Greek breathing marks

Breathing marks

If a word in Greek starts with a vowel, diphthong or a letter ρ it must have a breathing markwritten above it. It is placed above the vowels and “rho” [ρ], and above the second letter in the diphthongs.

Greek has two breathing marks. It can be either roughor smooth.

The rough breathing mark( ῾ ) indicates that the first sound will have an initial “h” sound.

The smooth breathing mark( ᾿ ) indicates that this initial “h” sound is absent.

For example: ἕν [hén] one

ἐν [en] in

ἡμέρα [heméra] day

ἕξ [héks] six

ἀνήρ [anér] man, husband

Initial ρ and υ always have the rough breathing mark. If a word has two ρρ letters in it, the first one has a smoothand the second a roughbreathing mark, respectively. The breathing mark above ρ is silent.

For example:ὕδωρ [húdor] water

ῥῆμα [réma] word

ἐῤῥωμένος [erroménos] strong, vigorous

Source: https://greekforall.com