For those who know Greek

Discussion of natural languages, or language in general.
Post Reply
User avatar
Viktor77
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2635
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Memphis, Tennessee

For those who know Greek

Post by Viktor77 »

I have always wondered if any Greek fraternity or sorority letters actually spelled three letter Greek words even if simple words.

It would be futile to make a list of every fraternity and sorority, so here is a smattering of North American social frats and sororities. I'd be really curious if any pop out to you as Greek words. I threw this into Google Translate and a few came out, but that's never perfectly accurate.

Thanks!


ΑΓΡ
ΑΓΣ
ΑΔΓ
ΑΔΦ
ΑΕΠ
ΑΚΛ
ΑΣΦ
ΑΤΩ
ΑΦΑ
ΑΦΔ
ΑΧΡ
ΒΣΨ
ΒΘΠ
ΒΧΘ
ΔΧ
ΔΕΨ
ΔΚΕ
ΔΦ
ΔΨ
ΔΣΦ
ΔΤΔ
ΔΥ
FH
ΖΒΤ
ΖΨ
ΘΞ
ΘΧ
ΘΔΧ
ΙΦΘ
ΙΝΔ
ΚΑ
ΚΑΨ
ΚΑ
ΚΔΡ
ΚΔΦ
ΚΡΚ
ΛΘΦ
ΛΣΥ
ΛΦΕ
ΛΧΑ
ΝΑΚ
ΠΚΑ
ΠΚΦ
ΠΛΦ
ΣΑΕ
ΣΑΜ
ΣΒΡ
ΣΛΒ
ΣΝ
ΣΠ
ΣΦ
ΣΦΔ
ΣΦΕ
ΣΧ
ΣΤΓ
ΤΔΦ
ΤΕΦ
ΤΚΕ
ΤΦΣ
ΦΒΣ
ΦΙΑ
ΦΚΘ
ΦΚΣ
ΦΚΤ
ΦΚΨ
ΦΛΧ
ΦΜΔ
ΦΣΚ
ΦΣΦ
ΧΦ
ΧΨ
ΨΥ
ΩΔΦ
Last edited by Viktor77 on Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Falgwian and Falgwia!!

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

User avatar
Rui
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:14 pm
Location: Beiʒing 拆那

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Rui »

"FIJI," really Viktor? Did you just copy/paste this from some college's Greek Life page? It's ΦΓΔ (not that that spells a word because it's all consonants, which is really a reason why you could eliminate probably most of these as "potential words"...)
Last edited by Rui on Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wattmann
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 352
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:50 am

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Wattmann »

FIJI
What the hell are you doing?
Warning: Recovering bilingual, attempting trilinguaility. Knowledge of French left behind in childhood. Currently repairing bilinguality. Repair stalled. Above content may be a touch off.

User avatar
Viktor77
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2635
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Viktor77 »

Chibi wrote:"FIJI," really Viktor? Did you just copy/paste this from some college's Greek Life page? It's ΦΓΔ (not that that spells a word because it's all consonants, which is really a reason why you could eliminate probably most of these as "potential words"...)
I don't know how that got there, I took this off Wiki lol. I didn't notice it in Translate even haha.

I know this, but I don't know, Google translate told me delta sigma was "board."
Falgwian and Falgwia!!

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

Bob Johnson
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 704
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:41 am
Location: NY, USA

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Bob Johnson »

Viktor77 wrote:Google translate told me delta sigma was "board."
I guess you're trying to be funny or something, but just stop.

Astraios
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2974
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:38 am
Location: Israel

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Astraios »

Oh dear.

User avatar
Viktor77
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2635
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Viktor77 »

Bob Johnson wrote:
Viktor77 wrote:Google translate told me delta sigma was "board."
I guess you're trying to be funny or something, but just stop.
You explain it then. Obviously it doesn't mean this on its own, but somewhere there is a correlation.
Attachments
Greek.jpg
Greek.jpg (23.39 KiB) Viewed 3081 times
Falgwian and Falgwia!!

