January 18, 2004

Modern Greek in
FrameMaker files

by Emile GOOSSENS
giorgosp@forthnet.the.gr

Disclaimer:
The information in this document is to my best knowledge. I do not accept liability for possible errors contained herein.

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 Introduction

1.0 Introduction
The Modern Greek word for Greek (the language) is ελληνικά. This is a neutral plural
substantive and hence the corresponding article is τα. One may also come across the
slightly archaic synonymous word ελληνική. The latter is feminine singular and there-
fore the article is η. In Greek, there is no need to specify that one refers to MODERN
Greek, because this is understood. If the disctinction has to made, it will be νέα
ελληνικά for Modern Greek (or νέα ελληνική in the archaic form), and αρχαία ελληνικά
(or αρχαία ελληνική in the archaic form) for Ancient Greek.

Modern Greek is the official language in Greece, and the major official language in
Cyprus. There is no official distinction between the Greek language spoken on the
island of Cyprus, and Greek spoken in Greece, the differences being a mere matter of
pronunciation, some local words and idiomatic expressions.

Modern Greek spelling has changed a lot during the 70s and 80s and this is why many
(older) Greeks are confused about the correct spelling. The most dramatic change was
the abolition of all the following diacritic signs:
πνεύµα δασύ (spiritus asper)
πνεύµα ψιλό (spiritus levis)
περισπωµένη (accentus circumflexus)
βαρεία (accentus gravis)
ιότα υπογεγραµµένη (iota subscriptum)

During a short transition period in the early 80 there has been a habit to replace all these
diacritics by one single: a small triangle pointing downward. If you happen to have a
font with such triangles, you’d better get rid of it, because this habit has long been aban-
doned.
The writing system before the change is called polytonic, and it is still used to write
Ancient Greek. The current writing system is called monotonic, because it uses only one
accent, the οξεία (accute) or simply τόνος (stress). This sign indicates where the tonical
stress falls within a word. Hence, this sign is not normally expected on single-syllable
words, and only one such sign is expected on multi-syllable words, but there are several
exceptions to both these rules.
The Windows codepage (κωδικοσελίδα) for Modern Greek (monotonic system) is 1253.
This codepage largely follows ISO 8859-7 (ISO Latin/Greek alphabet), with some
minor exceptions, the most important of which is the “GREEK CAPITAL LETTER
ALPHA WITH TONOS” (Κεφαλαίο α µε τόνο). For more information on this matter
visit http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/unicode/greek.html.

In this document the Windows codes will be written in their decimal form, which makes
it practical to input them by pressing and keeping down Alt, followed by 0 + decimal
code (on the numerical keypad).
Windows 95 and 98 didn’t give support for polytonic Greek, but Windows 2K and XP
do. Please visit http://www.ilsp.gr/fontsen.htm for more information.

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 The Modern Greek writing system

2.0 The Modern Greek writing system

The writing system described here is the µονοτονικό, which is in use since the early
1980s, when 4 diacritics were abolished. The previous system was called πολυτονικό.

2.1 The Modern Greek alphabet

The Modern Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters. All characters have a capital case and
a lower case form, with one exception: the letter ς, which is called “σίγµα τελικό”,
exists in the lower case form only. Vowels may or may not have an acute accent (΄ ),
which is called “τόνος”. There are two vowels which may or may not have diaeresis or
διαλυτικά (¨): ι and υ..

TABLE 1. Capital letters in alphabetical order

Win * Unicode* Unicode description

Α 193 0391 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA

Β 194 0392 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA

Γ 195 0393 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA

∆ 196 0394 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA

Ε 197 0395 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON

Ζ 198 0396 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ZETA

Η 199 0397 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA

Θ 200 0398 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER THETA

Ι 201 0399 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA

Κ 202 039A GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA

Λ 203 039B GREEK CAPITAL LETTER LAMDA

Μ 204 039C GREEK CAPITAL LETTER MU

Ν 205 039D GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU

Ξ 206 039E GREEK CAPITAL LETTER XI

Ο 207 039F GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON

Π 208 03A0 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI

Ρ 209 03A1 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER RHO

Σ 211 03A3 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA

Τ 212 03A4 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU

Υ 213 03A5 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON

Φ 214 03A6 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI

Χ 215 03A7 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER CHI

Ψ 216 03A8 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PSI

Ω 217 03A9 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA

* Windows code as decimal number, Unicode as hexadecimal number

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 The Modern Greek writing system

Of these, the 7 vowels may have an accute accent, which is normally placed to the left
of the capital letter.

