06-22-2012, 05:40 AM
Quote:Can I also impart one last prononciation piece of advice that I had insanely wrong for 3 years? The strands and material called pterigues are pronounce "terr-ree-gaes" not "pet-tridge-es" as I read it.
No.. it is pteruges (πτέρυγες) and it is pronounced pteri-yes (stress on the first "e", "-yes" like the word, just do not stress the consonants like Anglosaxons do). In classical times, it was supposedly pronounced more like pterue(ue like the german u umlaut) -yes. As a Greek this sounds "Greek" to me and it is pretty sure that at least since the late Hellenistic times the various i-volwels were being pronounced i (as in pit), what you barbarians (hehe 8) 8) ) call iotakismos, that is the Greek practice to have 5 different letters and dipthongs sound like "i" (iota)(ι, η, υ, οι, ει, we have a sixth υι, but it is pronounced like a double i (i-i), not a single one), which should not seem that strange to you... (pit, keep, leap, phoebe, lyrics, niece, be..., you actually have many more "ee" letters and dipthongs than the iotakizontes ancient Greeks). The υ sounding like u (put), ew (new) or sth like that may have lasted more, maybe into the early Byzatine years. Yet, I would stick with the i-sound, sounds more Greek... Yet, interestingly enough, another version of the word πτέρυγες is πτερούγες (pteru (ου=u like in put)-yes, stressed on the u) which means the exact same thing... "wings".
