This page documents naming conventions on both
Ancient
and
Modern
varieties of
Greek
.
The
most common
English
form of an Ancient Greek name or term may fall into any of three groups:
- Latinization.
This is the traditional English way of representing most Greek names in English and is well-represented in the naming of Wikipedia articles:
Jesus
and
Uranus
(not I?sous or Ouranos),
Alexander
and
Byzantium
(not Alexandros or Byzantion),
Plato
and
Apollo
(not Plat?n or Apoll?n),
Socrates
and
Achilles
(not S?krat?s or Achilleus).
- Further Anglicization.
Many traditional English forms are neither Greek nor Latin:
Greece
and
Egypt
(not Graecia or Aigyptos),
Troy
and
Athens
(not Troia or Athenai),
Homer
and
Hesiod
(not Homerus or Hesiodos),
Aristotle
and
Constantinople
(not Aristoteles or Konstantinoupolis). Adjectives?including the language and ethnic names derived from them?and common nouns are typically Anglicized:
Athenian democracy
,
demotic Greek
, the
Celts
,
Platonic dialogues
,
Aristoteleanism
.
- Closer transliteration from the Greek.
From the 19th century, there has been an increasing tendency to transliterate names more directly. While "Herodotos" is still less common than
Herodotus
, scholarly sources may prefer
Tyrannion
,
Pamphile
, or
Arignote
in their Greek forms. This style is especially common with technical terms relating to Greece:
agon
,
epinikion
,
strategos
. [Note that such terms, if not yet common in English, may require the
magic word
DISPLAYTITLE
to italicize them.]
Tagging with the
lang
template
[
edit
]
Articles on people, places, and technical terms from ancient Greece should provide the Greek form of their name in the lead sentence. The Greek text should
not be italicized
or
bolded
. The language code for Ancient Greek is
grc
. Generally speaking, the first appearance of Ancient Greek text in an article should be wrapped with the template
{{
lang-grc
}}
, which provides a link to the article on
Ancient Greek
:
{{lang-grc|Φ?λιππο? Β? ? Μακεδ?ν}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Philippos II ho Maked?n}}
- Ancient Greek
:
Φ?λιππο? Β? ? Μακεδ?ν
,
Philippos II ho Maked?n
Subsequent appearances of Ancient Greek text should be wrapped with the
{{
lang
}}
template:
{{lang|grc-Latn|philos}} ({{lang|grc|φ?λο?}})
- philos
(
φ?λο?
)
For situations where "Ancient Greek" may seem misleading (e.g., late antiquity or in cases where the modern Greek form is unchanged), the template
{{
lang-grc-gre
}}
may be used. This wraps the text itself as Ancient Greek but provides a link to the main article on the
Greek language
:
{{lang-grc-gre|Σωκρ?τη?}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|S?krat?s}}
- Greek
:
Σωκρ?τη?
,
S?krat?s
All
appearances of Greek text
must be given a
romanization
, rendering its content in Latin letters. This romanization should be italicized (which
{{
lang
}}
will do automatically) and may optionally be tagged with the language code
grc-Latn
:
{{lang-grc|?μηρο?}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Hom?ros}}
- Ancient Greek
:
?μηρο?
,
Hom?ros
Pronunciation help
[
edit
]
Pronunciation details for the Ancient Greek should only be given in special cases. Pronunciation hints for the anglicized Greek name can be where the English pronunciation is less than straightforward or ambiguous, note for example
Scythians
:
- The
Scythians
or
Scyths
[footnote:
Scythians
is pronounced
/'s?θ??n/
or
/'s?ð??n/
.
Scyths
is pronounced
/'s?θs/
); from
Greek
Σκ?θη?
Skuth?s
; note
Scytho-
/'sa?θ??/
in composition (
OED
).]
Transliteration
[
edit
]
See
Romanization of Greek
for details on the transliteration of the Greek alphabet. Note that
ISO 843
is intended for Modern Greek and not necessarily suitable for Ancient Greek. Ancient Greek is usually transliterated as follows:
Greek
|
English
|
α
|
a
|
β
|
b
|
γ
|
g, n before γ, κ, ξ, χ
|
δ
|
d
|
ε
|
e
|
ζ
|
z
|
η
|
?
|
θ
|
th
|
ι
|
i
|
κ
|
k
|
λ
|
l
|
μ
|
m
|
ν
|
n
|
ξ
|
x
|
ο
|
o
|
π
|
p
|
ρ
|
r, rh for word-initial ?
|
σ
|
s
|
τ
|
t
|
υ
|
u or y
|
φ
|
ph
|
χ
|
ch
|
ψ
|
ps
|
ω
|
?
|
spiritus asper
|
h
|
Common Latinizations
[
edit
]
There are certain rules for Latinized spellings used in English. These rules are outlined below. But note that actual English usage trumps any of these rules (e.g. "
Athens
", not *"Athenae" for
?θ?ναι
Ath?nai
).
