Greek language ::: Project ETERNITY

 Greek

  Attic

   Modern Greek

History

Main article: History of the Greek language

Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets dating from 1500 BC. The alphabet normally used was adapted from the Phoenician abjad in c. 1000 BC and, with various modifications, formed the alphabet which is still used today.

Modern Greek is a living language and one of the richest surviving languages today, with more than 600,000 words. Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévusa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Demotic Greek is the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today.

Some scholars have overly stressed Modern Greek's similarity to the millennia-old Greek languages. However, its intelligibility with ancient Greek is a matter of debate. It is claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can read the ancient dialects, but it is not made clear how much of that education consists of exposure to vocabulary and grammar obsolete to normal communication. Still, Koiné, an older version of Greek originally used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is easily understood by modern speakers.

Greek word forms continue to have a great influence in the world's scientific and technical vocabulary, and make up a large part of the technical vocabulary of many languages including Latin, Italian, German, French, and English e.g. astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, anthropology etc. For a more complete list, see List of English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.

Classification

Greek has its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family, with no living close relatives. From the modern languages Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it. The Greek language has been strongly influenced by the neighboring Balkan languages and Turkish. It is a member of the Balkan Linguistic Union.

Geographic distribution

Greek is spoken by about 12 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus but also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the USA.

Official status

Greek is the official language of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) where it is spoken by about 98.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of the Republic of Cyprus.

Sounds

The pronunciation of Modern Greek has changed considerably from Ancient Greek, although the orthography still reflects features of the older language. The examples below are intended to represent Attic Greek in the 5th century BC. Although ancient pronunciation can never be reconstructed with certainty, Greek in particular is very well documented from this period, and there is little disagreement among scholars as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represented. See W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca – a guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1974. ISBN 0-521-20626-X.

Vowels

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

Ancient Greek – short

Ancient Greek – long

	Front	Back
Close unrounded
Close rounded
Close-mid
Open-mid
Open

Modern Greek

The systematic distinction between long and short vowels has been lost in modern Greek.

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid		o
Open-mid
Open	a

Consonants

In the International Phonetic Alphabet:

Ancient Greek

Modern Greek

Phonology

ν, and the accusative articles τόν and

τήν in Modern Greek lose it, depending on the start of the next word; this is called "movable nu". In tón patéra

Historical sound changes

The main phonetic changes between Ancient and Modern Greek are a simplification in the vowel system and a change of some consonants to fricative values. Ancient Greek had five short vowels, seven long vowels, and numerous diphthongs. This has been reduced to a simple five-vowel system. Most noticeably, the vowels i, ē, y, ei, oi have all become i.

Grammar

Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, is highly inflected. For example nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Modern Greek is one of the few Indo-European languages that has retained a synthetic passive.

Other noticeable changes in its grammar include the loss of the infinitive, the dual number and the simplification of the system of grammatical prefixes, such as augment and reduplication.

Writing system

Greek is written in the Greek alphabet which dates from the 8th century BC.

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters which are:

Α, Β, Γ, Δ, Ε, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, Κ, Λ, Μ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, Π,

Ρ, Σ, Τ, Υ, Φ, Χ, Ψ, Ω.

Examples

Some common words & phrases

The Lord's Prayer in Greek (Matt. 6:9-13)

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·

τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφελήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ρῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας·

ἀμήν.}}

Transliterated:

Páter hêmôn, ho 'en toîs 'ouranoîs:

hagiasthêtô tò 'ónomá sou.

'Elthétô hê basileía sou. Genethétô tò thélêmá sou,

hôs 'en 'ouranõi, kaì 'epì tês gês.

Tòn 'árton hêmôn tòn 'epioúsion dòs hêmîn sêmeron.

Kaì 'áphes hêmîn tà 'opheilêmata hêmõn,

hôs kaì hêmeîs 'aphíemen toîs 'opheilétais hêmõn.

Kaì mê 'eisenénkêis hêmãs 'eis peirasmón,

'allà rhûsai hêmãs 'apò toû ponêroû.

Hóti soû 'estin hê basileía, kaì hê dúnamis, kaì hê dóxa

'eis toùs 'aiõnas. 'Amên.

The Nicene Creed in Greek

ἕνα Θεόν,

Πατέρα,

παντοκράτορα,

ποιητήν

οὐρανοῦ καί

γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε

πάντων καί

ἀοράτων.

Καί εἰς ἕνα

Κύριον Ἰησοῦν

Χριστόν, τόν

Υἱόν τοῦ Θεοῦ

τόν μονογενῆ,

τόν ἐκ τοῦ

Πατρός

γεννηθέντα πρό

πάντων τῶν

αἰώνων. Φῶς ἐκ

φωτός, Θεόν

ἀληθινόν ἐκ

Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ,

γεννηθέντα, οὐ

ποιηθέντα,

ὁμοούσιον τῷ

Πατρί, δι’ οὗ τά

πάντα ἐγένετο.

Τόν δι’ ἡμᾶς

τούς ἀνθρώπους

καί διά τήν

ἡμετέραν

σωτηρίαν

κατελθόντα ἐκ

τῶν οὐρανῶν

καί σαρκωθέντα

ἐκ Πνεύματος

Ἁγίου καί

Μαρίας τῆς

Παρθένου καί

ἐνανθρωπήσαντα.

Σταυρωθέντα

τε ὑπέρ ἡμῶν

ἐπί Ποντίου

Πιλάτου καί

παθόντα καί

ταφέντα.

Καί

ἀναστάντα τῇ

τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ

κατά τάς Γραφάς.

Καί

ἀνελθόντα εἰς

τούς οὐρανούς

καί

καθεζόμενον ἐκ

δεξιῶν τοῦ

Πατρός.

Καί πάλιν

ἐρχόμενον μετά

δόξης κρῖναι

ζῶντας καί

νεκρούς, οὗ τῆς

βασιλείας οὐκ

ἔσται τέλος.

Καί εἰς τό

Πνεῦμα τό

Ἅγιον, τό

κύριον, τό

ζωοποιόν, τό ἐκ

τοῦ Πατρός

ἐκπορευόμενον,

τό σύν Πατρί

καί Υἱῷ

συμπροσκυνούμενον

καί

συνδοξαζόμενον,

τό λαλῆσαν διά

τῶν προφητῶν.

Εἰς μίαν

ἁγίαν,

καθολικήν καί

ἀποστολικήν

Ἐκκλησίαν.

Ὁμολογῶ ἕν

βάπτισμα εἰς

ἄφεσιν

ἁμαρτιῶν.

Προσδοκῶ

ἀνάστασιν

νεκρῶν.

Καί

ζωήν τοῦ

μέλλοντος

αἰῶνος.
Ἀμήν.}}

References

W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca - a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1968-74. ISBN 0-521-20626-X

Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library). Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0582307090

External links

Category:Greek language

Category:Languages of Turkey

Category:Language phonologies

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