Author: Nick Nicholas

A couple from Modern Greek: Μια πάπια μα ποια πάπια. mja papja ma pja papja. “A duck, but which duck?” Surprisingly difficult. Άσπρη πέτρα ξέξασπρη κι απ’ τον ήλιο ξεξασπρότερη. aspri petra kseksaspri c ap ton iʎo kseksasproteri. “White stone, utterly white, even more utterly white than the sun.” Ο παπάς ο παχύς έφαγε παχιά […]

To make explicit what others are hinting at: it is pronounced /v/, but is often transliterated as /b/ for consistency with ancient Greek. You won’t see it with modern names, but you may see it library catalogues, for example, which often use the same transliteration for ancient and modern Greek. And if a name is […]

Modern Greek: thumb: μεγάλο δάχτυλο “big finger” (vernacular) thumb: αντίχειρας “opposite to the hand” (formal) index finger: δείκτης “pointer” (i.e. index) (formal) middle finger: μέσος “middle” ring finger: παράμεσος “next-to-middle” little finger: μικρό δάχτυλο “little  finger” (vernacular) little finger: ωτίτης “ear finger” (i.e. use to scratch the ear) (formal) … If you go online, you’ll […]