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

Astraios
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2974
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:38 am
Location: Israel

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Astraios »

Viktor77 wrote:You explain it then. Obviously it doesn't mean this on its own, but somewhere there is a correlation.
Viki, the explanation is: You are using GT, what do you expect?

Echobeats
Lebom
Lebom
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 2:17 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Echobeats »

The only ones that looked like they could be words were ΑΤΩ, ΑΦΑ and ΦΙΑ, but I checked the Perseus lexicon and got no hits.
[i]Linguistics will become a science when linguists begin standing on one another's shoulders instead of on one another's toes.[/i]
—Stephen R. Anderson

[i]Málin eru höfuðeinkenni þjóðanna.[/i]
—Séra Tómas Sæmundsson

User avatar
Jetboy
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 270
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:49 pm

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Jetboy »

FH? Is there actually a frat with a digamma in it?
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
–Herm Albright
Even better than a proto-conlang, it's the *kondn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

User avatar
Rui
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:14 pm
Location: Beiʒing 拆那

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Rui »

Jetboy wrote:FH? Is there actually a frat with a digamma in it?
Nope, it's FarmHouse

User avatar
Viktor77
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2635
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Viktor77 »

Echobeats wrote:The only ones that looked like they could be words were ΑΤΩ, ΑΦΑ and ΦΙΑ, but I checked the Perseus lexicon and got no hits.
Now, I don't speak Greek nor have a Greek dictionary but the not fallible but still useful Google Translate came up with these. Can they be confirmed?

ΑΤΩ- Built- (I found this used in the sentence "ενώ το φυτό μπορεί να ξεραθεί σε θερμοκρασίες άτω των 3 βαθμών Κελσίου" though I don't speak Greek so I don't know how it is being used and Google seems to want to correct it to κάτω though of course that can't be right).
ΙΝΔ- India (which must be short for Ινδία)
ΚΑΨ- Burn (Unsure of the verb form here)
ΣΦΔ- Double taxation agreement (short for Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο)
Falgwian and Falgwia!!

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

User avatar
Viktor77
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2635
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:27 pm
Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Viktor77 »

Echobeats wrote:The only ones that looked like they could be words were ΑΤΩ, ΑΦΑ and ΦΙΑ, but I checked the Perseus lexicon and got no hits.
Now, I don't speak Greek nor have a Greek dictionary but the not-infallible-but-still-useful Google Translate came up with these. Can they be confirmed?

ΑΤΩ- Built- (I found this used in the sentence "ενώ το φυτό μπορεί να ξεραθεί σε θερμοκρασίες άτω των 3 βαθμών Κελσίου" though I don't speak Greek so I don't know how it is being used and Google seems to want to correct it to κάτω though of course that can't be right).
ΙΝΔ- India (which must be short for Ινδία)
ΚΑΨ- Burn (Unsure of the verb form here)
ΣΦΔ- Double taxation agreement (short for Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο)
Falgwian and Falgwia!!

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

Astraios
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2974
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:38 am
Location: Israel

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Astraios »

κάτω: down. That sentence means "while the plant can die in temperatures below 3 degrees Celsius".
κάψα: excessive heat; capsule.

hwhatting
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2315
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2002 2:49 am
Location: Bonn, Germany

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by hwhatting »

Viktor77 wrote:ΣΦΔ- Double taxation agreement (short for Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο)
Where did you get that from? Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοβούλιο means "European Parliament".
Double taxation agreement is συμφωνία περί αποφυγής της διπλής φορολογίας, so it should be ΣΔΦ if anything.
(That is the result of a quick check of an online disctionary and a little googling, so anyone who knows a bit more about Modern Greek - feel free to correct me.)

User avatar
Soap
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1228
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: Scattered disc
Contact:

Re: For those who know Greek

Post by Soap »

Yeah, Greek doesnt have a lot of short words, I'd expect most of the matches are abbreviations or recycled ancient Greek words.
Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:
Image

Post Reply