Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Greek)

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Ancient Greek

Further information: Greek diacritics and Romanization of Greek

The commonest English form of an Ancient Greek name or term may fall into any of three groups:

1. Latinization. This is the traditional English way of representing most Greek names in English and is fairly well-established for the naming of Wikipedia articles: Plato (not Platon), Thucydides (not Thoukudides), Menander (not Menandros), Achilles (not Akhilleus).
2. Further Anglicization. Some traditional English forms are neither Greek nor Latin: Homer (not Homerus or Homeros), Aristotle (not Aristoteles), Athens (not Athenae or Athenai), Hesiod (not Hesiodus or Hesiodos). In these cases the Anglicized form should generally be preferred to the Latinized form. (Adjectives and names of peoples are almost always Anglicized: Athenian, Homeric, Greek, Scythian, Celt, etc.)
3. Close transliteration from the Greek. This is more common with technical terms (agon, epinikion, strategos) than with proper names. However, its use has increased for proper names (especially those unfamiliar in their Latinized or Anglicized forms), so that, for example, some writers will refer to Herodotus as Herodotos, to Themistocles as Themistokles, or to Archilochus as Archilochos (though most would stop short of Arkhilokhos).

Tagging with the lang template

Terms in Ancient Greek should be tagged with {{lang}}, language code grc, e.g. as {{lang|grc|Ὅμηρος}} (Ὅμηρος). When the Greek term is first introduced, it may be desirable to provide a transliteration, to be tagged with the language code grc-Latn, i.e. ''{{lang|grc-Latn|Hómēros}}'' (Hómēros).

When the Greek alphabet is used, especially in the full classical form with accents and breathing, enclosing it in {{polytonic}} will make the vowels render on more computers; it is a matter of judgment whether the diacritics can be omitted. Transliterations are usually acceptable; they will be more accessible to most of our readers, and Hellenists should be able to infer the Greek.

Pronunciation help

Pronunciation details for the Ancient Greek should only be given in special cases. Pronunciation hints for the anglicized Greek name can be where the English pronunciation is less than straightforward or ambiguous,note for example Scythians:

The Scythians or Scyths [footnote: Scythians is pronounced /'sɪθɪən/ or /'sɪðɪən/. Scyths is pronounced /'sɪθs/); from Greek Σκύθης Skúthēs; note Scytho- /'saɪθəʊ/ in composition (OED).]

Transliteration

See Romanization of Greek for details on the transliteraton of the Greek alphabet. Note that ISO 843 is intended for Modern Greek and not necessarily suitable for Ancient Greek. Ancient Greek is usually transliterated as follows:

Greek	Latin
α	a
β	b
γ	g, n before γ,κ,ξ,χ
δ	d
ε	e
ζ	z
η	ē
θ	th
ι	i
κ	k
λ	l
μ	m
ν	n
ξ	x
ο	o
π	p
ρ	r, rh for word-initial ῥ
σ	s
τ	t
υ	u or y
φ	ph
χ	ch
ψ	ps
ω	ō
spiritus asper	h

Common Latinizations

There are certain rules for Latinized spellings used in English. These rules are outlined below. But note that actual English usage trumps any of these rules (e.g. "Athens", not *"Athenae" for Ἀθῆναι Athēnai).

Compared to the close transliteration discussed above, quantity is not indicated, that is, ω and ο both become o; ε and η both become e. υ and κ are mostly rendered as y and c, respectively.

Vowel clusters

Greek	English
αι	ae
ᾳ	a
ει	normally i, but usage can vary: Iphigenia, Irene, Heraclitus, but often Cleitus, almost always Deimos.
ῃ	e
οι	oe
ῳ	o
αυ	au
ευ	eu
ηυ	eu
ου	u
αη	aë
ωη	oë

Other vowel clusters are unaffected (e.g. Thyestes for Θυεστής) Any vowel with a diaeresis in Greek can be given a diaeresis in English.

Equivalence changes

Endings are normally changed to the equivalent Latin forms. Conventional names often ignore regular endings, so Plutarch, for 'Plutarchus', Homer for Homerus; Herod for the Kings of Judea, but Herodes Atticus.

These deal only with nominative forms unless indicated.

Greek	English
-η (feminine)	usually -a; but Phryne.
-η (neuter)	-e
-αι	-ae
-ος	-us (usually; use -os for feminines, like Lemnos)
-ρος	-er (after consonants, like Lysander; but Satyrus)
-οι	-i
-ων	-o (usually)
-ων (genitive plural)	-on (e.g. Σατυρίκων for the Satyricon)

Modern (Demotic) Greek

Alphabet

Further information: ISO 843 and Romanization of Greek

Again, transliteration needs to be distinguished from anglicization. If there is a common anglicization of a Greek proper name, it should be used in an English language context. A transliteration of the actual Greek can be given in ISO 843.

Otherwise, they follow the standard rules as follows, except when a different name is commonly used in English (e.g. "Athens", "Crete", "Corfu"). This transliteration system equals the one used by the United Nations.

Greek	English
α	a
β	v
γ	g
δ	d
ε	e
ζ	z
η	i
θ	th
ι	i
κ	k
λ	l
μ	m
ν	n
ξ	x
ο	o
π	p
ρ	r
σ	s
τ	t
υ	y
φ	f
χ	ch
ψ	ps
ω	o

Vowel clusters

Note: an accent on the first vowel, or a diaeresis on the second vowel, indicates that the two vowels are pronounced separately. Examples: Οινόη, Χαϊδάρι.

Greek	English
αι	ai
ει	ei
οι	oi
αυ	av, af (before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final)
ευ	ev, ef (before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final)
ηυ	iv, if (before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ, and final)
ου	ou
αη	ai
ωη	oi

Consonant clusters

Greek	English
γγ	ng
γκ	g (at beginning), ng or gk (in middle)
γξ	nx
γχ	nch
μπ	b (at beginning), mp or mb (in middle)
ντ	d (at beginning), nt or nd (in middle)

Diacritics

Modern Greek uses two diacritics: the acute accent (indicating stress) and the diaeresis (indicating that two consecutive vowels should not be combined). In some transliteration systems these are kept, but this is certainly not common practice. No diacritics should be used in Wikipedia article titles.

Words occurring in both Modern and Ancient Greek

This is particularly relevant to place names. The page Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names) should be consulted first.

If the article concerns a concept that is significant in the Hellenistic period or before (i.e. would merit its own article even if the modern concept did not), use the archaic spelling. If the article concerns a modern concept merely derived from an ancient word, use the modern version. If a modern word's meaning has no overlap with the ancient word from which it derives, create two articles, but consider including a disambiguation message at the top of each page.