Greek Alphabet

Letter Figure Name Remark
A   a 1AlphaSounds like "a" in father
B   b 2 Beta 
G   g 3 Gamma 
D   d 4Delta 
E   e 5EpsilonSounds like "e" in end
Z   z 7Zeta 
H   h 8EtaSounds like "e" in men
Q   J 9ThetaSounds like "th" in thick
I   i 10IotaSounds like "i" in it
K   k 20Kappa 
L   l 30Lambda 
M   m 40Mu 
N   n 50Nu 
X   x 60XiSounds like "x" in box
O   o 70OmikronSounds like "o" in off (open)
P   p 80Pi 
R   r 100Rho 
S 200SigmaSounds like "s" in say
s 200SigmaOnly within a word, sounds like "s" in say
V 6SigmaOnly at the end of a word, sounds like "s" in say
T   t 300Tau 
U   u 400UpsilonSounds like the French "u" or the German "ü"
F   j 500Phi 
C   c 600ChiSounds like "ch" in Loch
Y   y 700Psi 
W   w 800OmegaSounds like "o" in grow (close)

Remarks

The Greek letters did evolve out of the Semitic, our (Latin) letters came from the Greek. Therefore, some Greek letters are written exactly as ours. Capital letters were used before the small.

Pronunciation: g in front of g, j, k, x, c sounds as ng in king.

The Greek diphthongs (combination of two vowels): ou sounds like “ou” in through, ui sounds like we in sweet, au sounds like ow in now, ei sounds like ei in height.


As in Hebrew, numbers were represented by normal letters, that means Alpha=1, Beta=2 etc. Exceptions are number 6: V and number 90, which is written with a token not included in alphabet. This means, that every word represents a number. The word IHSOUS = Jesus for example represents the number 888:

I = 10

H = 8

S = 200

O = 70

U = 400

S = 200

888

In the bible, the number 8 has something to do with a new beginning:

With 8 people on Noah’s ark, God started a new section of history.

The 8. day is the first day after Sabbath.

On this very day, Jesus did rise from the dead. At the eighths day, the father in heavens did restart his creation: he created the first new man: He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy (Collossians 1,18), and: For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. (1. Corinthians 15,22-23)

Luzius Schneider 13. June 1999