从希腊语到拉丁语：字母表的演变

注：机翻，未校。

From Greek to Latin: Visualizing the Evolution of the Alphabet

Published on January 11, 2022

By Omri Wallach

Over the course of 2021, the Greek alphabet was a major part of the news cycle.
在 2021 年的过程中，希腊字母是新闻周期的重要组成部分。

COVID-19 variants, which are labeled with Greek letters when becoming a variant of concern, normalized their usage. From the Alpha variant in the UK, to the Delta variant that spread from India to become the dominant global strain, the Greek alphabet was everywhere. Seemingly overnight, the Omicron variant discovered in South Africa has now taken the mantle as the most discussed variant.
COVID-19 变体在成为值得关注的变体时会用希腊字母标记，使其使用正常化。从英国的阿尔法变种，到从印度传播成为全球主要毒株的德尔塔变种，希腊字母无处不在。似乎在一夜之间，在南非发现的奥密克戎变种现在已经成为讨论最多的变种。

But the Greek alphabet is used in other parts of our lives as well. For example, Greek letters are commonly used in mathematics and science, like Sigma (Σ) denoting a sum or Lambda (λ) used to represent the half-life of radioactive material.
但是希腊字母也用于我们生活的其他部分。例如，希腊字母通常用于数学和科学中，例如Sigma（Σ）表示总和或Lambda（λ）用于表示放射性物质的半衰期。

And the study of linguistics shows us why using Greek letters in English isn’t completely farfetched. This visualization from Matt Baker at UsefulCharts.com demonstrates how the modern Latin script used in English evolved from Greek, and other, alphabets.
语言学的研究向我们揭示了为什么在英语中使用希腊字母并不完全牵强。马特·贝克 （Matt Baker） 在 UsefulCharts.com 的这个可视化展示了英语中使用的现代拉丁文字是如何从希腊字母和其他字母演变而来的。

It’s All Proto-Sinaitic to Me 对我来说，这都是原始西奈半岛的

Before there was English, or Latin, or even Greek, there was Proto-Sinaitic.
在英语、拉丁语甚至希腊语出现之前，就有了原始西奈语。

Considered the first alphabet ever used, the Proto-Sinaitic script was derived in Canaan, around the biblical Land of Israel. It was repurposed from Egyptian hieroglyphs that were commonly seen in the area (its name comes from Mount Sinai), and used to describe sounds instead of meanings.
被认为是有史以来第一个使用的字母表，原始西奈文字源自迦南，围绕着圣经中的以色列土地。它是从该地区常见的埃及象形文字中重新利用的（它的名字来自西奈山），并用于描述声音而不是意义。

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As the first Semitic script, Proto-Sinaitic soon influenced other Semitic languages. It was the precursor to the Phoenician alphabet, which was used in the area of modern-day Lebanon and spread across the Mediterranean and became the basis for Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and of course, Greek.
作为第一个闪米特文字，原始西奈语很快影响了其他闪米特语言。它是腓尼基字母的前身，腓尼基字母在现代黎巴嫩地区使用，并传播到地中海，成为阿拉伯语、西里尔字母、希伯来字母，当然还有希腊语的基础。

Evolving into the Greek, Roman, and Latin Alphabets 演变为希腊字母、罗马字母和拉丁字母

Over time, the alphabet continued to become adopted and evolve across different languages.
随着时间的流逝，字母表继续被采用并在不同的语言中发展。

The first forms of the Archaic Greek script are dated circa 750 BCE. Many of the letters remained in Modern Greek, including Alpha, Beta, Delta, and even Omicron, despite first appearing more than 2,500 years ago.
古希腊文字的第一种形式可以追溯到公元前 750 年左右。许多字母仍然保留在现代希腊语中，包括阿尔法、贝塔、德尔塔，甚至奥密克戎，尽管它们首次出现在 2,500 多年前。

Soon the Greek alphabet (and much of its culture) was borrowed into Latin, with Archaic Latin script appearing circa 500 BCE. The evolution into Roman script, with the same recognizable letters used in modern English, occurred 500 years later in 1 CE.
不久，希腊字母（及其大部分文化）被借用到拉丁文中，古拉丁文字出现在公元前 500 年左右。演变为罗马文字，具有与现代英语相同的可识别字母，发生在 500 年后的公元 1 年。

Many of the letters which first came from Egyptian hieroglyphs made their way into modern English, but they took a long and convoluted journey. As the graphic above highlights, some letters evolved into multiple forms, while others fell out of use entirely.
许多最初来自埃及象形文字的字母都进入了现代英语，但它们经历了漫长而曲折的旅程。如上图所示，一些字母演变成多种形式，而另一些字母则完全停止使用。

And this is just a snapshot of the many scripts and languages that the modern English alphabet evolved from. Lowercase letters came from Roman cursive, which evolved into the Insular and Carolingian scripts before becoming modern lowercase English.
这只是现代英语字母演变而来的许多文字和语言的一个快照。小写字母来自罗马草书，在成为现代小写英语之前，它演变成岛屿和加洛林文字。

Like many things in the long arc of human culture, alphabets are not as far removed from each other as you might think.
就像人类文化长弧中的许多事物一样，字母表之间的距离并不像你想象的那么遥远。

via:

• From Greek to Latin: Visualizing the Evolution of the Alphabet

  https://www.visualcapitalist.com/from-greek-to-latin-visualizing-the-evolution-of-the-alphabet/

讨论：早期拉丁语和希腊语之间的关系

Relationship between early Latin and Greek?

