Greek Language

Greek (Ελληνικά — "Hellenic") is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest in the Indo-European family. Today, it is spoken by 15 million people in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Albania, and Turkey. There are also many Greek emigrant communities around the world, such as those in Melbourne, Australia which has the third largest urban Greek population in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki.

Greek has been written in the Greek alphabet (the first to introduce vowels), since the 9th century BC in Greece (before that in Linear B), and the 4th century BC in Cyprus (before that in Cypriot syllabary). Greek literature has a continuous history of some 3000 years.

History

History of the
Greek language

Proto-Greek (c. 2000 BC)

Mycenaean (c. 1600–1100 BC)

History of the Greek language

Ancient Greek (c. 800–300 BC)
Dialects:
Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, Attic-Ionic,
Doric, Macedonian; Homeric Greek.

Koine Greek (from c. 300 BC)

Medieval Greek (c. 330–1453)

Modern Greek (from 1453)
Dialects:
Cappadocian, Cypriot,
Demotic, Griko, Katharevousa,
Pontic, Tsakonian, Yevanic

This article does not cover the reconstructed history of Greek prior to the use of writing.

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 later Greek alphabet is unrelated to Linear B, and is believed to be derived from the Phoenician alphabet (abjad); with minor modifications, it is still used today. Greek is conventionally divided into the following periods:

Mycenaean Greek: the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 16th century BC onwards.
Classical Greek (also known as Ancient Greek): In its various dialects was the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman empire. Classical Greek fell into disuse in western Europe in the Middle Ages, but remained known in the Byzantine world, and was reintroduced to the rest of Europe with the Fall of Constantinople and Greek migration to Italy.
Hellenistic Greek (also known as Koine Greek): The fusion of various ancient Greek dialects with Attic (the dialect of Athens) resulted in the creation of the first common Greek dialect, which gradually turned into one of the world's first international languages. Koine Greek can be initially traced within the armies and conquered territories of Alexander the Great, but after the Hellenistic colonisation of the known world, it was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. After the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial diglossy of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. Through Koine Greek it is also traced the origin of Christianity, as the Apostles used it to preach in Greece and the Greek-speaking world. It is also known as the Alexandrian dialect, Post-Classical Greek or even New Testament Greek (after its most famous work of literature).
Medieval Greek: The continuation of Hellenistic Greek during medieval Greek history as the official and vernacular (if not the literary nor the ecclesiastic) language of the Byzantine Empire, and continued to be used until, and after the fall of that Empire in the 15th century. Also known as Byzantine Greek.
Modern Greek: Stemming independently from Koine Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the late Byzantine period (as early as 11th century).

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 Katharévousa (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 now the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today.

It has been claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can understand an ancient text, but this is surely as much a function of education as of the similarity of the languages. Still, Koinē /ciˈni/, the version of Greek used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is relatively easy to understand for modern speakers.

Greek words have been widely borrowed into the European languages: astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, isomer, biomechanics etc. and form, with Latin words, the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary. See English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.

Classification

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, ancient Macedonian (which may have been a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison. Among living languages, Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it.

Geographic distribution

Modern Greek is spoken by about 15 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus. There are also Greek-speaking populations in Georgia, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Southern Italy. The language is spoken also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Official status

Greek is the official language of Greece where it is spoken by about 99.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of Cyprus. Due to the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union.

Writing system

Greek alphabet

Α α Alpha	Β β Beta
Γ γ Gamma	Δ δ Delta
Ε ε Epsilon	Ζ ζ Zeta
Η η Eta	Θ θ Theta
Ι ι Iota	Κ κ Kappa
Λ λ Lambda	Μ μ Mu
Ν ν Nu	Ξ ξ Xi
Ο ο Omicron	Π π Pi
Ρ ρ Rho	Σ σ ς Sigma
Τ τ Tau	Υ υ Upsilon
Φ φ Phi	Χ χ Chi
Ψ ψ Psi	Ω ω Omega
obsolete letters
Digamma	San
Qoppa	Sampi
Stigma	Sho

Modern Greek is written in the late Ionic variant of the Greek alphabet. It is regarded as the first alphabet in the narrow sense, giving full representation to vowels on a par with consonants, unlike its predecessor, the Phoenician alphabet (also called an "abjad"). Its oldest discovered inscriptions date to the 8th or 9th Century BC. It assumed its final form in Athens in 403 BC, and displaced other regional variants due to its use for the Attic Koine dialect during the Hellenistic era.

