Dialect of Greek in the ancient world
Koine Greek
(
KOY
-nee
;
[3]
KOY
-nay
,
koy-
NAY
;
[4]
[5]
Koine
Greek
:
? κοιν? δι?λεκτο?
,
romanized
:
h? koine dialektos
,
lit.
'the common dialect'),
[a]
also known as
Hellenistic Greek
,
common Attic
, the
Alexandrian dialect
,
Biblical Greek
,
Septuagint Greek
or
New Testament Greek
, was the
common supra-regional form
of
Greek
spoken and written during the
Hellenistic period
, the
Roman Empire
and the early
Byzantine Empire
. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of
Alexander the Great
in the fourth century BC, and served as the
lingua franca
of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on
Attic
and related
Ionic
speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through
dialect levelling
with other varieties.
[6]
Koine Greek included styles ranging from conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of the time.
[7]
As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into
Medieval Greek
, which then turned into
Modern Greek
.
[8]
Literary Koine was the medium of much
post-classical
Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of
Plutarch
and
Polybius
.
[6]
Koine is also the language of the
Septuagint
(the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible
), the Christian
New Testament
, and of most early Christian theological writing by the
Church Fathers
. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as "Biblical", "New Testament", "ecclesiastical", or "patristic" Greek.
[9]
The Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius
wrote his private thoughts in Koine Greek in a work that is now known as
Meditations
.
[10]
Koine Greek continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the
Greek Orthodox Church
and in some
Greek Catholic churches
.
[11]
Name
[
edit
]
The English-language name
Koine
is derived from the Koine Greek term
? κοιν? δι?λεκτο?
(
h? koin? dialektos
), meaning "the common dialect".
[5]
The Greek word
κοιν?
(
koin?
) itself means "common". The word is pronounced
,
, or
in US English and
in UK English. The pronunciation of the word
koine
itself gradually changed from
[koineː]
(close to the
Classical Attic
pronunciation
[koi?.n??ː]
) to
[cy?ni]
(close to the
Modern Greek
[ci?ni]
). In Modern Greek, the language is referred to as
Ελληνιστικ? Κοιν?
, "Hellenistic Koine", in the sense of "Hellenistic
supraregional language
").
[12]
Ancient scholars used the term
koine
in several different senses. Scholars such as
Apollonius Dyscolus
(second century AD) and
Aelius Herodianus
(second century AD) maintained the term
koine
to refer to the
Proto-Greek language
, while others used it to refer to any vernacular form of Greek speech which differed somewhat from the literary language.
[13]
When Koine Greek became a language of literature by the first century BC, some people distinguished two forms: written as the literary post-classical form (which should not be confused with
Atticism
), and vernacular as the day-to-day
vernacular
.
[13]
Others chose to refer to Koine as "the dialect of
Alexandria
" or "Alexandrian dialect" (
? ?λεξανδρ?ων δι?λεκτο?
), or even the universal dialect of its time.
[14]
Modern classicists have often used the former sense.
Origins and history
[
edit
]
Greek-speaking areas during the
Hellenistic period
(323 to 31 BC)
- Dark blue: areas where Greek speakers probably were a majority
- Light blue: areas that were significantly Hellenized
Koine
Greek
arose as a common dialect within the armies of
Alexander the Great
.
[13]
Under the leadership of
Macedon
, their newly formed common variety was spoken from the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
of Egypt to the
Seleucid Empire
of
Mesopotamia
.
[13]
It replaced existing
ancient Greek dialects
with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand.
[15]
Though elements of Koine Greek took shape in
Classical Greece
, the post-Classical period of Greek is defined as beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, when cultures under Greek sway in turn began to influence the language.
The passage into the next period, known as
Medieval Greek
, is sometimes dated from the foundation of
Constantinople
by
Constantine the Great
in 330 AD, but often only from the end of
late antiquity
. The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic and Roman eras of history until the start of the Middle Ages.
[13]
The linguistic roots of the Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the
Hellenistic period
, most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, "
? ?κ τ?ν τεττ?ρων συνεστ?σα
" (the composition of the Four). This view was supported in the early twentieth century by
Paul Kretschmer
in his book
Die Entstehung der Koine
(1901), while
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
and
Antoine Meillet
, based on the intense Ionic elements of the Koine ?
