Chapter 2: Learning the title "Christ"

 

Lesson 1: The letter chi (pronounced like the "ki" in "kite")

• It is pronounced like the "ch" in "chemical."
• This letter looks like an "x."
• When it is small case, the bottom half will go below the line.

Greek	Small	Capital
Chi	χ	Χ

Lesson 2: The letter rho (pronounced like "row")

• This is the "r" sound.
• This letter looks like a "p" when it is small, but without the little point at the top of the long vertical part.
• When in small case, it will look like a "p" in that the bottom part is below the line.
• When it is capital, it looks like a "P."

Greek	Small	Capital
Rho	ρ	Ρ

Lesson 3: The letter tau (pronounced like "t" plus "owl")

• When in small case, it looks like a short capital "T" but with a little hook at the bottom.
• This is the "t" sound.

Greek	Small	Capital
Tau	τ	Τ

Lesson 4: Breathing marks and the "h" sound

• Greek does not have a letter that represents the "h" in English. It does have an "h" sound, but only at the beginning of words. The "h" sound is shown by a "breathing mark."
• At the beginning of every word that begins with a vowel, you will find a breathing mark. The breathing mark will tell you if the word begins with an "h" sound or not.
• The breathing marks look like single quotation marks. You can see them at the beginning and ending of this word: 'word.' The first one is called a single opening quotation mark, and the second one is called a single closing quotation mark.
• The breathing mark will sometimes be beside the vowel and sometimes over the vowel. If the vowel is capital, the breathing mark will be beside it; if the vowel is small case it will be above it.
• That sounds confusing, but it is not. Let me give you examples.
• You have learned the letter iota: ι
• If it comes at the beginning of a word, it will need a breathing mark: ἰ ἱ
• It looks like this if it does not have an "h" sound in front: ἰ. This is called "smooth breathing."
• It looks like this if it does have an "h" sound in front: ἱ. This is called "rough breathing."
• The breathing marks look like this with the capital letters: Ἰ Ἱ
• You have learned two other vowels, and so this is what the breathing marks (both types) look like when they are small and capital: ἠ ἡ Ἠ Ἡ ὀ ὁ Ὀ Ὁ

Lesson 5: Accents

• In biblical Greek almost every word has an accent mark.
• The three accent marks look like this: ´ ῀ `
• Please note: the one in middle is supposed to look like a little upside smile. Unfortunately my keyboard does not have that Greek mark, so whoever designed the keyboard did not know what that symbol in biblical Greek is supposed to look like: sorry!
• They are called, in order, the acute, the circumflex, and the grave.
• You may ask, "Why are there three and not just one?" Because they each serve a different purpose. I will write the rules here, but you do not need to remember them unless you want to.
• Acute: Used on the last three syllables and can stand on either long or short syllables.
• Circumflex: Used only on the last two syllables and is always on long syllables.
• Grave: Used only on the last syllable, and it can stand on either long or short syllables.
• If this sounds confusing, do not worry about it. It will come more easily as we go along.

Lesson 6: Diphthongs

• Just like in English, this is when two vowels come together to form a new sound.
• Example: start with the letter "o," add the letter "u," and you have a new sound, as in "group," that is neither an "o" sound nor a "u" sound.
• The accent mark will go over the second vowel in a diphthong.
• For the next several weeks I will give you a listing of diphthongs at the bottom to help you remember them. Plus, whenever I give you a word for the first time, I will also tell you if it has any diphthongs.
• Special case: often when the first vowel is an α or η the iota will go underneath the vowel instead of beside it. So, instead of αι ηι you will see ᾳ ῃ
• Warning: whenever you see two vowels together you cannot assume they form a diphthong. I will tell you when two vowels form a diphthong and when they do not.
• For example: αι is a diphthong, but ια is not a diphthong.

Using what you have learned

Now you can read the Greek form of Christ, which is really "christos": Χριστος

And you have already learned "Jesus" in Greek: Ιησους Χριστος

We can add the breathing mark (since Jesus in Greek starts with a vowel) and the accents:

Ἰησοῦς Χριστὀς

And that is Jesus Christ in Greek: congratulations!

One note: "Jesus" has four vowels, but only one diphthong. This is what I mean:

• I said above that when two vowels are together they may form a diphthong. This word is a great example of both: two vowels together that are not a diphthong and two vowels that are a diphthong.
• Consider the two sets of vowel pairs in Jesus: Ἰη and οῦ
• The first pair is not a diphthong and so are pronounced separately: i-ay
• The second pair is a diphthong and is pronounced together: ou like in group

This is how you pronounce Jesus Christ in Greek:

᾽Ι	η	σοῦς	Χρισ	τὀς
i	ay	suus	chris	tos
Smooth breathing; short "i" like in "bit"		like the "oo" in "choose"		short "o" like in "sock"

What you have learned so far

1. Alphabet

Greek small	Greek capital	English name	Sound
η	Η	eta	ay
ι	Ι	iota	i/ee
ο	Ο	omicron	o
ρ	Ρ	rho	r
σ ς	Σ	sigma	s
τ	Τ	tau	t
υ	Υ	upsilon	u
χ	Χ	chi	ch

2. Breathing marks and "h" sound: week 2

3. Accents: week 2

4. Diphthongs from letters we have covered so far: week 2

• οι ου υι
• You can memorize them if you want. Or you can wait and I will tell you if each new word has a diphthong or not.

5. Vocabulary (this will always be in alphabetical order)

Ἰησοῦς	Jesus
Χριστὀς	Christ