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
Ά 162 0386 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS

Έ 184 0388 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS

Ή 185 0389 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH TONOS

Ί 186 038A GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS

Ό 188 038C GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS

Ύ 190 038E GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON WITH TONOS

Ώ 191 038F GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA WITH TONOS

Note: Accented capital letters are only used when only the first letter of a word is capi-
talized, while the other letters are in lower case. They are not used when a whole word
is written with capital letters. Therefore, they can never be found in the middle of a
word.

There are two vowels which may have a diaeresis. The diaeresis is put on a particular
vowel to indicate that this vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding
vowel, with which it would form a single sound if the diaeresis wasn’t there

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
Ϊ 218 03AA GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA

Ϋ 219 03AB GREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON WITH DIALYTIKA

TABLE 2. Lower case letters in alphabetical order

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
α 225 03B1 GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA

β 226 03B2 GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA

γ 227 03B3 GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA

δ 228 03B4 GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA

ε 229 03B5 GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON

ζ 230 03B6 GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA

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 The Modern Greek writing system

TABLE 2. Lower case letters in alphabetical order

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
η 231 03B7 GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA

θ 232 03B8 GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA

ι 233 03B9 GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA

κ 234 03BA GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA

λ 235 03BB GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA

µ 236 03BC GREEK SMALL LETTER MU

ν 237 03BD GREEK SMALL LETTER NU

ξ 238 03BE GREEK SMALL LETTER XI

ο 239 03BF GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON

π 240 03C0 GREEK SMALL LETTER PI

ρ 241 03C1 GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO

ς 242 03C2 GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA

σ 243 03C3 GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA

τ 244 03C4 GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU

υ 245 03C5 GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON

φ 246 03C6 GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI

χ 247 03C7 GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI

ψ 248 03C8 GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI

ω 249 03C9 GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA

Of these, the 7 vowels may have an accute accent, which is normally placed right above
the lower case letter.

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
ά 220 03AC GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS

έ 221 03AD GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH TONOS

ή 222 03AE GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH TONOS

ί 223 03AF GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH TONOS

ό 252 03CC GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS

ύ 253 03CD GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH TONOS

ώ 254 03CE GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH TONOS

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 The Modern Greek writing system

Of the 7 vowels, there are 2 which may have diaeresis.

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
ϊ 250 03CA GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA

ϋ 251 03CB GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DIALYTIKA

These 2 vowels may have an acute accent and diaeresis simultaneously (rare)

Windows
code Unicode Unicode description
ΐ 192 0390 GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DIALYTIKA AND
TONOS

ΰ 224 03B0 GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DIALYTIKA AND

TONOS

Remark: The use of the “Small Caps” feature should be avoided for Greek, because it
doesn’t work correctly. As mentioned before, capital letters do not get an accent if a full
word is written in capital letters. Therefore, conversion to capitals is not obvious. Also,
if you look carefully at Table 1, “Capital letters in alphabetical order” you will notice
that Windows’ code 210 is missing from this table. The reason for this is that both the
letters σ (sigma) and ς (sigma teliko) correspond to the capital letter Σ.

2.2 Punctuation Marks in Modern Greek

Most punctuation marks in Modern Greek are similar to those in English, but there are
two very important exceptions:
1. The question mark ? does not exist. Instead, questions are followed by the Greek
question mark, which is identical with the English semi-colon (;) and is called
ερωτηµατικό. Even its ASCII code is the same, but for some reason, a new place in Uni-
code has been allocated (hexadecimal code 037E- “GREEK QUESTION MARK”,
Erotimatiko).