σσ
instead of
ττ
and
ρσ
instead of
ρρ
(
θ?λασσα ? θ?λαττα
, 'sea';
?ρσενικ?? ? ?ρρενικ??
, 'potent, virile') ? considered Koine to be a simplified form of
Ionic
.
[13]
The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist
Georgios Hatzidakis
, who showed that despite the "composition of the Four", the "stable nucleus" of Koine Greek is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, but also from other dialects. The degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic world.
[13]
In that respect, the varieties of Koine spoken in the
Ionian
colonies of
Anatolia
(e.g.
Pontus
, cf.
Pontic Greek
) would have more intense
Ionic
characteristics than others and those of Laconia and Cyprus would preserve some
Doric
and
Arcadocypriot
characteristics, respectively. The literary Koine of the Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is often mentioned as
Common Attic
.
[13]
Sources
[
edit
]
Greek script from the
Rosetta Stone
decree issued in the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
, 2nd century BC
The first scholars who studied Koine, both in Alexandrian and Early Modern times, were classicists whose prototype had been the literary
Attic Greek
of the Classical period and frowned upon any other variety of
Ancient Greek
. Koine Greek was therefore considered a decayed form of Greek which was not worthy of attention.
[13]
The reconsideration on the historical and linguistic importance of Koine
Greek
began only in the early 19th century, where renowned scholars conducted a series of studies on the evolution of Koine throughout the entire
Hellenistic period
and
Roman Empire
. The sources used on the studies of Koine have been numerous and of unequal reliability. The most significant ones are the inscriptions of the post-Classical periods and the
papyri
, for being two kinds of texts which have authentic content and can be studied directly.
[13]
Other significant sources are the
Septuagint
, the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible
, and the Greek
New Testament
. The teaching of these texts was aimed at the most common people, and for that reason, they use the most popular language of the era.
Other sources can be based on random findings such as inscriptions on vases written by popular painters, mistakes made by Atticists due to their imperfect knowledge of Attic Greek or even some surviving Greco-Latin glossaries of the Roman period,
[16]
e.g.:
Καλ?μερον, ?λθε?;
Bono die, venisti?
Good day, you came?
??ν θ?λει?, ?λθ? μεθ' ?μ?ν.
Si vis, veni mecum
.
If you want, come with us.
[b]
Πο?;
Ubi?
Where?
Πρ?? φ?λον ?μ?τερον Λ?κιον.
Ad amicum nostrum Lucium.
To our friend Lucius.
Τ? γ?ρ ?χει;
Quid enim habet?
Indeed, what does he have?
What is it with him?
?ρρωστε?.
Aegrotat.
He's sick.
Finally, a very important source of information on the ancient Koine is the
modern Greek
language with all its dialects and its own
Koine
form, which have preserved some of the ancient language's oral linguistic details which the written tradition has lost. For example,
Pontic
and
Cappadocian Greek
preserved the ancient pronunciation of
η
as ε (
ν?φε, συν?λικο?, τ?μεσον, πεγ?δι
for standard Modern Greek
ν?φη, συν?λικο?, τ?μησον, πηγ?δι
etc.),
[c]
while the
Tsakonian language
preserved the long α instead of η (
?μ?ρα, ?στραπ?, λ?μνα, χο?
etc.) and the other local characteristics of
Doric Greek
.
[13]
Dialects from the southern part of the Greek-speaking regions (
Dodecanese
,
Cyprus
, etc.), preserve the pronunciation of the double similar consonants (
?λ-λο?, ?λ-λ?δα, θ?λασ-σα
), while others pronounce in many words υ as ου or preserve ancient double forms (
κρ?μμυον ? κρεμ-μυον, ρ?ξ ? ρ?ξ
etc.). Linguistic phenomena like the above imply that those characteristics survived within Koine, which in turn had countless variations in the Greek-speaking world.
