Expert: Maria - 5/12/2005

Question
Are there heteronyms and/or homonyms in the Hebrew or Greek languages?  Because dictionary definitions vary in defining these terms, I will define what I mean in their usage.  Heteronyms are words that have different meanings but are spelled the same and pronounced differently (example: bass; a stringed instrument or a fish).  Homonyms are words that have different meanings but are spelled the same and pronounced the same (example: bank; put money into or on edge of river).  Please provide as many examples of heteronyms and/or homonyms in the Hebrew or Greek languages as you can and references to support them.  Please state your credentials.  Thank you.  I don't want my name used anywhere in any place, message board, etc.

Answer
Hello,

First of all  I am an expert in Latin and Ancient Greek Language, but NOT in Hebrew (view my profile).

As for heteronyms and/or homonyms in ANCIENT GREEK, here are  some HOMONYMS:

-“amaxa” (alpha -mu-alpha-csi-alpha) meaning “Great Bear” and “car” as in “the car of the sun”

-“amaurosis”( alpha-mu-alpha-upsilon-rho-omega-sigma-iota-sigma) meaning “eyesight failing” and “denigration”.

-“arktos”(alpha-rho-kappa-tau-omicron-sigma) meaning “bear”, “Great Bear”, “crab”.

-"kalux”( kappa-alpha-lambda-upsilon-csi) meaning “chalice”, “earrings”, “pod”.

-“narthex” (nu-alpha-rho-theta-eta-csi) meaning “stick”, “thyrsus”, “box”, “slipcase”.

And so on.

In ancient Greek there are in fact many homonyms, i.e. words that are spelled the same and pronounced the same, and therefore I cannot list them all, as they are too many.


As for heteronyms , i.e. those words that have different meanings but are spelled the same and pronounced differently, such  words DO NOT EXIST in ancient Greek because in this language the words are spelled the same and pronounced the same, differently from English where many words can be pronounced differently according to their meaning (See “bass” in music or in zoology).


Please note that  I wrote in brackets the name of each Greek letter, since unfortunately the  system does not allow the use of the Greek characters and diacritic marks and then I was obliged to  write each word  into corresponding letters of Latin alphabet.
For the Greek alphabet see at: http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/alphabet.html

Finally with regard to ‘references to support them', as you say, you have only to consult a dictionary (ancient Greek-English, e.g. Liddell- Scott Greek Lexicon) and look up each word and its meanings.

Best regards
Maria