Transliterate English text using the Greek alphabet
Transliterate English text using the Greek alphabet is a draft programming task. It is not yet considered ready to be promoted as a complete task, for reasons that should be found in its talk page.
- Rules
A rather silly little task intended as a bit of fun as well as a simple exercise in text substitution. So, if you're a Greek speaker or an expert in ancient Greek, please don't take it too seriously!
As there isn't a one-to-one correspondence between the English and Greek alphabets, we need some rules:
| Greek letter | Corresponding English letter(s) |
|---|---|
| alpha | a |
| beta | b or v |
| gamma | g |
| delta | d |
| epsilon | e (but not ee) |
| zeta | z |
| eta | h or ee (but not ch, kh, ph, rh or th) |
| theta | th |
| iota | i or j |
| kappa | c, k, q or ck (but not ch and kh) |
| lambda | l |
| mu | m |
| nu | n |
| xi | x |
| omicron | o (but not oo) |
| pi | p (but not ph or ps) |
| rho | r or rh |
| sigma | s (but not ps) |
| tau | t (but not th) |
| upsilon | u or y |
| phi | f or ph |
| chi | ch or kh |
| psi | ps |
| omega | w or oo |
In the case of lower-case sigma, use ς when s is the final letter of an English word or σ otherwise.
Ignore Greek diacritics (accents and breathings) but use the same capitalization, spacing and punctuation as in the English text.
- Example
English: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Greek: Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ.
- Task
Transliterate the following English text into Greek using the above rules:
I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio.
If your language does not support the printing of non-ascii characters, then you can instead transliterate the following lower-case pangram:
sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Just represent the Greek letters by their names in angle brackets. For example:
the dog => <theta><epsilon> <delta><omicron><gamma>
- Reference
Other tasks related to string operations:
- Metrics
- Counting
- Word frequency
- Letter frequency
- Jewels and stones
- I before E except after C
- Bioinformatics/base count
- Count occurrences of a substring
- Count how many vowels and consonants occur in a string
- Remove/replace
- XXXX redacted
- Conjugate a Latin verb
- Remove vowels from a string
- String interpolation (included)
- Strip block comments
- Strip comments from a string
- Strip a set of characters from a string
- Strip whitespace from a string -- top and tail
- Strip control codes and extended characters from a string
- Anagrams/Derangements/shuffling
- Word wheel
- ABC problem
- Sattolo cycle
- Knuth shuffle
- Ordered words
- Superpermutation minimisation
- Textonyms (using a phone text pad)
- Anagrams
- Anagrams/Deranged anagrams
- Permutations/Derangements
- Find/Search/Determine
- ABC words
- Odd words
- Word ladder
- Semordnilap
- Word search
- Wordiff (game)
- String matching
- Tea cup rim text
- Alternade words
- Changeable words
- State name puzzle
- String comparison
- Unique characters
- Unique characters in each string
- Extract file extension
- Levenshtein distance
- Palindrome detection
- Common list elements
- Longest common suffix
- Longest common prefix
- Compare a list of strings
- Longest common substring
- Find common directory path
- Words from neighbour ones
- Change e letters to i in words
- Non-continuous subsequences
- Longest common subsequence
- Longest palindromic substrings
- Longest increasing subsequence
