In the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing (Ancient Greek: δασὺ πνεῦμα dasỳ pneûma or δασεῖα daseîa: modern Greek δασεία dasía; Latin spīritus asper), is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an /h/ sound before a vowel, diphthong, or rho. It remained in the polytonic orthography even after the Hellenistic period, when the sound disappeared from the Greek language. In modern monotonic orthography, that is after 1980, it has been dropped.
The absence of an /h/ sound is marked by the smooth breathing.
Read more about Rough Breathing: History, Usage, Technical Notes
Famous quotes containing the words rough and/or breathing:
“Such is the fate of simple Bard,
On life’s rough ocean luckless starr’d:”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking;
So full of valour that they smote the air,
For breathing in their faces, beat the ground
For kissing of their feet.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)