Is there a specific term for transliteration of a different script into the Greek alphabet? There are equivalent terms for transliteration of other alphabets into the Latin alphabet (romanization) and the Cyrillic alphabet (cyrillization). However, I can find no counterpart for transliteration into Greek. My closest guess would be hellenization, but that term is already used in historical contexts, referring to conversion of other nations to Greek culture (rather than transliteration into the Greek alphabet). I would like to know the term for this, as I am trying to find a transliteration scheme for converting English into the modern Greek alphabet, but searching for Greek transliteration only yields information on Greek romanization (which is the inverse of what I want). Any word or phrase will do, so long as it unambiguously refers to transliterating a script into the Greek alphabet, and not to romanization of Greek.
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Since Greek doesn't have a 1-1 mapping into English letters you never can get a totally unambiguous result, that is one that could be reversed perfectly.– OldcatMay 1, 2014 at 17:30
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1That doesn't mean such a process is not productive. Many non-Greek words are transliterated into Greek for everyday use from several languages, usually from the Latin alphabet. This includes, but is not limited to, proper names of course, such as Λονδίνο (London). I am not sure there is a word for it, I will ask my wife :)– oerkelensMay 1, 2014 at 17:39
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Λονδίνο is not a transliteration of London, but a translation, just as the English Moscow is not a transliteration of Mockba.– Andrew Leach ♦May 1, 2014 at 17:54
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I didn't say it was unproductive, just not unambiguous. I did it a lot in high school, and we just had conventions for letters like W or C (hard vs soft) and so on.– OldcatMay 1, 2014 at 17:54
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1You could call it Hellenification, which mixes Greek and Latin roots, or Greekification, which mixes English and Latin roots. Your choice. There's probly some Greek causative form that would do the same job as Latin -ficere suffix (from facere 'make, do, cause'), but nobody would recognize it, so it wouldn't help.– John LawlerMay 1, 2014 at 18:15
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2 Answers
Grecization is sometimes used in this sense, though it is used for transliteration into Greeklish (or romanized Greek), translation into Greek and used in the sense of Hellenization as well.
1. (transitive) To render Grecian, or cause (a word or phrase in another language) to take a Greek form.
The name is grecized.
2. (transitive) To translate into Greek.
3. (intransitive) To conform to the Greek custom, especially in speech.
On the other hand, hellenization is used for the transliteration into Greek also. As in hellenized transliteration.
Apparently, there is no well-established term for transliteration into Greek (or Greek alphabet).
Consider grecianize and "grecianizatiom."
grecianize: to make Greek; give a a Greek form to; hellenize.