- Words containing "the" substring
- Sum of the digits of n is substring of n
- Determine if a string is numeric
- Determine if a string is collapsible
- Determine if a string is squeezable
- Determine if a string has all unique characters
- Determine if a string has all the same characters
- Longest substrings without repeating characters
- Find words which contains all the vowels
- Find words which contains most consonants
- Find words which contains more than 3 vowels
- Find words which first and last three letters are equals
- Find words which odd letters are consonants and even letters are vowels or vice_versa
- Formatting
- Substring
- Rep-string
- Word wrap
- String case
- Align columns
- Literals/String
- Repeat a string
- Brace expansion
- Brace expansion using ranges
- Reverse a string
- Phrase reversals
- Comma quibbling
- Special characters
- String concatenation
- Substring/Top and tail
- Commatizing numbers
- Reverse words in a string
- Suffixation of decimal numbers
- Long literals, with continuations
- Numerical and alphabetical suffixes
- Abbreviations, easy
- Abbreviations, simple
- Abbreviations, automatic
- Song lyrics/poems/Mad Libs/phrases
- Mad Libs
- Magic 8-ball
- 99 Bottles of Beer
- The Name Game (a song)
- The Old lady swallowed a fly
- The Twelve Days of Christmas
- Tokenize
- Text between
- Tokenize a string
- Word break problem
- Tokenize a string with escaping
- Split a character string based on change of character
- Sequences
J
Implementation:
endings=: {{
W=. (#~ tolower=toupper) (32}.127{.a.)-.":1234567890x
,(x,"1 0 W);&(7&u:)"1 y,"1 0 W
}}
trans=: rplc&(7 u:L:0 ".{{)n
'ch';'χ'; 'th';'θ'; 'ps';'ψ'; 'ph';'f'; ('s' endings 'ς'), 'Ch';'Χ';
'Th';'Θ'; 'Ps';'Ψ'; 'Ph';'F'; 'ee';'h'; 'ck';'κ'; 'rh';'r'; 'kh';'χ';
'Kh';'Χ'; 'oo';'w'; 'a';'α'; 'b';'β'; 'c';'κ'; 'd';'δ'; 'e';'ε';
'f';'φ'; 'g';'γ'; 'h';'η'; 'i';'ι'; 'j';'ι'; 'k';'κ'; 'l';'λ';
'm';'μ'; 'n';'ν'; 'o';'ο'; 'p';'π'; 'q';'κ'; 'r';'ρ'; 's';'σ';
't';'τ'; 'u';'υ'; 'v';'β'; 'w';'ω'; 'x';'ξ'; 'y';'υ'; 'z';'ζ';
'D';'Δ'; 'F';'Φ'; 'G';'Γ'; 'J';'I'; 'L';'Λ'; 'P';'Π'; 'Q';'Κ';
'R';'Ρ'; 'S';'Σ'; 'Y';'U'; 'W';'Ω'; 'X';'Ξ'
}} -.LF)^:_
Examples:
txt1=:'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.'
txt2=:{{)n
I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden,
dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang.
As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun
caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt
laying in my patio.
}}
txt3=: 'sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.'
trans txt1
Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ.
trans txt2
I ωας λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονς ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν,
δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτς, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ.
Aς I ανσωερεδ ιτ, I χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Iυλυ συν
καυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ
λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο.
trans txt3
σφινξ οφ βλακ κυαρτζ, ιυδγε μυ βοω.
Julia
const texts = [
"""The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.""",
"""I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden,
dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang.
As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun
caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt
laying in my patio.""",
"""sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."""]
