Re: Writting Greek in Emacs

[Juan Manuel Macías]

Thanos Apollo writes:

> Greek polytonic support has the addition of 96 Upper case glyphs:
>
>    ἈἉἊἋἌἍἎἏᾺΆᾸᾹᾼᾈᾉᾊᾋᾌᾍᾎᾏ
>    ἘἙἚἛἜἝῈΈ
>    ἨἩἪἫἬἭἮἯῊΉῌᾘᾙᾚᾛᾜᾝᾞᾟ
>    ἸἹἺἻἼἽἾἿῚΊῘῙ
>    ὈὉὊὋὌὍῸΌ
>    Ῥ
>    ὙὛὝὟῪΎῨῩ
>    ὨὩὪὫὬὭὮὯῺΏῼᾨᾩᾪᾫᾬᾭᾮᾯ
>
> and 121 lower case:
>
>    ἀἁἂἃἄἅἆἇὰάᾰᾱᾶᾳᾲᾴᾀᾁᾂᾃᾄᾅᾆᾇᾷ
>    ἐἑἒἓἔἕὲέ
>    ἠἡἢἣἤἥἦἧὴήῆῃῂῄᾐᾑᾒᾓᾔᾕᾖᾗῇ
>    ἰἱἲἳἴἵἶἷὶίῐῑῖῒΐῗ
>    ὀὁὂὃὄὅὸό
>    ῥῤ
>    ὑὓὕὗὺύῠῡὐὒὔὖῦῢΰῧ
>    ὠὡὢὣὤὥὦὧὼώῶῳῲῴᾠᾡᾢᾣᾤᾥᾦᾧῷ



> A greek-polytonic input method should also adjust for having diacritic
> combinations, such as for ῝ (U+1FDD).

All of these characters can be obtained with the greek-ibycus4 input
method, which I mentioned. The advantage is that it comes out of the box
in Emacs. For example:

ᾆ   <   a)=|

῝   <   (`

Also, this input method uses the ‘oxia’ accent, not the ‘tonos’,
which is correct. It is common for both accents to be confused, since
graphically they are usually identical, although not always. Some fonts
have different glyphs for tonos and oxia, the former somewhat more
vertical. I agree with Yannis Haralambous [vid. Haralambous, Y. (1998).
From unicode to typography, a case study: the greek script. In
Fourteenth International Unicode Conference], when he says that this
confusion comes from a Unicode inconsistency, fictitiously
distinguishing between tonos and oxia. What the monotonic reform did was
eliminate accents, not create a new accent (tonos).

> Additionally, I do not think it's proper to call it Classical Greek,
> since it's the same script used by the current "greek" input method,
> just with the addition of extra diacritics (many "tonous", polytonic).

Indeed, Classical Greek and polytonic ‘modern’ Greek (before monotonic
reform) use the same polytonic system. The correct thing would be, from
a purely graphic point of view, ‘polytonic’. However, I agree with RMS
that "ibycus4" sounds quite cryptic and should be renamed, maybe
polytonic-greek?

Best regards,

Juan Manuel

--
Juan Manuel Macías -- Composición tipográfica, tratamiento de datos, diseño 
editorial y ortotipografía