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Hellenistic Greek pronunciation
Responding to James Tauber's enquiry:
I wrote on this quite extensively two or three years ago, on ths
List, and don't want to have to repeat all that material which included
extensive citations of the basic research. But this should be noted:
The excellent VOX GRAECA and the old Sturtevant (which I was trained in)
focus primarily on the pronunciation of one city, Athens, and largely
during one century or so. After Alexander's conquests, Greek was
widespread (as Latin later was, by Roman conquests), and just as Latin
later developed into quite distinct local dialects, so (to a much
lesser extent, happily for us) did Greek. Our evidence for most
places is severely limited. The accident of papyri being discarded in
the desert sands has resulted in our knowing more about Egyptian Greek
pronunciation than about any other region. Hence the first place
to look is in Mayser's magnificent work, old as it is, and German as
it is.
The situation is not so simple as to be a matter of the
later Byzantine pronunciation being applicable to first century
BCE or CE) usage, though by I-II CE itacism was well along in most
parts of the Mediterranean.
--Edward Hobbs