const replacements = [
"ch" => "χ", "th" => "θ", "ps" => "ψ", "ph" => "f", r"s(\W)" => s"ς\1", "Ch" => "Χ",
"Th" => "Θ", "Ps" => "Ψ", "Ph" => "F", "ee" => "h", "ck" => "κ", "rh" => "r", "kh" => "χ",
"Kh" => "Χ", "oo" => "w", "a" => "α", "b" => "β", "c" => "κ", "d" => "δ", "e" => "ε",
"f" => "φ", "g" => "γ", "h" => "η", "i" => "ι", "j" => "ι", "k" => "κ", "l" => "λ",
"m" => "μ", "n" => "ν", "o" => "ο", "p" => "π", "q" => "κ", "r" => "ρ", "s" => "σ",
"t" => "τ", "u" => "υ", "v" => "β", "w" => "ω", "x" => "ξ", "y" => "υ", "z" => "ζ",
"D" => "Δ", "F" => "Φ", "G" => "Γ", "J" => "I", "L" => "Λ", "P" => "Π", "Q" => "Κ",
"R" => "Ρ", "S" => "Σ", "Y" => "U", "W" => "Ω", "X" => "Ξ"]
for txt in texts
println("$txt\n=>")
for pair in replacements
txt = replace(txt, pair)
end
println("$txt\n", "="^65)
end
- Output:
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. => Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ. ================================================================= I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. => I ωας λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονς ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν, δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτς, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ. Aς I ανσωερεδ ιτ, I χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Iυλυ συν καυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο. ================================================================= sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. => σφινξ οφ βλακ κυαρτζ, ιυδγε μυ βοω. =================================================================
Perl
use v5.36;
use experimental 'for_list';
use utf8;
binmode(STDOUT, ':utf8');
sub to_Greek ($string) {
my %pre = qw<Ph F ck k ee h J I rh r oo w ph f ch χ th θ ps ψ Ch Χ Th Θ Ps Ψ kh χ 's ' 'ς '>;
my %post = split '', 'aαbβdδeεfφgγhηiιjιkκlλmμnνoοpπqκrρsσtτuυvβwωxξyυzζAΑBΒDΔEΕFΦGΓHΗIΙLΛMΜNΝOΟPΠQΚRΡSΣTΤUΥWΩXΞZΖ';
for my ($k,$v) (%pre, %post) { $string =~ s/$k/$v/g }
$string
}
say "$_\n" . to_Greek $_ . "\n" for
'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.',
'I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang.',
'As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio.';
- Output:
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ. I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. Ι ωασ λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονσ ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν, δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτσ, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. Ασ Ι ανσωερεδ ιτ, Ι χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Ιυλυ συν cαυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο.
Phix
Just for a laugh, figure out the rules directly from the task description. You can run this online here (and it'll probably look better in a browser than on a Windows console).
with javascript_semantics constant task = """ alpha a beta b or v gamma g delta d epsilon e (but not ee) zeta z eta h or ee (but not ch, kh, ph, rh or th) theta th iota i or j kappa c, k, q or ck (but not ch and kh) lambda l mu m nu n xi x omicron o (but not oo) pi p (but not ph or ps) rho r or rh sigma s (but not ps) tau t (but not th) upsilon u or y phi f or ph chi ch or kh psi ps omega w or oo """ function rules() sequence replacements = split(task,"\n"), suborder = {{" ",49},{",",50},{".",51},{"\n",52}}, {rs,ir} = columnize(suborder), names = reinstate(repeat(0,52),ir,rs), done = {} for i,s in replacements do s = substitute_all(s,{" or"," and"},{",",","}) integer k = match("(but not ",s) sequence nots = {} if k then assert(s[$]=')' and s[k-1]=' ') nots = split(s[k+9..$-1],", ") s = s[1..k-2] end if s = split(substitute(s,",","")," ") names[i] = "<" & proper(s[1]) & ">" names[i+24] = "<" & s[1] & ">" s = s[2..