[13]
Types
[
edit
]
Papyrus 46
is one of the oldest extant
New Testament
manuscripts in
Greek
, written on
papyrus
, with its 'most probable date' between 175 and 225.
Biblical Koine
[
edit
]
Biblical Koine
refers to the varieties of Koine Greek used in
Bible translations into Greek
and related texts. Its main sources are:
Septuagint Greek
[
edit
]
There has been some debate to what degree Biblical Greek represents the mainstream of contemporary spoken Koine and to what extent it contains specifically
Semitic
substratum
features. These could have been induced either through the practice of translating closely from
Biblical Hebrew
or
Aramaic
originals, or through the influence of the regional non-standard Greek spoken by originally Aramaic-speaking
Hellenized Jews
.
Some of the features discussed in this context are the Septuagint's normative absence of the particles
μ?ν
and
δ?
, and the use of
?γ?νετο
to denote "it came to pass". Some features of Biblical Greek which are thought to have originally been non-standard elements eventually found their way into the main of the Greek language.
S. J. Thackeray, in
A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint
(1909), wrote that only the five books of the
Pentateuch
, parts of the
Book of Joshua
and the
Book of Isaiah
may be considered "good Koine". One issue debated by scholars is whether and how much the translation of the Pentateuch influenced the rest of the Septuagint, including the translation of Isaiah.
[17]
Another point that scholars have debated is the use of
?κκλησ?α
ekkl?sia
as a translation for the Hebrew
?????
q?h?l
. Old Testament scholar
James Barr
has been critical of
etymological
arguments that
ekkl?sia
refers to "the community called by God to constitute his People". Kyriakoula Papademetriou explains:
He maintains that
?κκλησ?α
is merely used for designating the notion of meeting and gathering of men, without any particular character. Therefore, etymologizing this word could be needless, or even misleading, when it could guide to false meanings, for example that
?κκλησ?α
is a name used for the people of God, Israel.
[18]
New Testament Greek
[
edit
]
The authors of the New Testament follow the Septuagint translations for over half their quotations from the Old Testament.
[19]
The "
historical present
" tense is a term used for present tense verbs that are used in some narrative sections of the New Testament to describe events that are in the past with respect to the speaker. This is seen more in works attributed to
Mark
and
John
than
Luke
.
[20]
It is used 151 times in the
Gospel of Mark
in passages where a reader might expect a past tense verb. Scholars have presented various explanations for this; in the early 20th century some scholars argued that the use of the historical present tense in
Mark
was due to the influence of
Aramaic
, but this theory fell out of favor in the 1960s. Another group of scholars believed the historical present tense was used to heighten the dramatic effect, and this interpretation was favored in the
New American Bible
translation. In Volume II of the 1929 edition of
A Grammar of the New Testament
, W.F. Howard argues that the heavy use of the historical present in
Herodotus
and
Thucydides
, compared with the relatively infrequent usage by
Polybius
and
Xenophon
was evidence that heavy use of this verb tense is a feature of vernacular Koine, but other scholars have argued that the historical present can be a literary form to "denote semantic shifts to more prominent material."
[21]
[22]
Patristic Greek
[
edit
]
The term
patristic Greek
is sometimes used for the Greek written by the
Greek Church Fathers
, the
Early Christian
theologians in late antiquity. Christian writers in the earliest time tended to use a simple register of Koine, relatively close to the spoken language of their time, following the model of the Bible. After the 4th century, when Christianity became the
state church of the Roman Empire
, more learned registers of Koine also came to be used.
[23]
Differences between Attic and Koine Greek
[
edit
]
Koine period Greek differs from
Classical Greek
in many ways:
grammar
,
word formation
,
vocabulary
and
phonology
(sound system).
[24]
Differences in grammar
[
edit
]
Phonology
[
edit
]
During the period generally designated as Koine Greek, a great deal of phonological change occurred. At the start of the period, the pronunciation was virtually identical to
Ancient Greek phonology
, whereas in the end, it had much more in common with
Modern Greek phonology
.
The three most significant changes were the loss of vowel length distinction, the replacement of the
pitch accent system
by a
stress accent system
, and the monophthongization of several diphthongs:
- The ancient distinction between long and short vowels was gradually lost, and from the second century BC all vowels were isochronic (having equal length).