Asked 8 years, 4 months ago

Modified 3 years, 7 months ago

I am just restarting my schoolgirl Latin, but have already become fascinated with its links to Greek. According to Wheelock, whom I have absolutely no right to question, both Latin and Greek are independently descended from PIE, with no direct input from Greek into Latin until the Hellenistic period. However, it goes on to say:
我刚刚重新开始我的女学生拉丁语，但已经对它与希腊语的联系着迷了。根据《Wheelock》的说法，我绝对无权质疑他，拉丁语和希腊语都是原始印欧语（PIE）的独立后裔，直到希腊化时期才从希腊语直接输入到拉丁语中。然而，它继续说：

Today we are in the habit of distinguishing the Roman alphabet from the Greek , but the fact is that the Romans learned to write from the Etruscans, who in turn had learned to write from Greek colonists who had settled in the vicinity of Naples during the 8th century BC.

今天，我们习惯于区分罗马字母和希腊字母，但事实是罗马人从伊特鲁里亚人那里学会了写作，而伊特鲁里亚人又从公元前 8 世纪在那不勒斯附近定居的希腊殖民者那里学会了写作。

There is early Latin epigraphy written in Greek letters, (and boustrephedon) and I cannot escape the suspicion, pace the experts, that even early Latin owes more to Greek than mere common ancestry.
有用希腊字母写成的早期拉丁语碑文，（并且是反向书写），我无法逃避这种怀疑，专家们认为，即使是早期的拉丁语也更多地归功于希腊语，而不仅仅是普通的祖先。

早期拉丁铭文是用希腊字母（并且是牛行文）书写的，我无法摆脱这样的怀疑，尽管专家们对此有不同的看法，早期拉丁语甚至可能比单纯的共同祖先更受希腊语的影响。

Boustrophedon（牛行文）是一种古老的书写方式，字面意思是“像牛走路一样”。这种书写形式的特点是每一行的方向交替变化：第一行从左到右书写，第二行则从右到左书写，然后第三行又回到左到右，如此反复。

这种方法在某些古代文化中较为常见，尤其是在古希腊和古罗马的铭文及手稿中。它的优点在于可以减少书写时手的移动，使得书写过程更加高效。

Have I completely missed the point? I’m prepared for the answer “Yes!”
我完全错过了重点吗？我已经做好了回答“是的！

language-evolution. greek

edited Apr 1, 2016 at 21:38

Joonas Ilmavirta♦

asked Apr 1, 2016 at 21:26

TheHonRose Add a comment

Latin and Greek share a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-European, which scholars believe was spoken in the 4th millennium BC or earlier, and then began diverging into separate languages by 3500 BC.Many PIE children have been identified:
拉丁语和希腊语有一个共同的祖先，即原始印欧语系（PIE），学者们认为原始印欧语系在公元前四千年或更早时被使用，然后在公元前3500年左右开始分化为独立的语言。许多原始印欧语（PIE）的后代已经被识别出来：

• Anatolian 安纳托利亚
• Proto-Greek 原始希腊语
• Indo-Iranian 印度-伊朗语
• Italic 斜体的
• Celtic 塞尔特
• Germanic 日耳曼
• … and others …和其他人

Linguists can reconstruct PIE with some precision based on the common features of its child (and grandchild) languages. Then, by examining how each individual language diverges from the “standard” or “original” PIE language, the languages can be categorized and their development traced.
语言学家可以根据其子语言（和孙语言）的共同特征，在一定程度上精确地重建 PIE。然后，通过检查每种语言如何与“标准”或“原始”PIE语言不同，可以对这些语言进行分类并追踪其发展。

The search for “relatives” of Latin has gone on for a long time, and Greek has often been proposed. However, modern scholarship does not see a close connection between the two. Clackson and Horrocks write:
寻找拉丁语的 “亲戚 ”已经进行了很长时间，希腊语经常被提出。然而，现代学术并没有看到两者之间的密切联系。Clackson 和 Horrocks 写道：