$] k = max(apply(s¬s,length)) replacements[i] = {k,i,reverse(s),nots} end for replacements = sort(replacements) while length(replacements) do for i=length(replacements) to 1 by -1 do bool missing = false for s in replacements[i][4] do missing += not find(s,done) end for if not missing then integer g = replacements[i][2] for s in replacements[i][3] do done = append(done,s) suborder &= {{s,g+24}} s[1] = upper(s[1]) suborder &= {{s,g}} end for replacements[i..i] = {} end if end for end while return {columnize(suborder),names} end function sequence {{sub,rep},names} = rules(), gulp = utf8_to_utf32("ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩ"& "αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρστυφχψω ,.\n"), text = """ The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.""" string g = utf32_to_utf8(extract(gulp,substitute_all(text,sub,rep))) g = substitute_all(g,{"σ ","σ,"},{"ς ","ς,"}) printf(1,"%s\n=>\n%s\n\n",{text,g}) string thedog = "the dog" g = join(extract(names,substitute_all(thedog,sub,rep)),"") printf(1,"%s\n=>\n%s\n\n",{thedog,g})
- Output:
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. => Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ. Ι ωας λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονς ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν, δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτς, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ. Ας Ι ανσωερεδ ιτ, Ι χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Ιυλυ συν καυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο. σφινξ οφ βλακ κυαρτζ, ιυδγε μυ βοω. the dog => <theta><epsilon> <delta><omicron><gamma>
Raku
sub to-Greek (Str $string is copy) {
my %pre = :Ph<F>, :ck<k>, :ee<h>, :J<I>, :rh<r>,:oo<w>, :ph<f>, :ch<χ>,
:th<θ>, :ps<ψ>, :Ch<Χ>, :Th<Θ>, :Ps<Ψ>, :kh<χ>, 's ' => 'ς ';
my %post = :a<α>, :b<β>, :d<δ>, :e<ε>, :f<φ>, :g<γ>, :h<η>, :i<ι>, :j<ι>,
:k<κ>, :l<λ>, :m<μ>, :n<ν>, :o<ο>, :p<π>, :q<κ>, :r<ρ>, :s<σ>,
:t<τ>, :u<υ>, :v<β>, :w<ω>, :x<ξ>, :y<υ>, :z<ζ>, :A<Α>, :B<Β>,
:D<Δ>, :E<Ε>, :F<Φ>, :G<Γ>, :H<Η>, :I<Ι>, :L<Λ>, :M<Μ>, :N<Ν>,
:O<Ο>, :P<Π>, :Q<Κ>, :R<Ρ>, :S<Σ>, :T<Τ>, :U<Υ>, :W<Ω>, :X<Ξ>,
:Z<Ζ>;
$string.=subst(:g, .key, .value ) for flat %pre, %post;
$string
}
my $text = chomp q:to/ENGLISH/;
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden,
dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang.
As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun
caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt
laying in my patio.
sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
ENGLISH
say "English:\n\n" ~ $text ~ "\n" ~ '=' x 80;
say "\"Greek\":\n\n" ~ $text.&to-Greek ~ "\n" ~ '=' x 80;
say "Or, to named characters:\n\n$_\n" ~
.&to-Greek.comb.map({ .match(/\W/) ?? $_ !!
'<' ~ .uniname.subst( /.+<?after LETTER\s>/).lc ~ '>'
}).join
given 'sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.';
- Output:
English: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. ================================================================================ "Greek": Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ. Ι ωας λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονς ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν, δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτσ, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ. Ας Ι ανσωερεδ ιτ, Ι χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Ιυλυ συν cαυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο. σφινξ οφ βλακ κυαρτζ, ιυδγε μυ βοω. ================================================================================ Or, to named characters: sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. <sigma><phi><iota><nu><xi> <omicron><phi> <beta><lamda><alpha><kappa> <kappa><upsilon><alpha><rho><tau><zeta>, <iota><upsilon><delta><gamma><epsilon> <mu><upsilon> <beta><omicron><omega>.