[13]
- From the second century BC, the
Ancient Greek pitch accent
was replaced with a
stress accent
.
[13]
- Psilosis
: loss of
rough breathing
,
/h/
. Rough breathing had already been lost in the
Ionic Greek
varieties of
Anatolia
and the
Aeolic Greek
of
Lesbos
.
[13]
- The diphthongs
??,
?
,
?
/aːi
eːi
oːi/
were respectively simplified to the long vowels
?
,
η
,
ω
/aː
eː
oː/
.
[13]
- The diphthongs
αι
,
ει
, and
οι
became
monophthongs
.
αι
, which had already been pronounced as
/?ː/
by the Boeotians since the 4th century BC and written η (e.g.
π??, χ?ρε, μ?μφομη
), became in Koine, too, first a long vowel
/?ː/
and then, with the loss of distinctive vowel length and openness distinction
/e/
, merging with ε. The diphthong
ει
had already merged with
ι
in the 5th century BC in
Argos
, and by the 4th century BC in
Corinth
(e.g.
ΛΕΓΙΣ
), and it acquired this pronunciation also in Koine. The diphthong
οι
fronted to
/y/
, merging with
υ
. The diphthong
υι
came to be pronounced
[yj]
, but eventually lost its final element and also merged with
υ
.
[25]
The diphthong ου had been already raised to
/u/
in the 6th century BC, and remains so in Modern Greek.
[13]
- The diphthongs
αυ
and
ευ
came to be pronounced
[av
ev]
(via
[aβ
eβ]
), but are partly
assimilated
to
[af
ef]
before the
voiceless
consonants
θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, and ψ
.
[13]
- Simple vowels mostly preserved their ancient pronunciations.
η
/e/
(classically pronounced
/?ː/
) was raised and merged with
ι
. In the 10th century AD,
υ/οι
/y/
unrounded to merge with
ι
. These changes are known as
iotacism
.
[13]
- The consonants also preserved their ancient pronunciations to a great extent, except
β, γ, δ, φ, θ, χ
and
ζ
.
Β, Γ, Δ
, which were originally pronounced
/b
?
d/
, became the fricatives
/v/
(via
[β]
),
/?/
,
/ð/
, which they still are today, except when preceded by a nasal consonant (μ, ν); in that case, they retain their ancient pronunciations (e.g.
γαμβρ?? > γαμπρ??
[?am?bros]
,
?νδρα? > ?ντρα?
[?andras]
,
?γγελο? > ?γγελο?
[?aŋ?elos]
). The latter three (Φ, Θ, Χ), which were initially pronounced as
aspirates
(
/p?
t?
k?/
respectively), developed into the fricatives
/f/
(via
[?]
),
/θ/
, and
/x/
. Finally ζ, which is still metrically categorised as a double consonant with ξ and ψ because it may have initially been pronounced as σδ
[zd]
or δσ
[dz]
, later acquired its modern-day value of
/z/
.
[13]
New Testament Greek phonology
[
edit
]
The Koine-period Greek in the table is taken from a reconstruction by Benjamin Kantor of New Testament Judeo-Palestinian Koine Greek. The realizations of most phonemes reflect general changes around the Greek-speaking world, including vowel isochrony and monophthongization, but certain sound values differ from other Koine varieties such as Attic, Egyptian and Anatolian.
[26]
More general Koine phonological developments including spirantization of
Γ
, with palatal allophone before front-vowels and a plosive allophone after nasals, and
β
.
[27]
φ, θ
and
χ
still preserve their ancient aspirated plosive values, while the unaspirated stops
π, τ, κ
have perhaps begun to develop voiced allophones after nasals.
[28]
Initial aspiration has also likely become an optional sound for many speakers of the popular variety.
[29]
[d]
Monophthongization (including the initial stage in the fortition of the second element in the αυ/ευ diphthongs) and the loss of vowel-timing distinctions are carried through.
