Note: Before we get to the new word, just notice the little Greek "i" mark under the e in arche. This little "i" at one time was part of this word and spelled archei. But the "i" at the end dropped out of the pronunciation, but was kept in the word this way. Now it is just a silent "i". It is still important for grammar reasons, but not for pronunciation. We will learn more about this later.
Review- notice the two e's of en and en. The long e of the first en "was" (pronounced like the e in they) and the short e of the seoncd en "in" (pronounced like the e in pet).
New letter and word - houtos. The new letter is u, by itself is pronounced as oo in "who". However, the new letter u is part of another vowel combination, a diphthong ( pronounced diff-thong - Greek for two sounds). The ou combination is pronounced as oo in "group". (If you noticed- the u and ou both are pronounced the same- "oo".) Also, notice the backwards comma, the rough breathing mark (the H sound) over the u, and the stress mark over u. This word is pronounced hoo'- tahs. It means "this" or "this one". Here it means "this one".
Translation - This one was in [the] beginning with the God.
Note: Another characteristic is that John, for extra emphasis and in case you did not understand what has already been said, repeats statements already covered. Also, in the time this text was written (around 90 AD) a group people were saying that John the Baptist was the Messiah. John wants the reader to firmly know that "THIS ONE" (The Logos/Jesus the Messiah) had always existed from eternity in relationship with God. This one - not another.
Note: All accents and breathing marks are always over the second vowel in a diphthong (two vowel combination). This is not anything major to remember. It is just for your information like the fact that all words that start with a single vowel or a diphthong (2 vowels) will have a breathing mark, smooth or rough (H sound), over them.
To go to lesson 8 click here.
