ᾫ
Spiritus asper and circumflex	Ἇ		Ἧ	Ἷ		Ὗ	Ὧ	ᾏ	ᾟ	ᾯ

Web links

Graece - to simply write polytonic Greek (English)
Some fonts in the public domain that contain polytonic characters and instructions on how to use the fonts
History of Greek accentuation and their application (English)
Typing in ancient Greek with WINDOWS XP

Individual evidence

^ Website of the Movement for the Polytonic System (Greek)

[1] Website of the Movement for the Polytonic System (Greek)