On the other hand, Kantor argues for certain vowel qualities differing from the rest of the Koine in the Judean dialect. Although it is impossible to know the exact realizations of vowels, it is tentatively argued that the mid-vowels
ε
/
αι
and
η
had a more open pronunciation than other Koine dialects, distinguished as open-mid
/?/
vs. close-mid
/e/
,
[30]
rather than as true-mid
/e?/
vs. close-mid
/e?/
as has been suggested for other varieties such as Egyptian.
[31]
This is evidenced on the basis of Hebrew transcriptions of
ε
with
pata?/qamets
/a/
and not
tsere/segol
/e/
. Additionally, it is posited that
α
perhaps had a back vowel pronunciation as
/?/
, dragged backwards due to the opening of
ε
. Influence of the Aramaic substrate could have also caused confusion between
α
and
ο
, providing further evidence for the back vowel realization.
[32]
letter
|
Greek
|
transliteration
|
IPA
|
Alpha
|
α
|
a
|
/?/
|
Beta
|
β
|
b
|
/b/
([b,
β])
|
Gamma
|
γ
|
g
|
/?/
([?,
g,
?])
|
Delta
|
δ
|
d
|
/d/
|
Epsilon
|
ε
|
e
|
/?/
|
Zeta
|
ζ
|
z
|
/z/
|
Eta
|
η
|
?
|
/e/
|
Theta
|
θ
|
th
|
/t?/
|
Iota
|
ι
|
i
|
/i/
|
Kappa
|
κ
|
k
|
/k/
([k,
g])
|
Lambda
|
λ
|
l
|
/l/
([?](?)
|
Mu
|
μ
|
m
|
/m/
|
Nu
|
ν
|
n
|
/n/
([n,
m])
|
Xi
|
ξ
|
x
|
/ks/
|
Omicron
|
ο
|
o
|
/o?/
|
Pi
|
π
|
p
|
/p/
([p,
b])
|
Rho
|
ρ
|
r
|
/r/
|
Sigma
|
σ (-σ-/-σσ-)
|
s (-s-/-ss-)
|
/s/
([s,
z])
|
Tau
|
τ
|
t
|
/t/
([t,
d])
|
Upsilon
|
υ
|
y
|
/y/
|
Phi
|
φ
|
ph
|
/p?/
|
Chi
|
χ
|
ch
|
/k?/
|
Psi
|
ψ
|
ps
|
/ps/
|
Omega
|
ω
|
?
|
/o/
|
.
|
αι
|
ai
|
/?/
|
.
|
ει
|
ei
|
/i/
|
.
|
οι
|
oi
|
/y/
|
.
|
υι
|
yi
|
/yi/
(or
/y/
)
|
.
|
αυ
|
au
|
[??(?),
?β(?)]
|
.
|
ευ
|
eu
|
[??(?),
?β(?)]
|
.
|
ου
|
ou
|
/u/
|
.
|
αι (?)
|
?i
|
/?/
|
.
|
ηι (?)
|
?i
|
/i/
|
.
|
ωι (?)
|
?i
|
/o/
|
.
|
?
|
h
|
(/h/)
|
Sample Koine texts
[
edit
]
The following texts show differences from Attic Greek in all aspects ? grammar, morphology, vocabulary and can be inferred to show differences in phonology.
The following comments illustrate the phonological development within the period of Koine. The phonetic transcriptions are tentative and are intended to illustrate two different stages in the reconstructed development, an early conservative variety still relatively close to Classical Attic, and a somewhat later, more progressive variety approaching Modern Greek in some respects.
Sample 1 ? A Roman decree
[
edit
]
The following excerpt, from a decree of the Roman Senate to the town of
Thisbae
in
Boeotia
in 170 BC, is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a hypothetical conservative variety of mainland Greek Koine in the early Roman period.
[33]
The transcription shows raising of
η
to
/eː/
, partial (pre-consonantal/word-final) raising of
?
and
ει
to
/iː/
, retention of pitch accent, and retention of word-initial
/h/
(the
rough breathing
).
