Thank you, Bernd, Alan, and Mathias. That is all very interesting. I
checked in the unabridged Lidell and Scott (the most comprehensive
Greek-English dictionary), and there was nothing beginning with "mp." In
modern Cyrillic the "b" sound is represented by a letter that looks like
an Italic lower case "b" and the "v" sound by one that looks like an upper
case "b" (more or less). Perhaps Roman knows whether Cyrill himself used
those.
Stephen
One thing is certain is that it is unknown what Cyrill actually used, and
whether the Cyrillic is actually his work.
Glagolitic (what C. invented) B uses the mirror image of Samaritan M.
B and M were indeed a source of much confusion in Central and Southeastern
Europe in the 1st millenium AD, especially where Turkic languages collided
with IndoEuropean.
RT
>
Did you mistype something? I never saw a Greek word beginning with "mp".
copy
Μπερμπάντης
to search engine and have a look :-)
I seem to remember that in the preclassic times quite
some words started with "mp-", then reduced to b.
I also remember having seen this combination on
on road signs in Athens last year, but perhaps the sun
was too hot..
Mathias, Markus,... :-))
best wishes and
HAPPY EASTER for the orthodox friends
B.
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