Skip to content

janMelon/alfabetoida

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date

Latest commit

 

History

13 Commits
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Repository files navigation

alfabetoida

Alfabetoida is a font for writing fake greek texts (also known as "GRSSK", which is the correct transliteration from the common example of GRΣΣΚ). It's a stylized latin alphabet made to look like its greek equivalent while trying to maintain its current pronunciation. Some letter forms from the cyrillic alphabet were also taken as inspiration due to their closer resemblance to greek. This font is released under SIL Open Font License and you can download the latest version in the release page

Sample Text

A Comparison between Latin, Greek, & Cyrillic

ASCII Latin IPA Pronunciation Historical Greek Ancenstor 21st Century Greek Equivalent 21st Century Cyrillic Equivalent
Aa /a/ Αα Αα Аа
Bb /b/ Ββ ΜΠ/μπ Бб
Cc /k/,/s/ Γγ Κκ, Σσ Кк, Сс
Dd /d/ Δδ ΝΤ/ντ Дд
Ee /e/ Εε Εε, ΑΙ/αι Ээ
Ff /f/ Ϝϝ Φφ Фф
Gg /g/ Γγ ΓΚ/γκ Гг
Hh /h/ Ηη Χχ Хх
Ii /i/ Ιι Ιι, Ηη Ии, Іі
Jj /dʒ/ Ιι ΤΖ/τζ Жж
Kk /k/ Κκ Κκ Кк
Ll /l/ Λλ Λλ Лл
Mm /m/ Μμ Μμ Мм
Nn /n/ Νν Νν Нн
Oo /o/ Οο Οο, Ωω Оо
Pp /p/ Ππ Ππ Пп
Qq /q/, /k/ Ϙϙ Κκ Кк
Rr /r/ Ρρ Ρρ Рр
Ss /s/ Σσς Σσς Сс
Tt /t/ Ττ Ττ Тт
Uu /u/ Υυ ΟΥ/ου Уу
Vv /v/ Ϝϝ Ββ Вв
Ww /w/ Ϝϝ Ϋϋ Ўў
Xx /ks/ Ξξ Ξξ КС/кс
Yy /j/ Υυ Ϊϊ Йй
Zz /z/ Ζζ Ζζ Зз

Modified Letters

Most latin letters still retain similar shapes and sounds to their greek counterparts, but others require some adjustments.

  • Bb: To avoid current greek pronunciation of ⟨Β/β⟩ that is closer to /v/, a stylized version of the cyrillic ⟨Б⟩ is used instead, which is pronunced as /b/ and resembles both lower case ⟨b⟩ and ⟨β⟩.
  • Cc: The letter ⟨c⟩ is written with an angular form ⟨<⟩ to resemble gamma ⟨Γ⟩ as a reference to its origin, the right part of ⟨k⟩ to signify the hard /k/ pronunciation, and the lunate form of sigma ⟨ϲ⟩ or cyrillic ⟨с⟩ to signify its soft /s/ pronunciation.
  • Dd: Lower case delta ⟨δ⟩ is chosen due to its resemblance to latin ⟨d⟩, evem though its current greek ⟨δ⟩ is closer to /ð/. The sound /ð/ is also found in english (commonly written as ⟨th⟩, e.g. "this"), but is sometimes reduced to /d/.
  • Ff: The right part of the loop in a lower case phi ⟨𝜑⟩ is disconnected to turn it into a latin ⟨f⟩.
  • Gg: The left side of a lower case gamma ⟨ɣ⟩ is turned into a loop to make it resemble a lower case ⟨ꬶ⟩. Current greek pronunciation of ⟨ɣ⟩ is /ɣ/, fairly close to /g/, and often transliterated as ⟨g⟩ or ⟨gh⟩.
  • Hh: The latin upper case ⟨Η⟩ is stylized to look like the letter chi ⟨Χ⟩. The current greek pronunciation of chi is /x/ and it has a cyrillic counterpart ⟨Х⟩ pronounced as /x/ or /h/.
  • Jj: The lower case zeta ⟨ζ⟩ is written in a lower position so that its tail becomes the descender of a lower case ⟨j⟩ or ⟨ʒ⟩. The letter ezh ⟨ʒ⟩, which is used in the IPA for the pronunciation of ⟨J/j⟩ as /dʒ/, was also developed from zeta ⟨ζ⟩.
  • Ll: Lower case lambda ⟨λ⟩ is mirrored horizontally into something like ⟨ʎ⟩. Then its ascender is made higher and its right leg is made less steep to resemble an upper case ⟨L⟩.
  • Nn: A compromise is made between upper case greek nu ⟨Ν⟩, latin ⟨N⟩, and cyrillic ⟨Н⟩ by making the mid bar slanted.
  • Pp: The left leg of pi ⟨π⟩ is elongated to turn it into the descender of a lower case ⟨p⟩.
  • Qq: The upper case greek letter koppa ⟨Ϙ⟩ is similar enough to upper case ⟨Q⟩, even though it's no longer used in current greek.
  • Rr: The descender in lower case rho ⟨ρ⟩ is shortened and its loop is left unclosed to make it more like a lower case ⟨r⟩.
  • Ss: The word-final lower case sigma ⟨ς⟩ is chosen due its similarity to latin ⟨s⟩ and cyrillic ⟨с⟩.
  • Vv: The latin ⟨V/v⟩ is stylized to look a bit like a slanted vau/wau/digamma ⟨ϝ⟩, which used to represnt /v/ or /w/ even though it is no longer used in current greek.
  • Ww: The latin ⟨W/w⟩ is stylized to look a bit like a rotated vau/wau/digamma ⟨ϝ⟩.
  • Xx: The top and bottom line of an upper case ksi ⟨Ξ⟩ are given slanted serifs to make it look like the latin ⟨X/x⟩ that is pronounced as /ks/.
  • Yy: The breve/vrachy in a lower case iota with vrachy ⟨ῐ⟩ or a latin ⟨ῐ⟩ is made more prominent so that it resembles the latin upper case ⟨Y⟩. It is pronounced as a short /i/ and follows the convention of using a breve to mark non-syllabic vowels, like /ɪ̯/ that sounds similar to /j/