Wren
import "./str" for Char, Greek
var English2Greek = Fn.new { |text|
// make appropriate substitutions using rarely used control characters
// for Greek letters which have no single English letter equivalents
var subs = [
["v", "b"],
["j", "i"],
["y", "u"],
["ch", "\x01"], // chi (l/c)
["kh", "\x01"], // chi (l/c)
["ph", "f"],
["rh", "r"],
["th", "\x02"], // theta (l/c)
["Ch", "\x04"], // chi (u/c)
["Kh", "\x04"], // chi (u/c)
["Ph", "F"],
["Rh", "R"],
["Th", "\x05"], // theta (u/c)
["ee", "h"],
["ck", "q"],
["c", "q"],
["k", "q"],
["oo", "w"],
["ps", "\x03"], // psi(l/c)
["Ps", "\x06"], // psi(u/c)
["V", "B"],
["J", "I"],
["Y", "U"],
["CH", "\x04"], // chi (u/c)
["KH", "\x04"], // chi (u/c)
["PH", "F"],
["RH", "R"],
["TH", "\x05"], // theta (u/c)
["EE", "H"],
["CK", "Q"],
["C", "Q"],
["K", "Q"],
["OO", "W"],
["PS", "\x06"], // psi(u/c)
]
for (sub in subs) text = text.replace(sub[0], sub[1])
// now look for final English lower case 's' and use 'DEL' to substitute for that
var letters = text.toList
for (i in 1...letters.count) {
var c = letters[i]
if ((Char.isWhitespace(c) || Char.isPunctuation(c)) && letters[i-1] == "s") {
letters[i-1] = "\x7f"
}
}
// finally substitute the remaining English 'letters' with Greek ones
// note that some of them look the same but are different codepoints
var e2g = {
"a": "α", "b": "β", "d": "δ", "e": "ε", "f": "φ", "g": "γ", "h": "η",
"i": "ι", "l": "λ", "m": "μ", "n": "ν", "o": "ο", "p": "π", "q": "κ",
"r": "ρ", "s": "σ", "t": "τ", "u": "υ", "w": "ω", "x": "ξ", "z": "ζ",
"A": "Α", "B": "Β", "D": "Δ", "E": "Ε", "F": "Φ", "G": "Γ", "H": "Η",
"I": "Ι", "L": "Λ", "M": "Μ", "N": "Ν", "O": "Ο", "P": "Π", "Q": "Κ",
"R": "Ρ", "S": "Σ", "T": "Τ", "U": "Υ", "W": "Ω", "X": "Ξ", "Z": "Ζ",
"\x01": "χ", "\x02": "θ", "\x03": "ψ", "\x7f": "ς",
"\x04": "Χ", "\x05": "Θ", "\x06": "Ψ"
}
var greek = List.filled(letters.count, null)
for (i in 0...greek.count) {
var c = letters[i]
if (Char.isWhitespace(c) || Char.isPunctuation(c)) {
greek[i] = c
} else {
greek[i] = e2g[letters[i]]
}
}
return greek.join("")
}
var texts = [
"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.",
"""
I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden,
dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang.
As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun
caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt
laying in my patio.
""",
"sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."
]
for (text in texts) {
System.print(text)
System.print()
System.print(English2Greek.call(text))
System.print("=" * 65)
}
System.print("The last example using the names of the Greek letters instead:")
var greek = English2Greek.call(texts[2])
var s = ""
for (g in greek) {
var c
if (Char.isWhitespace(g) || Char.isPunctuation(g)) {
c = g
} else {
c = "<" + Greek.name(g) + ">"
}
s = s + c
}
System.print(s)- Output:
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Θε κυικ βροων φοξ ιυμπεδ οβερ θε λαζυ δογ. ================================================================= I was looking at some rhododendrons in my back garden, dressed in my khaki shorts, when the telephone rang. As I answered it, I cheerfully glimpsed that the July sun caused a fragment of black pine wax to ooze on the velvet quilt laying in my patio. Ι ωας λωκινγ ατ σομε ροδοδενδρονς ιν μυ βακ γαρδεν, δρεσσεδ ιν μυ χακι σηορτς, ωηεν θε τελεφονε ρανγ. Ας Ι ανσωερεδ ιτ, Ι χηρφυλλυ γλιμψεδ θατ θε Ιυλυ συν καυσεδ α φραγμεντ οφ βλακ πινε ωαξ το ωζε ον θε βελβετ κυιλτ λαυινγ ιν μυ πατιο. ================================================================= sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. σφινξ οφ βλακ κυαρτζ, ιυδγε μυ βοω. ================================================================= The last example using the names of the Greek letters instead: <sigma><phi><iota><nu><xi> <omicron><phi> <beta><lambda><alpha><kappa> <kappa><upsilon><alpha><rho><tau><zeta>, <iota><upsilon><delta><gamma><epsilon> <mu><upsilon> <beta><omicron><omega>.