Information AboutIotacism |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT IOTACISM | |
| greek language | |
| phonology | |
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Iotacism is the process by which a number of Vowel s and Diphthong s in Ancient Greek converged their Pronunciation to sound like ''' Iota ''' in Modern Greek . INSTANCES OF IOTACISM Ancient Greek had a broader range of vowels (see Ancient Greek Phonology ) than Modern Greek. Eta (η) was a Long Open-mid Front Unrounded Vowel , and Upsilon (υ) was a Short Close Front Rounded Vowel . Over the course of time, both of these vowels came to be pronounced like the Close Front Unrounded Vowel Iota (ι) . In addition, certain Diphthongs merged to the same pronunciation, especially Epsilon -iota (ει) and (later) upsilon-iota (υι) . ISSUES IN TEXTUAL CRITICISM Iotacism meant that some words with originally distinct pronunciations were pronounced similarly, which can be seen in some of the Variant Readings of the New Testament . For example, in a few places "you" (or "your") is substituted for "we" (or "our"), or vice versa; the upsilon of ὑμεις ''humeis'' (or ὑμων ''humōn'') and the eta of ἡμεις ''hēmeis'' (or ἡμων ''hēmōn'') could be easily confused if a lector were reading to Copyist s in a Scriptorium . As an example of a relatively minor (almost insignificant) source of "variant readings," some ancient Manuscript s spelled words the way they sounded, such as the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus , which regularly substitutes a plain iota for the epsilon-iota diphthong. SEE ALSO |
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