Compared to the close transliteration discussed above, quantity is not indicated, that is, ω and ο both become
o
; ε and η both become
e
. υ and κ are mostly rendered as
y
and
c
, respectively.
Vowel clusters
[
edit
]
Other vowel clusters are unaffected (e.g. Thyestes for Θυεστ??). Any vowel with a diaeresis in Greek can be given a diaeresis in English.
Equivalence changes
[
edit
]
Endings are normally changed to the equivalent Latin forms. Conventional names often ignore regular endings, so
Plutarch
, for 'Plutarchus',
Homer
for
Homerus
;
Herod
for the Kings of Judea, but
Herodes Atticus
.
These deal only with nominative forms unless indicated.
Greek
|
English
|
-η (feminine)
|
usually -e; but
Jocasta
.
|
-η (neuter)
|
-e
|
-αι
|
-ae
|
-ο?
|
-us (usually; use -os for feminines, like
Lemnos
)
|
-ρο?
|
-er (after consonants, like
Lysander
; but
Satyrus
)
|
-οι
|
-i
|
-ων
|
-o (usually)
|
-ων (genitive plural)
|
-on
|
Alphabet
[
edit
]
Again, transliteration needs to be distinguished from anglicization. If there is a common anglicization of a Greek proper name, it should be used in an English language context. A transliteration of the actual Greek can be given in
ISO 843
.
Otherwise, they follow the standard rules as follows, except when a different name is commonly used in English (e.g. "Athens", "Crete", "Corfu"). This transliteration system equals the one used by the United Nations.
[1]
Greek
|
English
|
α
|
a
|
β
|
v
|
γ
|
g
|
δ
|
d
|
ε
|
e
|
ζ
|
z
|
η
|
i
|
θ
|
th
|
ι
|
i
|
κ
|
k
|
λ
|
l
|
μ
|
m
|
ν
|
n
|
ξ
|
x
|
ο
|
o
|
π
|
p
|
ρ
|
r
|
σ
|
s
|
τ
|
t
|
υ
|
y
|
φ
|
f
|
χ
|
ch
|
ψ
|
ps
|
ω
|
o
|
Vowel clusters
[
edit
]
Note: an accent on the first vowel, or a diaeresis on the second vowel, indicates that the two vowels are pronounced separately. Examples: Οιν?η, Χα?δ?ρι.
Greek
|
English
|
Notes
|
αι
|
ai
|
|
ει
|
ei
|
|
οι
|
oi
|
|
αυ
|
av
|
af before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final
|
ευ
|
ev
|
ef before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final
|
ηυ
|
iv
|
if before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final
|
ου
|
ou
|
|
αη
|
ai
|
|
ωη
|
oi
|
|
Consonant clusters
[
edit
]
Greek
|
English
|
γγ
|
ng
|
γκ
|
gk
|
γξ
|
nx
|
γχ
|
nch
|
μπ
|
b (at beginning and end), mp (in middle)
|
ντ
|
nt
|
Diacritics
[
edit
]
Modern Greek uses two diacritics: the
acute accent
(indicating stress) and the
diaeresis
(indicating that two consecutive vowels should not be combined). These are kept in all formal transliteration systems but the accent marks are frequently omitted in practice. No diacritics should be used in Wikipedia article titles.
This is particularly relevant to place names. The page
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)
should be consulted first.
If the article concerns a concept that is significant in the Hellenistic period or before (i.e. would merit its own article even if the modern concept did not), use the archaic spelling. If the article concerns a modern concept merely derived from an ancient word, use the modern version. If a modern word's meaning has no overlap with the ancient word from which it derives, create two articles, but consider including a disambiguation message at the top of each page.
The standards ELOT 743,
ISO 843
, UN and BGN/PCGN1996 are identical and introduce a system that supersedes BGN/PCGN1962. The new standard corresponds to the system devised by the Hellenic Organization for Standardization and approved for international use at the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in 1987.
[2]
So, unless there is a reason for exception, this standard should be always used for geographical names.