User:Shenme/BetaCodeIME

BetaCodeIME.js: A user script providing a keyboard-only input method for entering Ancient Greek letters with the complete set of accents and diacritics by using Beta Code syntax.

Introduction

Ancient Greek diacritics are weird.

Beta Code is weird.

The perfect marriage.

Beta Code is a standard for encoding polytonic Greek text, using only ASCII (Latin) characters. Beta Code has become "a sort of universal default keymap for text entry in polytonic Greek".

Using only basic keyboard input the complicated accented Greek letters may be entered more easily, without having to remember complex and difficult key 'chords' required by operating system input methods.

Beta Code is just plain alphabetic keys translated to Greek letters, plus a small number of other keys that add accents and breathing marks to the Greek letters.

Three quick examples, you would enter Beta Code to get Greek:

o(/ti	to get	ὅτι
oi( polloi/	to get	οἱ πολλοί	(Hoi polloi)
I)orda/nh| potamw=|	to get	Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ	(Jordan river)

Matching alphabetic keys to Greek letters

While in Beta Code mode, the plain alphabetic keys are remapped to enter Greek letters. The keys and Greek letters are matched using two general guidelines for usage.

Alphabet letters that have 'obvious' relationships are paired, such that 'a' gives you 'α', 'b' to 'β', 'g' to 'γ' (gamma), etc. That gives us most of the needed Greek letters.

The remaining few are paired up by looking at the 'shape' of the letters while wearing really bad glasses. Since omicron already uses the 'o' key, Beta code chooses 'w' for 'ω' omega, because they look alike. Similarly for 'Θ' theta the letter 'Q' is chosen. Look for a couple other strange choices in the list of correspondences below.

Input Keys			Greek Letter		Greek Letter Name
A	a	->	Α	α	ALPHA
B	b	->	Β	β	BETA
G	g	->	Γ	γ	GAMMA
D	d	->	Δ	δ	DELTA
E	e	->	Ε	ε	EPSILON
V	v	->	Ϝ	ϝ	DIGAMMA
Z	z	->	Ζ	ζ	ZETA
H	h	->	Η	η	ETA
Q	q	->	Θ	θ	THETA
I	i	->	Ι	ι	IOTA
K	k	->	Κ	κ	KAPPA
L	l	->	Λ	λ	LAMDA
M	m	->	Μ	μ	MU
N	n	->	Ν	ν	NU
C	c	->	Ξ	ξ	XI
O	o	->	Ο	ο	OMICRON
P	p	->	Π	π	PI
R	r	->	Ρ	ρ	RHO
S	s	->	Σ	σ	SIGMA, MEDIAL SIGMA
	s	->		ς	FINAL SIGMA
T	t	->	Τ	τ	TAU
U	u	->	Υ	υ	UPSILON
F	f	->	Φ	φ	PHI
X	x	->	Χ	χ	CHI
Y	y	->	Ψ	ψ	PSI
W	w	->	Ω	ω	OMEGA

Special cases

As usual with any too simple conventions there are a number of added rules to allow for special cases.

There are three forms for Greek 'S', the capital Sigma Σ, the middle sigma σ, and the final end-of-word sigma form ς .

The Greek FINAL SIGMA can usually be determined contextually, when a 'σ' is found to be at the end of a word. Entering Beta Code text "PRO/S " will be seen to result in "πρός". However if this doesn't work sometime you can enter:

S1	->	Σ	SIGMA
s1	->	σ	MEDIAL SIGMA
s2	->	ς	FINAL SIGMA

Then there are the two more Greek 'S', the LUNATE SIGMAs. To enter those you can use:

S3	->	Ϲ	LUNATE SIGMA
s3	->	ϲ	LUNATE SIGMA

Diacritics and Accents

These little marks are a big deal.

Input Keys		Greek Diacritic	Used for	Diacritic Name	Beta Input	Output
)	->	̓	smooth breathing	psili	e)n	ἐν
(	->	̔	rough breathing	dasia	o(, oi(	ὁ, οἱ
/	->	́	acute accent	oxia	pro/s	πρός
=	->	͂	circumflex accent	perispomeni	tw=n	τῶν
\	->	̀	grave accent	varia	pro\s	πρὸς
|	->	ͅ	iota subscript	ypogegrammeni	tw=|	τῷ
+	->	̈	diaeresis	dialytika	proi+e/nai	προϊέναι
&	->	̄	macron	macron	maxai/ra&s	μαχαίρᾱς
'	->	̆	breve	breve	ma/xaira'	μάχαιρᾰ

Most of the time you will only need to use the first six diacritics above. Very occasionally you will need the diaresis in a word such as Ἠσαΐου.

Only some combinations of diacritics are possible. You can have only one of rough or smooth breathing marks. And only one of the accents acute, grave and circumflex.

Most of the time only vowels can have diacritics. One special case is rho which might have rough or smooth breathing marks.

Punctuation

Over time Ancient Greek established a set of punctuation marks, some quite different from modern typography. Of these, the most often needed are:

:	->	·	middot "Greek semicolon" aka "Ano Teleia" aka "Ano Stigme"
'	->	’	apostrophe, this is used to represent the trailing breath mark
_	->	—	dash mark
#	->	ʹ	numeral mark (Keraia)

Several other Greek punctuation characters have specific Unicode assignments, but these look so much like the usually seen punctuation characters that no special characters are used. (wha?)

;	->	;	Greek question mark
.	->	.	period
,	->	,	comma
-	->	-	hyphen