How you say it?
 

I have another pronunciation question...I couldn't find a thread about it when I search, so here goes.

How do different orgs pronounce letters?

I've noticed that Theta Nu Xis say "z-eye" for "Xi" but Alpha Xi Deltas say "zee."

And, what about "Phi"? Or other letters that your org says differently from other orgs???

In the middle of two words it is said zee at the end it is xi

I was taught that "zee" is the correct Greek pronunciation, but the anglicized pronunciation is "z-eye." The same thing with Phi.

Wonderful thread! I didn't see that one when I looked. :( Since my best friend is an ancient history degree holder with ancient Greek as her "foreign language," I've been scolded for the way I say the Greek alphabet. But, I say it's the Americanized version and she can live with that!

jeni, my inbox is clean now!

A Greek Urban Myth. Absolutely no truth to it.

"Z-eye" is the totally anglicized pronunciation. "Zee" is the partially anglicized pronuniciation -- the vowel sound is correct according to the Greek pronunciation, but the consonant sound (which is the sound that the letter X represents) is still anglicized. The correct Greek pronunciation is "KSee," pronouncing both the "K" and "S" sound. It is the sound represented by "X" in English. The difference is that in English, when "X" comes at the beginning of a word, we shift to a "Z" sound. In Greek, it is still a "KS" sound, even at the beginning of a word. (Think "KSerxes" or "KSylophone.")

And you're right: Same thing with Phi (and Pi, Chi and Psi, which in Greek is "PSee").

I've heard that in both cases it depends upon whether the letter follows a vowell (or whatever the Greek equivilent of that is). For instance Alpha Xi is pronounced Alpha ZEE. Otherwise it would be Zeye. Same with Alpha Phi, which would be Alpha Fee.

At least that's how I remember it.

It's a good thing it works like that or we wouldn't have any Fuzzies. Think about it.

As somebody who is just thrilled :roll eyes: to be learning Greek for her theology class, he speaks the truth.

Another Greek Urban Myth with no basis in truth. My guess is somebody just looked at the pronunciations used by various GLOs, noticed a pattern (the vowel thing), and said, "Oh, that must be the reason."

But think about it: Certainly the sound represented by a letter can change depending on other letters around it. For example, in English, "C" is typically pronounced like a "K" unless it is followed by "e" or "i," in which case it is pronounced like "S."

But the Phi/Phee after a vowel theory supposes not that sound represented by the letter changes, but that the pronunciation of the name of the letter changes if it follows the name of a vowel in spelling a word or in an acronym (which is what our GLO names are). It's like saying "C" is called "See" unless it is followed by "E" or "I," in which case it is called "Seye," e.g. it's the "C.(see)D.C." but the "C.(seye).I.A."

Most American GLOs use anglicized pronunciations for Greek letters. Some, however, use Greek or closer-to-Greek pronunciation for some letters -- particularly "Phi" and "Xi," and particularly when those letters appear in the GLO name or a chapter name. The reason probably is based on nothing more than the sensibilities of a GLO's (or chapter's) founders.

Thus ended the lesson for today. (And thanks GeekyPenguin. ;) )

I say it by puttin a "d" after How.

-Rudey

Ah yes, how i know this well. I took a couple years of ancient greek, and one of the courses was through distance ed - I had to tape record myself reading a text, and what do you know? Xerxes was the main character!

Sigma Alpha Iota pronounces Iota "ee-ota" instead of "eye-ota". Not sure which is the "correct" pronunciation, although I think the way we said it sounds a lot better. :)