Words From Greek
The spelling of French words of Greek origin is complicated by a number of digraphs which originated in the Latin transcriptions. The digraphs ⟨ph⟩, ⟨th⟩, and ⟨ch⟩ normally represent /f/, /t/, and /k/ in Greek loanwords, respectively; and the digraphs ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ in Greek loanwords generally represent the same vowel as ⟨e⟩. Further, many words in the international scientific vocabulary were constructed in French from Greek roots and have kept their digraphs (e.g., stratosphère, photographie).
Read more about this topic: French Orthography
Famous quotes containing the words words and/or greek:
“It was only just words, words,—they meant nothing in the world to him, I might just as well have whistled. Words realize nothing, vivify nothing to you, unless you have suffered in your own person the thing which the words try to describe.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The student may read Homer or Æschylus in the Greek without danger of dissipation or luxuriousness, for it implies that he in some measure emulate their heroes, and consecrate morning hours to their pages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)