The IE language groups which we know to have been spoken adjacent to the Latin speech area in historic times are Germanic, Celtic and Greek. In the nineteenth century scholars grouped Latin closest to Greek and Celtic. […] It later became apparent that the features shared by Latin and Greek reflected common inheritances from the parent language, lost in other IE languages, rather than new developments, and were thus not significant for their relationship.
我们知道在历史上与拉丁语区相邻使用的 IE 语言群是日耳曼语、凯尔特语和希腊语。在 19 世纪，学者们将拉丁语与希腊语和凯尔特语最接近。[…]后来很明显，拉丁语和希腊语共享的特征反映了从母语言的共同继承，在其他 IE 语言中丢失了，而不是新的发展，因此对它们的关系并不重要。

That is, most of the original similarities between Latin and Ancient Greek are due to them having the same ancestor, centuries prior, and not due to “borrowing” occurring between them. In fact, if we must select the closest relative to Latin, it would not be Greek:
也就是说，拉丁语和古希腊语之间的大部分原始相似性是由于它们在几个世纪前具有相同的祖先，而不是由于它们之间发生的“借用”。事实上，如果我们必须选择与拉丁语最接近的亲属，那不会是希腊语：

Latin shares more features with Celtic than any other IE language branch outside Italy.
拉丁语与凯尔特语的共同特征比意大利以外的任何其他 IE 语言分支都多。

For much more on the story of this development, see Clackson and Horrocks, The Blackwell History of the Latin Language (2007), chapters 1 and 2.
有关这一发展故事的更多信息，请参见 Clackson 和 Horrocks，The Blackwell History of the Latin Language （2007），第 1 章和第 2 章。

answered Apr 1, 2016 at 22:53

Nathaniel is protesting

Brilliant explanation for a tiro like me - thank you!
对于像我这样的 tiro 来说，这是个绝妙的解释 - 谢谢！

– TheHonRose

Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 23:55

Just wanted to add that Clackson and Horrocks reject the Italo-Celtic hypothesis and, grounding their analysis on most recent research, explain the Latin-Celtic isoglosses with contact (see pp. 32-34).
只是想补充一点，Clackson 和 Horrocks 拒绝意大利-凯尔特假说，并根据他们的分析基于最近的研究，解释了拉丁-凯尔特人与接触的等值（见第 32-34 页）。

– Alex B.

Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 16:33

Add a comment

Do not confuse relations of languages with relations of writing systems.
不要将语言的关系与书写系统的关系混淆。

Both Latin and Greek descended from PIE in oral form, prior to the introduction of (a preserved and widely used) writing system. Latin indeed borrowed its writing system from the Greek via the Etruscans, but this tells nothing about the relation of the languages involved.
拉丁语和希腊语都是 PIE 的口头形式，在引入（一种保存完好且广泛使用的）书写系统之前。拉丁语确实通过伊特鲁里亚人从希腊语借用了它的书写系统，但这并没有说明所涉及的语言之间的关系。

By analogy, consider the situation in today’s world. Many languages around the world are written with variants of the Latin alphabet although many have no relation whatsoever to Latin.
以此类推，考虑当今世界的情况。世界上许多语言都是用拉丁字母的变体书写的，尽管许多语言与拉丁语没有任何关系。

It should be noted, though, that heavy cultural exchange led to words (and structures to some extent) being loaned between Greek and Latin. This brought the languages slightly closer together, but writing in both languages was established before this really happened.
不过，应该指出的是，大量的文化交流导致希腊语和拉丁语之间的单词（在某种程度上是结构）被借用的。这使两种语言的写作稍微接近一些，但这两种语言的写作是在这一切真正发生之前建立起来的。

edited Apr 1, 2016 at 21:48

answered Apr 1, 2016 at 21:36

Joonas Ilmavirta♦

Excellent point, thanks for helping a novice out!
很好，感谢您帮助新手！

– TheHonRose

Commented Apr 2, 2016 at 3:59

+1 for this. I recall once seeing a statement to the effect of “The history of a language is altogether separate from that of any alphabet used to write it” (my poor paraphrase). This surprised me when I first saw it because I hadn’t thought about it that way before. Now it seems obvious.
+1 为此。我记得曾经看到过这样一句话，大意是“一种语言的历史与用于书写它的任何字母的历史完全分开”（我糟糕的转述）。当我第一次看到它时，这让我感到惊讶，因为我以前从未这样想过。现在看来很明显。

– MPW

Commented Jun 30, 2021 at 14:46

@MPW Thanks! Things, especially those that felt weird or surprising, becoming obvious is a sign of learning. I don’t think many teachers ever take a minute to stress that writing is much younger than speaking and that therefore language is primarily spoken and secondarily written.
@MPW 谢谢！事情，尤其是那些感觉奇怪或令人惊讶的事情，变得明显是学习的标志。我认为许多老师从来没有花一分钟强调写作比口语年轻得多，因此语言主要是口语，其次是书面。

– Joonas Ilmavirta

Commented Jun 30, 2021 at 14:54

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• language evolution - Relationship between early Latin and Greek? - Latin Language Stack Exchange

  https://latin.stackexchange.com/questions/661/relationship-between-early-latin-and-greek