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with a capital and lowercase (small) form: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ ς (word-final form), Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.

In addition to the letters of the alphabet, Greek has a number of diacritical signs, most of which were eliminated from official use in Greece in 1982 as no longer corresponding to the modern pronunciation of the language. See Monotonic orthography for the simplified modern set, and Polytonic orthography for the traditional set.

Examples

Some common words and phrases

Greek (man): Έλληνας, IPA /ˈelinas/
Greek (woman): Ελληνίδα /eliˈniða/
Greek (language): Ελληνικά /eliniˈka/
hello: γεια /ʝa/ (informal, literally "health"), you say this only to people that you know well. When you address a stranger you should use the more formal: χαίρετε /ˈçerete/
good morning: καλημέρα /kaliˈmera/
good evening: καλησπέρα /kaliˈspera/
good night: καληνύχτα /kaliˈnixta/
good-bye: χαίρετε /ˈçereˌte/ (formal), αντίο /aˈdi.o/ (semi-formal), γεια σου /ˈʝasu/ or γεια σας /ˈʝasas/ (informal)
please: παρακαλώ /parakaˈlo/
I would like ____ please: θα ήθελα ____ παρακαλώ /θa ˈiθela ____ parakaˈlo/
sorry: συγγνώμη /siˈɣnomi/
thank you: σ' ευχαριστώ /s-efxariˈsto/
that: αυτό /afˈto/, εκείνο /eˈcino/
this: αυτό /afˈto/, (ε)τούτο /(e)ˈtuto/
how much?: πόσο; /ˈposo/
how much does it cost?: πόσο κοστίζει; /ˈposo koˈstizi/
yes: ναι /ne/
no: όχι /ˈoçi/
I don't understand: δεν καταλαβαίνω /ˈðe(ŋ) gatalaˈveno/ (sandhi - see above) or /ˈðeŋ katalaˈveno/
I don't know: δεν ξέρω /ˈðe(ŋ) ˈgzero/ (sandhi - see above) or /ˈðeŋ ˈksero/
where's the bathroom?: πού είναι η τουαλέτα /το μπάνιο /το λουτρό; /ˈpu ˈine i tuaˈleta /toˈbaɲo /to luˈtro/
generic toast (literally "to health"): εις υγείαν! /is iˈʝi.an/
juice: χυμός /çiˈmos/
water: νερό /neˈro/
wine: κρασί /kraˈsi/
beer: μπύρα /ˈbira/
milk: γάλα /ˈɣala/
Do you speak English?: Μιλάτε Αγγλικά; /miˈlate a(ŋ)gliˈka/
I love you: σ' αγαπώ /saɣaˈpo/
Help!: Βοήθεια! /voˈiθia/

References

Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar, Harvard University Press, 1956 (revised edition), ISBN 0674362500. The standard grammar of classical Greek. Focuses primarily on the Attic dialect, with comparatively weak treatment of the other dialects and the Homeric Kunstsprache.
W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca - a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1968-74. ISBN 052120626X
Geoffrey Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers (Longman Linguistics Library). Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0582307090. From Mycenean to modern.
Andrew Sihler, "A New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin", Oxford University Press, 1996. An historical grammar of ancient Greek from its Indo-European origins. Some eccentricities and no bibliography but a useful handbook to the earliest stages of Greek's development.
Robert Browning, Medieval and Modern Greek, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition 1983, ISBN 0521299780. An excellent and concise historical account of the development of modern Greek from the ancient language.
Brian Newton, The Generative Interpretation of Dialect: A Study of Modern Greek Phonology, Cambridge University Press, 1972, ISBN 0521084970.
Crosby and Schaeffer, An Introduction to Greek, Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 1928. A school grammar of ancient Greek
David Holton et al., Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language, Routledge, 1997, ISBN 041510002X. A reference grammar of modern Greek.
Dionysius of Thrace, "Art of Grammar", "Τέχνη γραμματική", c.100 BC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click here for Greek Translation

Please contact our team for further information or to get a free quote:
UK Tel: +44 (0207) 193 1808, UK Fax +44 (0870) 622 1809
USA Tel: +1 (415) 315 9818 info@axistranslations.com

english to greek translator