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==Main letters==

==Main letters==

The modern Greek alphabet and its corresponding pronunciations in the [[IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] are as follow:<ref name="alexandro">http://www.geocities.com/alexandrosworld/Greek/Phonology.html</ref><ref>Pronunciations separated by a slash indicate a phonetic difference depending on the following vowel. On the left is the pronunciation before [ε] and [i], on the right the pronunciation before [a], [ɔ], or [u]. In the case of iota, the difference depends on whether it is word initial before a vowel.</ref>

The modern Greek alphabet and its corresponding pronunciations in the [[IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] are as follow:<ref name="alexandro">http://www.geocities.com/alexandrosworld/Greek/Phonology.html</ref><ref>Pronunciations separated by a slash indicate a phonetic difference depending on the following vowel. On the left is the pronunciation before [ε] and [i], on the right the pronunciation before [a], [ɔ], or [u]. In the case of iota, the difference depends on if it is word initial before a vowel.</ref>

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Originally Greek was only written with what are today considered capital letters. The lowercase letters are based on handwritten forms developed during the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]].<ref>http://biblaridion.blogspot.com/2005/08/greek-miniscule-script.html</ref> In the case of sigma, the lowercase form varies depending on whether it occurs at the end of a word (ς).

Originally Greek was only written with what are today considered capital letters. The lowercase letters are based on handwritten forms developed during the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]].<ref>http://biblaridion.blogspot.com/2005/08/greek-miniscule-script.html</ref> In the case of sigma, the lowercase form varies depending on if it occurs at the end of a word (ς).

Most of the letters are named after their models in the Phoenician alphabet – compare Semitic aleph, beth, gimmel to Greek alpha, beta, gamma. Zeta seems to have been named to better fit the pattern set by beta, eta, and theta. Epsilon, omicron, upsilon, and omega are the only letters with distinctly Greek names, all with origins in the Byzantine Empire. Epsilon and upsilon where given the affix -psilon (ψιλόν, "simple")<ref name="quin">http://www.quinapalus.com/gr0.1.html</ref> in order to distinguish them, respectively, from the digraphs αι and οι, which by that time had come to be pronounced the same way.<ref name="Smyth">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007&layout=&query=toc&loc=1</ref> Omicron ("small o") and omega ("great o")<ref name="quin" /> were named in order to distinguish them from each other, having by that time come to have the same pronunciation.<ref name="Smyth" />

Most of the letters are named after their models in the Phoenician alphabet – compare Semitic aleph, beth, gimmel to Greek alpha, beta, gamma. Zeta seems to have been named to better fit the pattern set by beta, eta, and theta. Epsilon, omicron, upsilon, and omega are the only letters with distinctly Greek names, all with origins in the Byzantine Empire. Epsilon and upsilon where given the affix -psilon (ψιλόν, "simple")<ref name="quin">http://www.quinapalus.com/gr0.1.html</ref> in order to distinguish them, respectively, from the digraphs αι and οι, which by that time had come to be pronounced the same way.<ref name="Smyth">http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007&layout=&query=toc&loc=1</ref> Omicron ("small o") and omega ("great o")<ref name="quin" /> were named in order to distinguish them from each other, having by that time come to have the same pronunciation.<ref name="Smyth" />