Ancient vs. Modern Greek Pronunciation

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Ward

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Nov 23, 2023, 2:16:31 PM11/23/23
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Anyone:


I have the following puzzling dilemmas:

  • Wikipedia says the 4th Greek letter Delta (Δ δ) is now pronounced as a th sound [then].

  • Google Translate pronounces it as a V (Beta as V). See examples used in picture below.

  • All seem to agree that Delta was pronounced as a d sound in the past.


For Delta as Theta Sound: Wikipedia: Greek Alphabet

image.png (Sorry Image not showing. See Wikipedia entry on letter Delta.)

In Google Translate, the vocalization sounds distinctly English V sound or Greek Beta pronounced in its V pronunciation. Only the Delta entry has a theta sound to my ear. Examples shown below:

image.png (Image not showing.  Have Delta, Diogenes, dialectic, Demos translated to Greek with only Delta as Thelta, the others with V sounds Viogenes, vialectic, etc.)

Questions:

  1. Mike Dukakis said Dukakis, not Thukakis, Vukakis. Do any Greeks still use the ancient pronunciation, rural people, Greek Hillbillies?

  2. Do people pronounce their traditional surnames or given names the old way while pronouncing the rest of the vocabulary differently?

  3. When I first checked on this, I recall Google Translate using Velta for Delta. And just now: 'the Nile Delta' was translated vocally as Velta. Only the letter word 'Delta' uses the theta sound.

  4. Is there something sinister about this? What is your take on this? Is there a perfectly sensible explanation?


Thanks for any help. I tried a Greek consulate once with no response. I thought it a simple question and with a much shorter email than this.


Ward

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Ward

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Nov 23, 2023, 4:25:27 PM11/23/23
to Ancient Greek Best Practices
Saulus (transliterated), a few entries below gave me the info I was looking for for the most part. For the life of me, listening to YouTube examples, all I hear is a V where a Th(crossed line) transliteration is shown, except for the letter itself.

NOTE TO READER: I copied the posted entry from an email. Please ignore and avoid hyperlinks such as Reply, Forward, etc. within the body of the message. These come from one of my email providers and should not be used. I cannot edit or delete on my own.

Ward

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