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Hi everyone, I am Western and studied Greek for two years. Of course, they made me use the Erasmian pronunciation. But I have wanted to learn the Eastern pronunciation. Could someone possibly give me a run down on the differences? Also what is the difference between ecclesiastical and modern Greek?
Are there any good online resources for this?
Thanks so much.
Pax Christi!

This slipped under the radar maybe this will help.

The difference between the "Erasmian" pronunciation and the pronunciation of the Greek Orthodox church is primarily in diphthongs. Also, rough breathing marks do not become an h- generally. The difference between Ecclesiastical and modern Greek is as great as, for instance, Latin to Italian. This is not a perfect analogy however.

Such questions certainly cannot be answered so briefly. Try this [monachos.net] website though.

T

Thanks! What pronunciation do Greek Catholics use? The same as the Orthodox?
Usque

Usque,

In my experience, what Greek is used by the Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite is identical to that of the Orthodox. Realize, however, that none of us, Catholic or Orthodox, serve our Liturgies principally in Greek, except the Greek Orthodox - and one suspects that their pronunciation is probably purer than that of the rest of us.

Many years,

Neil

Neil,

Not to be picky but, certainly the Greek Catholics in Greece (few as they may be) must use Ecclesiastical Greek. Or, are you saying they use another language?

Tony

Dear Tony,

No doubt the Byzantine Catholics use Eccliasstical Greek in Greece.

Now you mentioned modern Greek. When Greece became a nation they took the most common dialect and made it the spoken Greek. In the mean time, there were the 'purists' that created a false language called 'katharevousa', (pure Greek). It removed all the foreign words, and created new ones by using Greek verbs.

This was the written language, and it seems that the choice between modern Greek and Katharevousa depended on what political party was in at the time.

Eccleasstical Greek, I have to assume, is probably the Greek of the Hellenic era and add a bit or two of classical Greek... for in the Byzantine era 'demotic' Greek, ( Greek spoken by the people), was not the written language. They themselves wrote in Classical Greek.

As for the pronumciation, I can't help but feel that it was similar to the Greek used in the Greek churches. The 'en' sound seems to be prevalent, sort of like Latin. While in modern Greek, the sounds are quite similar to Serbian. I guess it's the Slavic influence.

Zenovia

Tony,

Whoops! - Be picky and me the one who usually beats on those who neglect to catalogue each and every one of the smaller EC Churches .

Btw, I realized a little while ago that I overlooked the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, which also uses Ecclesiastical Greek as its liturgical language.

Tony, thanks for picking up on that. Shows that your time earning that newly-conferred M.Div. wasn't wasted . Congratulations and may God grant you many years.

Neil