On Saturday 28 May 2005 21:08, Pat Naughtin wrote:
> on 2005-05-29 06.59, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > 2005 May 28
> > Ref: usma32935
> > I prefer to say jig-ah; soft g, for giga. I note the soft g in
> > gigantic. Is this where giga came from? I also note the soft g in giant.
> >
> > Many of you insist on the hard g but I find it awkward.
I on the other hand find the soft-g pronunciation to sound strange.
To-MAY-toes, to-MAH-toes, eh?
The prefix giga comes from the Greek gigantas, meaning giant (adjective
form). In ancient Greek (fifth century BCE, gamma (g) before a vowel was
always pronounced as a hard g. In modern Greek, gamma before iota (gi) or
before eta (ge) is pronounced as the "y" in "yes"; otherwise it is hard. To
me, the choice for purists thus would come down to a hard g or a y sound
(giga or yiga).
By the way, biblical Greek was somewhat intermediary, not surprisingly.
It
sometimes put a bit of gurgled aspiration to the y sound. So, the religious
purists here in the congregation may wish to consider hyiga as the way to go
--- or to jo or to yo or to hyo.
A nifty page for pronunciation of Greek through the ages is at
http://www.biblicalgreek.org/links/pronunciation.html#Pronunciation%20Guide
and it includes audio files for audiophiles. There is nothing there for audio
flies. But the sound clips are short and download quickly, nonetheless.
I think that the soft-g pronunciation probably comes from modern
Italian,
where g before i or e is pronounced as a j. Unless an h intervenes, of
course. So, in Italian gi is pronounced ji, ghi is pronounced gi, and so
forth.
Apparently Greek speakers never used the j sound in their
pronunciation.
When the Greek monk St. Cyril devised an alphabet for the Russians, he was
not able to adapt a Greek letter, as he did for many of their other phonemes.
He had to invent one to stand for their j sound, which is actually more like
a zh sound (all mid-tongue, no tongue tip against the palate). Ironically,
and perhaps accidently, if you picture the mid-tongue curved up to a downward
curved palate, and draw a short vertical line at the point of contact, you
have that Russian (Cyrillic) letter.
In my view, then, anyone living in Greece at anytime during these last
2500
years, upon hearing a soft-g
"jiga",
would undoubtedly say,
"That's not Greek to me!"
> > How do you say the binary prefix gibi? (See SI10 page 7.)
I pronounce gibi with a hard g also. Except when I'm in Jreece.
By the way, since IEEE SI 10-2002 was published, IEEE Std 1541,
"Standard For
Prefixes for Binary Multiples", was published as a trial standard hand.
Later, IEEE Std 1541 was been elevated to a full standard. It parallels the
IEC document cited in the footnote Robert cites in SI 10 with but a small
difference or two.
Very clearly, though, these are not binary prefixes, Robert. These are
IEEE
and IEC prefixes for binary multiples, in contrast to the SI prefixes for
decimal multiples.
> > There is no standard for SI pronunciation. ....
I agree; there is none that I know of. And I don't care if folks
pronounce it
KILL-o-meter or ki-LOH-meter just as long as they don't pronounce it MILE or
KLICK.
I'll give Pat the last word here...
> As you say, there is no guidance so I suppose people will simply make up
> their own minds on the pronunciation of giga and gibi -- perhaps they'll
> choose one of each!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Pat Naughtin
....
Jim
--
James R. Frysinger
Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
Senior Member, IEEE
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj
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