?ξηγ?σωνται,
ekseː?eːsoːntai,
περ? ?ν Θισ[β]ε?? λ?γου? ?ποι?σαντο· περ? τ?ν καθ? α?[τ]ο?? πραγμ?των, ο?τινε? ?ν τ? φιλ?? τ? ?μετ?ρ? ?ν?μειναν, ?πω? α?το?? δοθ?σιν [ο]?? τ? καθ? α?το?? πρ?γματα ?ξηγ?σωνται, περ? το?του το? πρ?γματο? ο?τω? ?δοξεν· ?πω? Κ?ιντο? Μα?νιο? στρατηγ?? τ?ν ?κ τ?? συνκλ?του [π]?ντε ?ποτ?ξ? ο? ?ν α?τ? ?κ τ?ν δημοσ?ων πρα[γμ]?των κα? τ?? ?δ?α? π?στεω? φα?νωνται.
peri hoːn t?izbiːs lo?uːs epojeːsanto; peri toːn kat? hautuːs praː?matoːn, hoitines en tiː p?iliaːi tiː heːmeteraːi enemiːnan, hopoːs autois dot?oːsin hois ta kat? hautuːs praː?mata ekseː?eːsoːntai, peri tuːtuː tuː praː?matos huːtoːs edoksen; hopoːs ?k?intos ?mainios strateː?os toːn ek teːs syŋkleːtuː pente apotaksiː, hoi an autoːi ek toːn deːmosioːn praː?matoːn kai teːs idiaːs pisteoːs p?ainoːntai
Concerning those matters about which the citizens of Thisbae made representations. Concerning their own affairs: the following decision was taken concerning the proposal that those who remained true to our friendship should be given the facilities to conduct their own affairs; that our praetor/governor Quintus Maenius should delegate five members of the senate who seemed to him appropriate in the light of their public actions and individual good faith.
Sample 2 ? Greek New Testament
[
edit
]
The following excerpt,
the beginning of the Gospel of John
, is rendered in a reconstructed pronunciation representing a progressive popular variety of Koine in the early Christian era.
[34]
Modernizing features include the loss of vowel length distinction, monophthongization, transition to stress accent, and raising of
η
to
/i/
. Also seen here are the bilabial fricative pronunciation of diphthongs
αυ
and
ευ
, loss of initial
/h/
, fricative values for
β
and
γ
, and partial post-nasal voicing of voiceless stops.
?ν ?ρχ? ?ν ? λ?γο?, κα? ? λ?γο? ?ν πρ?? τ?ν θε?ν, κα? θε?? ?ν ? λ?γο?. ο?το? ?ν ?ν ?ρχ? πρ?? τ?ν θε?ν. π?ντα δι? α?το? ?γ?νετο, κα? χωρ?? α?το? ?γ?νετο ο?δ? ?ν ? γ?γονεν. ?ν α?τ? ζω? ?ν, κα? ? ζω? ?ν τ? φ?? τ?ν ?νθρ?πων. κα? τ? φ?? ?ν τ? σκοτ?? φα?νει, κα? ? σκοτ?α α?τ? ο? κατ?λαβεν.
?en ar?k?i in o ?lo?os, ke o ?lo?os im bros to(n) t?e?o(n), ke t?e?os in o ?lo?os. ?utos in en ar?k?i pros to(n) t?e?o(n). ?panda di a??tu e??eneto, ke k?o?ris a??tu e??eneto ude ?en o ??e?onen. en a??to zo?i in, ke i zo?i in to p?os ton an?t?ropon; ke to p?os en di sko?tia ?p?eni, ke i sko?ti(a) a(?)?to u ka?telaβen
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
References
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Pronunciation:
Greek:
[(h)e?
ky?ne?
di?alektos
~
i
cy?ni
ði?alektos]
- ^
The Latin gloss in the source erroneously has "with me", while the Greek means "with us".
- ^
On the other hand, not all scholars agree that the Pontic pronunciation of
η
as
ε
is an archaism. Apart from the improbability that the sound change
/?ː/
>
/e?(ː)/
>
/i/
did not occur in this important region of the Roman Empire, Horrocks notes that
ε
can be written in certain contexts for any letter or digraph representing
/i/
in other dialects?e.g.