2. There is no Modern Greek punctuation mark that corresponds in use to the English
semi-colon (;). While translating, we usually begin a new sentence at the place where
the English text has a semi-colon.

Note: Actually, there is a punctuation mark that corresponds in use to the English semi-colon, it’s
called άνω τελεία [ano teleia] or “upper dot”, but it has become very rare and it is never
used in technical texts. It looks like a colon, but without the lower point. There is no ASCII
code for this sign, nor is there a keyboard combination to introduce this sign, but it has a
place in the Unicode system: hexadecimal code 0387, “GREEK ANO TELEIA”.

The typographic rules are those of most languages: There is no space before, and one
space after: the full stop (τελεία), the comma (κόµα), the colon (άνω κάτω τελεία), etc.
There is one peculiar exception: the word ό,τι has a comma incorporated in it, without
any space. It’s the only such word.

The apostrophe is called απόστροφος. Contrary to French, a space is expected either

before or after the apostrophe. There are three grammatical cases where an apostrophe is

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 The Modern Greek writing system

used: έκθλιψη, αφαίρεση and αποκοπή. In the case of αποκοπή, the apostrophe replaces
the first letter of a word. In that case, there is a space before the apostrophe and none
after. In both other cases (έκθλιψη and αφαίρεση) there is a space after the apostrophe
and none before it.

The most commonly used quotes (εισαγωγικά) in Greek are « (Windows decimal code
171) and » (code 187).

2.3 Hyphenation
Adobe doesn’t provide any hyphenation dictionary for Modern Greek. The precise
hyphenation rules require profound knowledge of Greek, and can therefore not be
explained within the scope of this document. Generally, you can cut the word right after
a vowel. You will have to have the hyphenation checked by the translator to be sure if it
is right.

2.4 Use of Latin Characters in Modern Greek

Practically all instructed Greeks are quite familiar with the Latin alphabet. That’s why
names of foreigners are generally not translitterated into the Greek alphabet. Only in
newspapers names of persons and places abroad tend to be translitterated. Of course,
major cities of the world have a Greek name, which obviously has to written in Greek.
There are no absolute rules for wether or not to translitterate, and this mainly depends
on the purpose of the specific document and personal taste. Since the early 1980s, trans-
litteration is done “phonetically”, meaning that the pronunciation of the foreign sounds
are approximated with the Greek alphabet in the simplest possible manner.

2.5 Translitteration of Greek in Latin characters

The problem of translitteration in the opposite direction (how to write Greek names of
persons and places) has been solved rather recently. The Greek Stardardization Organi-
zation ELOT has drawn up a scheme to translitterate Greek letters into Latin characters.
There are plenty of reasons to follow this scheme, because it provides a good compro-
mise between the established way to translitterate Ancient Greek words (as they have
been introduced in other European languages) and readability of Modern Greek. Please
be aware that this translitteration does not provide for reversibility: when a you provide
the name of a Greek person or place spelled with Latin characters, it is generally impos-
sible to know how the name should be spelled in Greek characters.

Below you will find a short overview of this standard. You can order the full version of
the standard through the competent authorities of your country, by referring to ELOT
Standard number 743.

The table also provides a hint on the pronunciation, mostly (but not always) using the
International Phonetic Alphabet. The complete pronunciation system is too complex to
be explained here.

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 The Modern Greek writing system

TABLE 3. Translitteration of Greek in Latin characters

Greek Latin Note Pronunciation (approximate)

