Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Year 12 Ancient - Ancient Greek Pronunciation

In my struggle to pronounce 'agoge' correctly, I resorted to the internet for some advice. I found this useful set of hints here:

Hints on Pronouncing Ancient Greek Names


Here are a few suggestions to help you pronounce ancient Greek names (and other ancient Greek words) in their usual Anglicized way (i.e., not in reconstructed ancient Greek pronunciation). This is at best a guide; to be sure you will have to look in a dictionary. For the most part, pronounce the name like an English word, but with the following exceptions:
  • Final "e" is always pronounced: Athene = a-THEE-neh.
  • "Ch" is pronounced like "k," never as in "church."
  • "C" is pronounced soft (like "s") before "e" and "i" sounds, otherwise it's pronounced hard (like "k"). (This is quite unhistorical; in ancient times all "c"s were hard, but we are used to pronouncing "Caesar," "Circe," etc. with a soft "c.")
  • The same applies to "g"; soft (as in "giant") before "e" and "i" sounds, hard (as in "gate") otherwise.
  • "Th" is always smooth, as in "thigh," never rough, as in "they."
  • You can pronounce the vowels as in English, but you will be a little closer to the ancient pronunciation if you pronounce them as in Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, etc.).
  • "Ae" and "oe" can be pronounced like "e."
  • General rules of accent:
    • If a name has two syllables, accent the first.
    • If a name has three or more syllables, then:
      • accent the second-to-last syllable, if it's long;
      • accent the third-to-last, otherwise.
    Unfortunately, the decision is determined by whether the syllable is long in Greek! However, if the syllable contains a diphthong or contains a vowel followed by two or more consonants, it is guaranteed to be long. Beyond that, you are on your own, I'm afraid.
  • Examples: Aeschylus = ES-kih-lus or EE-skih-lus, Aphrodite = ah-froh-DI-tee, Herodotus = heh-RAH-do-tus, Thermopylae = ther-MO-pih-lee, Thucydides = thoo-SIH-di-des.
Source: Crosby & Schaeffer, Intro. to Greek, sect. 66.

So...agoge should be pronounced AH-GO-JAY according to this...
...but other sites have been telling me 'AH-GO-GAY'! If anyone tracks down the truth, let me know, please!

By the way - if you want to hear some Ancient Greek spoken (by a Harvard professor, not a Greek person...) try going to this page.

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