ι
,
ει
,
οι
, or
υ
, which were never pronounced
/?ː/
in Ancient Greek?not just η (c.f. ?νερον, κοδ?σπενα, λεχ?ρι for standard ?νειρο, οικοδ?σποινα, λυχ?ρι.) He therefore attributes this feature of East Greek to vowel weakening, paralleling the omission of unstressed vowels. Horrocks (2010: 400)
- ^
For convenience, the rough breathing mark represents
/h/
, even if it was not commonly used in contemporary orthography. Parentheses denote the loss of the sound.
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Demetrios J. Constantelos
,
The Greek Orthodox Church: faith, history, and practice,
Seabury Press, 1967
- ^
"Change Request Documentation: 2009-060"
.
SIL International
. Retrieved
21 December
2023
.
- ^
"Koine"
.
CollinsDictionary.com
.
HarperCollins
. Retrieved
2014-09-24
.
- ^
"Koine"
.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
(Online). n.d.
- ^
a
b
"Koine"
.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
.
- ^
a
b
Bubenik, V. (2007). "The rise of Koine". In A. F. Christidis (ed.).
A history of Ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity
. Cambridge: University Press. pp. 342?345.
- ^
Horrocks, Geoffrey (1997). "4?6".
Greek: a history of the language and its speakers
. London: Longman.
- ^
Horrocks, Geoffrey (2009).
Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers
. Wiley. p. xiii.
ISBN
978-1-4443-1892-0
.
- ^
Chrit?, Maria; Arapopoulou, Maria (11 January 2007).
A history of ancient Greek
.
Thessaloniki
, Greece:
Center for the Greek Language
. p. 436.
ISBN
978-0-521-83307-3
.
- ^
"Maintenance"
.
www.stoictherapy.com
.
- ^
Makrides, Vasilios N; Roudometof, Victor (2013).
Orthodox Christianity in 21st Century Greece: The Role of Religion in Culture, Ethnicity and Politics
. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 8.
ISBN
978-1-4094-8075-4
.
"A proposal to introduce Modern Greek into the Divine Liturgy was rejected in 2002"
- ^
Κοπιδ?κη?, Μ.Ζ. (1999).
Ελληνιστικ? Κοιν?, Εισαγωγ?
[Hellenistic Koine, Introduction].
Ιστορ?α τη? Ελληνικ?? Γλ?σσα?
[
History of the Greek Language
] (in Greek). Athens: Ελληνικ? Λογοτεχνικ? και Ιστορικ? Αρχε?ο. pp. 88?93.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
Andriotis, Nikolaos P.
History of the Greek Language
.
[
page needed
]
- ^
Gilbert, R (1823).
"The British Critic, and Quarterly Theological Review"
. St. John's Square, Clerkenwell: University of California at Los Angeles. p. 338.
- ^
Pollard, Elizabeth (2015).
Worlds Together Worlds Apart
. New York: W.W. Norton& Company Inc. p. 202.
ISBN
978-0-393-91847-2
.
- ^
Augsburg
.
- ^
Vergari, Romina (2015-01-12).
"Aspects of Polysemy in Biblical Greek: the Semantic Micro-Structure of Kρισι?"
. In Eberhard Bons; Jan Joosten; Regine Hunziker-Rodewald (eds.).
Biblical Lexicology: Hebrew and Greek
. Berlin, Munchen, Boston: De Gruyter.
ISBN
978-3-11-031216-4
. Retrieved
2018-07-03
.
- ^
Papademetriou, Kyriakoula (2015-01-12).
"The dynamic semantic role of etymology in the meaning of Greek biblical words. The case of the word ?κκλησ?α"
. In Eberhard Bons; Jan Joosten; Regine Hunziker-Rodewald (eds.).
Biblical Lexicology: Hebrew and Greek
. Berlin, Munchen, Boston: De Gruyter.
ISBN
978-3-11-031216-4
. Retrieved
2018-07-03
.
- ^
Evans, Craig A.; Tov, Emanuel (2008-10-01). "Introduction".
Exploring the Origins of the Bible (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology): Canon Formation in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective
. Baker Academic.