α a α (like a in English car)
(αι) ai ε (like ê in French bête)
(άι) aï αi (a diphthong)
(αϊ) aï αi (a diphthong)
αυ av (1) av
αυ af (2) af
β v v
γ g γ (like g in Dutch gaan, Flemish pronunciation)
γγ ng ng (like ng in English bingo)
(γκ) gk (n)g (like g in English go)
γξ nx (nks)
γχ nch (nχ)
δ d ð (like th in English there)
ε e ε (like ê in French bête)
(ει) ei i (like ee in English bee)
(έι) eï ei (a diphthong)
(εϊ) eï ei (a diphthong)
ευ ev (1) ev
ευ ef (2) ef
ζ z z
η i i (like ee in English bee)
ηυ iv (1) iv
ηυ if (2) if
θ th θ (like th in English thick)
ι i i (like ee in English bee)
κ k k
λ l l
µ m m
µπ b (3) (5) b
µπ mp (4) (m)b
ν n n
ντ nt (n)d
ξ x ks
ο o o

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 The Modern Greek writing system

TABLE 3. Translitteration of Greek in Latin characters

Greek Latin Note Pronunciation (approximate)

(οι) oi i (like ee in English bee)
(όι) oï oi (a diphthong)
(οϊ) oï oi (a diphthong)
ου ou u (like oo in English look)
π p p
ρ r r
σ, ς s s
τ t t
υ y i (like ee in English bee)
υι yi i (like ee in English bee)
φ f f
χ ch χ
ψ ps ps
ω o o

Notes:

(1) before the consonants β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, µ, ν , ρ and any vowels

(2) before the consonants θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ and at the end of a word

(3) at the beginning of a word

(4) in the middle of a word

(5) at the end of a word

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 Sorting of FrameMaker indexes in Modern Greek

3.0 Sorting of FrameMaker indexes in Modern Greek

FrameMaker sorts the index automatically in alphabetical order, but for some languages
this order may have to be adapted. This the case for Greek.

3.1 Specifying sort order for FrameMaker indexes

FrameMaker 6 offers the possibility to define on your own sort order for indexes. To do
so, choose View > Reference Pages, and then look for the expression “Index Specifica-
tion”. There you will probably see the the sequence:

<$symbols><$numerics><$alphabetics>

This is default setting for sorting the index. First are listed all symbols, then all numerics
and last all the letters of the alphabet.

3.2 The right sort order for Modern Greek

First come all the latin-written words. These are all sorted before the first letter of the
Greek alphabet. Their order is the usual sort order used in English.

Then come the Greek letters, in the order which is mentioned in table 1, “Capital letters
in alphabetical order,” on page 3, but the vowels are considered to be the same charac-
ter, wether or not they have an acute accent. E.g. the correct order of the following
words is: ασύλληπτος, άτακτος, αυγό

3.3 Defining Modern Greek sort order in FrameMaker 6

Choose View > Reference Pages and search the section “Index Specification”
Replace the string <$alphabetics> with the following string:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz ΑαΆά Ββ Γγ ∆δ ΕεΈέ Ζζ ΗηΉή Θθ

ΙιΊίΪϊ Κκ Λλ Μµ Νν Ξξ ΟοΌό Ππ Ρρ Σσς Ττ ΥυΎύΫϋ Φφ Χχ Ψψ ΩωΏώ
Do not add any paragraph breaks, but let FrameMaker wrap the string.
Underneath you will see the sequence:
Symbols[\ ];Numerics[0];A;B;C;D;E;F;G;H;I;J;K;L;M;N;O;P;Q;R;S;T;U;V;W;X;Y;Z;
<$pagenum>
These are the headers used in the index. Here too you will have to add the specific
Greek letters. This sequence then becomes:
Symbols[\ ];Numer-
ics[0];A;B;C;D;E;F;G;H;I;J;K;L;M;N;O;P;Q;R;S;T;U;V;W;X;Y;Z;Α;Β;Γ;∆;Ε;Ζ;Η;Θ;Ι;Κ;Λ;Μ;Ν;Ξ;Ο;Π;Ρ;Σ;Τ;Υ;Φ;Χ;Ψ ;Ω
<$pagenum>

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Sorting of FrameMaker indexes in Modern Greek

Now you can create the standard index:

Choose Special > Standard Index ... In the window that opens you can click Yes or
No, according to wether or not you want the index which is about to be generated in a
new stand-alone file, or in the book. Try it from this file.
Do not choose Special > Index of ... > Markers ... because the result won’t be correct.

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