According to Matthew

The title of the first book of the New Testament - in Greek - is:

Κατά Μαθθαίον

The first word - κατά - means 'according to' in this context. It is pronounced "kah-TAH", with the accent on the second syllable. Any Greek word of more than one syllable will indicate, with an accent mark, which syllable is emphasized.

The second word - Μαθθαίον - means 'Matthew.' It is pronounced "Mah-THEH-on," and the "th" sounds like the first sound in the word 'thought.' This "th" sound comes from the two thetas (θθ) in the middle of the word.

English speakers are often confused by the last letter in Μαθθαίον. It looks like an English 'v', but it is, rather, the Greek equivalent to our "n".

Μαθθαίον is not the dictionary form for Matthew. The dictionary form is Μαθθαίος. The ending of the word changes from an 'ς' to a 'ν' for reasons of grammar and inflection that will be explained in a later post.