ISBN
978-1-58558-814-5
.
- ^
Porter, Stanley E.; Pitts, Andrew (2013-02-21). "Markan Idiolect in the Study of the Greek New Testament".
The Language of the New Testament: Context, History, and Development
. Brill.
ISBN
978-90-04-23477-2
.
- ^
Osburn, Carroll D. (1983). "The Historical Present in Mark as a Text-Critical Criterion".
Biblica
.
64
(4): 486?500.
JSTOR
42707093
.
- ^
Strickland, Michael; Young, David M. (2017-11-15).
The Rhetoric of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark
. Fortress Press.
ISBN
978-1-5064-3847-4
.
- ^
Horrocks (1997: ch.5.11.)
- ^
A concise survey of the major differences between Attic and Koine Greek can be found in Reece, Steve, "
Teaching Koine Greek in a Classics Department
",
Classical Journal
93.4 (1998) 417?429.
- ^
Horrocks (2010: 162)
- ^
Kantor 2023
:345,764
- ^
Press|last1=Gignac|first1=Francis T.|year=1970|doi=10.2307/2936047}}
- ^
Horrocks (2010): 111, 170?1
- ^
Horrocks (2010): 171, 179.
- ^
Kantor 2023
:613
- ^
In example, c.f. Horrocks (2010), 167.
- ^
Kantor 2023
:613
- ^
G. Horrocks (1997),
Greek: A history of the language and its speakers
, p. 87, cf. also pp. 105?109.
- ^
Horrocks (1997: 94).
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Abel, F.-M.
Grammaire du grec biblique
.
- Allen, W. Sidney,
Vox Graeca: a guide to the pronunciation of classical Greek ? 3rd ed.
, Cambridge University Press, 1987.
ISBN
0-521-33555-8
- Andriotis, Nikolaos P.
History of the Greek Language
- Buth, Randall,
? κοιν? προφορ?
: Koine Greek of Early Roman Period
- Bruce, Frederick F.
The Books and the Parchments: Some Chapters on the Transmission of the Bible
. 3rd ed. Westwood, NJ: Revell, 1963. Chapters 2 and 5.
- Conybeare, F.C. and Stock, St. George.
Grammar of Septuagint Greek: With Selected Readings, Vocabularies, and Updated Indexes
.
- Horrocks, Geoffrey C. (2010).
Greek: A history of the language and its speakers
(2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
- Weir, Herbert (1956),
Greek Grammar
, Harvard University Press,
ISBN
978-0-674-36250-5
- Kantor, Benjamin (2023),
he Pronunciation of New Testament Greek Judeo-Palestinian Greek Phonology and Orthography from Alexander to Islam
, Eerdmans,
ISBN
9780802878311
.
- Smyth, Herbert Weir (1956),
Greek Grammar
, Harvard University Press,
ISBN
978-0-674-36250-5
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bakker, Egbert J., ed. 2010.
A companion to the Ancient Greek language.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Blass, Friedrich, and Albert Debrunner. 1961.
Greek grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian literature.
Translated and revised by R. W. Funk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Christidis, Anastasios-Phoivos, ed. 2007.
A history of Ancient Greek: From the beginnings to Late Antiquity.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Colvin, Stephen C. 2007.
A historical Greek reader: Mycenaean to the koine.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Easterling, P. E., and
Carol Handley
. 2001.
Greek Scripts: An Illustrated Introduction.
London: Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.
- Evans, T. V., and Dirk Obbink, eds. 2009.
The language of the papyri.
Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Gignac, Francis T. 1976?1981.
A grammar of the Greek papyri of the Roman and Byzantine periods.
2 vols. Milan: Cisalpino-La Goliardica.
- Palmer, Leonard R. 1980.
The Greek language.
London: Faber & Faber.
- Stevens, Gerald L. 2009.
New Testament Greek Intermediate: From Morphology to Translation.
Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press.
- ????. 2009.
New Testament Greek Primer.
Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press.
External links
[
edit
]
Look up
Κοιν?
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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Origin and genealogy
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c.
3rd millennium BC
| c.
1600–1100 BC
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800–300 BC
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