θησαυροφύλαξ λόγων
Greek and Other Language Fonts (in Unicode)
Unicode 5.0.0 now released. The new version defines additional characters needed for linguistic symbols, Greek, Hebrew, and for minority language support. Five new scripts are added in 5.0: Balinese, N’Ko, Phags-pa, Phoenician, and Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform.
(Most of this applies to both PCs and Macs, but for Mac links see Unicode links. Mac Word 2004 now supports Unicode.)
One hears about Unicode fonts these days, but most sites are technical explanations. Here's my simplified version; follow the Unicode links if you wish detailed information. If you have Unicode support, then Greek should appear properly at the top of this page.
- Unicode made simple
- Where do I find the fonts?
- How do I select the Greek font?
- Typing Greek
- Configuring your browser
- Online Tools
- Keyboards
- Fonts with Greek subrange
- Fonts for other languages
- Texts in Unciode
- Unicode links
Summary
Unicode fonts, containing the characters for most languages ancient and modern, are included in many Microsoft products or can be dowloaded from the web, and are interchangeable. The characters can be copied from your character/keyboard map, entered using an online tool, or typed from your own keyboard after installation of a keyboard switcher.Unicode Made Simple
Unicode is a new standard where all fonts have the same encoding for the same character. So, Greek alpha in all Unicode fonts is (in computer code) always the same, and therefore you can change between different Unicode fonts and preserve the Greek in a document. This means that in theory a Unciode font has all the world's characters, everything from Sanskrit to Chinese to Ethiopic. And for Classicists, you can also find Etruscan, Linear B, Phoenician and Syriac! The Greek includes all accents and diacritics, and a lunate sigma, as well as the obsolete letters digamma, koppa and san. Every font has thousands of characters to cover all this.
Why are there different fonts then?
There are many Unicode fonts, so that it you are writing, say, in Times font, then you want to use the Greek in Times font to fit in. Also some people in their fonts have designed a better looking Greek than others. The advantage of Unicode is that if you write Greek in one Unicode font, and one day someone designs a better looking one, you can just change it without retyping new characters. Or if you are an editor and someone sends a text in one Unicode font, you can change it to your preferred one without a headache.
Where do I find the fonts?
The chances are that you already have a Unicode font installed on your computer. The Greek written at the top of this page is written in Arial Unicode MS. Many Unicode fonts are freely distributed in Word 2000 and Windows 2000 and XP. See if you have any of these in your fonts:- Arial Unicode MS
- Palatino Linotype
- Lucida Sans Unicode (lacks precomposed characters)
If you don't have these, then you can also download another font below.
NB While a Unicode font ensures that each character is always the same, some font designers have not included every language in their particular Unicode system (it is hard work designing millions of language characters!). So for Greek it is best to use MS Arial Unicode or one of those listed below.
For Linear B, you should use the Penuturesu Font.
How do I select the Geek font?
First, let's take a closer look at the font, so that you can see what I mean.Open on your PC your Character Map - - go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools
The character map should look something like this:
Make sure you select at the top your Unicode font (here it is Arial Unicode MS). You can now scroll down using the scroll bar on the right through all the characters in this font - an impressive range! You can from here select and copy any character you see and paste it directly into your document.
But to speed things up, make sure Advanced View is selected. Then next to "Group by" select "Unicode Subrange", and a list will appear in which you can select Greek. The Greek characters will then appear in the main Window, as here:
This is OK for typing the occasional character, but not for regular typing of Greek. For that there are two options.
Typing Greek
- For typing Greek, you can use one of the online tools, either a font convertor or an online keyboard. Then you can copy and paste your text into your document.
- Or, and by far the best, you need a keyboard switcher, which will convert your keyboard so that when typing Greek your keyboard can be used as normal.
Configuring your Browser
Your web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla etc.) should be able to read Unicode fonts, but to ensure this, you can select encoding in the View menu.Full instructions for different browsers and operating systems are given by Patrick Rourke at The Stoa.
Note, changing your encoding to Unicode (UTF-8) might cause some pages, not designed for Unicode, to display incorrect characters. If so, you should switch between Unicode encoding and Western European, according to need.
Online Tools
- Unicode Inputter Let's you type in Greek and then copy and paste the text - probably the easiest to use
- Keyboard for Unicode A Unicode keyboard on the web for typing and pasting (lacks most polytonic vowels)
- Multi-language inputter Great for typing in all sorts of languages in Unicode
- Unicode Converter Converts other Greek font formats to Unicode
Keyboards
NOTE: Some keyboards come packaged with Unicode fonts. E.g. Galatia SIL Greek and the Antioch range- Antioch Utility Free trial version
- Mutlikey
- Tavultesoft Keyman
- HelleniCode You must pay for this one
Fonts with Greek Subrange
- Galatia SIL Greek Unicode Font for both Mac and Windows (with a Keyman® Keyboard File)
(See also Ezra SIL Hebrew Unicode) - Titus Unicode for both Mac and Windows
- Galilee Unicode Greek Font
- Gentium A good typeface for many languages, including Greek
- Vusillus Old Face italic for Mac
- Cardo for both Mac and Windows
- Code2001
- Greek Grammar on the Web A whole list of Greek fonts, both Unicode and non-Unicode
Fonts for other languages
- Fonts in Cyberspace The SIL selection of fonts for most languages
- Penuturesu Font for Linear B
- SIL Ezra Font for Biblical Hebrew (after BHS)
- SBL developing fonts: currently only Hebrew
- Syriac Unicode for Syriac, from Alan Wood's site
Texts in Unicode
- Bible in Unicode Biblical Greek text in Unicode and Unicode resources (plus Czech and Slovak)
- Ancient Greek Texts A selection of Classical Texts
- Biblical Hebrew Text BHS
- Syriac NT A Unicode Syriac New Testament
Unicode Links
- Unicode Consortium The official site for Unicode
- Greek unicode Best detailed introduction
- Classical Greek Unicode
- Free Mac tools for OS X for Greek, by Christopher Blackwell
- MacOSX and Unicode For Mac users
- Apple Macintosh OS X For Mac users
- Unciode and the Mac More Mac advice
- Unicode Resources Alan Wood's Unicode resources
- Rodney Decker's Unicode Guide for Biblical Studies
- Tyndale Tech David Instone Brewer's explanation of Unicode for Hebrew and Greek
- TLG Test page
- Computing Links from the Greek Bible Project
J.K. Aitken
27 October 2004