Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Branch of Indo-European consisting of a single language with numerous dialects and 10 million speakers. Greek has been well attested for a long period of time and is divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (1500–1150 BC), the language discovered on Cretan tablets and deciphered by M. Ventris in 1952 (Linear B); Classical Greek (800–300 BC), with several dialects, the language of the Homeric epics and the rich classical literature in the Attic-Ionic dialect; Hellenistic or Koinē (‘common’) Greek (300 BC-AD 300), the language of the Alexandrian Empire and its successors, which was used as a trade language in the entire eastern Mediterranean area, as well as in the writings of the New Testament; Middle Greek, including Byzantine Greek (AD 300–1100) and Medieval Greek (AD 1100–1600); and finally Modern Greek. In addition to strong dialectal variation there are two standards: Demotic (Dhímotīkī), the common everyday language, and Katharévusa (lit. ‘purifying’), a written language with archaic forms. The Greek alphabet, used since the Classical Greek period, was developed from the Phoenician writing system.
Characteristics: Ancient Greek (=Classical and Hellenistic) had a complex vowel system (distinctive length, diphthongs) and musical stress; in Modern Greek the vowel system is reduced and the musical stress has developed into dynamic stress. The case system has simplified from Mycenaean (seven cases) to Ancient Greek (five) to Modern Greek (four), just like the number system (Ancient Greek had a dual, Modern Greek only singular and plural). Relatively complex tense and aspect system; forms earlier marked synthetically are today to a large extent expressed analytically. The infinitive in Modern Greek, as in other Balkan languages, has been lost, while Ancient Greek still had rich possibilities of expressing clause subordination with infinite and finite verb forms.
General and history
Blass, F. and A.Debrunner. 1961. Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, 9th–10th edns. Göttingen. (A Greek grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian literature. trans. and rev. R.Funk. Cambridge, 1981.)
Browning, R. 1982. Medieval and modern Greek. (2nd edn 1983.) Cambridge.
Costas, P.S. 1936. An outline of the history of the Greek language, with particular emphasis on the Koiné and subsequent periods. Chicago, IL.
Joseph, B. and I.Philippaki-Warburton. 1987. Modern Greek. London.
Palmer, L. 1980. The Greek language. Atlantic Heights, NJ.
Vilborg, E. 1960. A tentative grammar of Mycenaean Greek. Göteborg.
Mycenean Greek
Chadwick, J. and L.Baumbach. The Mycenean Greek vocabulary. Glotta 41. 157–271.
Hooker, J.T. 1980. Linear B: an introduction. Bristol.
Classical Greek
Buck, C.D. 1955. The Greek dialects. (Repr. 1973.) Chicago and London.
Chantraine, P. 1973. Grammaire homérique, 5th rev. edn. Paris.
——1984. Morphologie historique du grec. Paris.
Lejeune, M.
1972. Phonétique historique du mycé-nien et du grec. Paris.
Schwyzer, E. and A.Debrunner. 1939/50. Griechische Grammatik. Munich.
Threatte, L. 1980. The grammar of Attic inscriptions. Berlin.
Hellenistic Greek
Brixhe, C. 1993. La koiné grecque antique’. Vol. I: une langue introuvable? Nancy.
Gignac, F.T. 1976. A grammar of the Greek papyri of the Roman and Byzantine periods, vol. I: Phonology. Milan.
Thumb, A. 1901. Die griechische Sprache im Zeitalter des Hellenismus. Strasburg.
Middle Greek
Mirambel, A. 1963. Pour une grammaire historique du grec medieval. Actes du XIIe congrès international des études byzantines, 2. Belgrad. 391–403.
Psaltes, S.B. 1913. Grammatik der byzantinischen Chroniken. Göttingen.
Modern Greek
Householder, F.W., K.Kazazis, and A.Koutsoudas. 1964. Reference grammar of literary Dhimotiki. IJAL 30:2, pub. 31.
Thumb, A. 1895. Handbuch der neugriechischen Volkssprache: Grammatik, Texte, Glossar. Strasburg. (Engl.: A handbook of the Modern Greek language: grammar, texts, glossary. Chicago, 1964.)
Historical grammar
Rix, H. 1976. Historische Grammatik des Griechischen. Darmstadt.
Dictionary
Liddell, H.G. and R.Scott. 1940. A Greek-English lexicon, 9th rev. edn, (reissue 1989.) Oxford.
Etymological dictionaries
Andriōtēs, N.P. 1983. Etymologiko lexiko tēs koinēs Neoellēnikēs, 3rd edn. Thessalonica.
Chantraine, P. 1968–80. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, 4 vols. Paris.
Frisk, H. 1954–72. Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 3 vols. Heidelberg.
Windekens, A.J.van. 1986. Dictionnaire étymologique complémentaire de la langue grecque: nouvelles contributions a I’interprétation historique et comparée du vocabulaire. Leuven.
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