Questions tagged [greek]
A Hellenic language principally spoken in Greece.
178
questions
1
vote
1
answer
39
views
What is the origin of alpha in the mediopassive indicative?
In greek, the indicative mediopassive in the 3rd person singular and plural are -εται and -ονται, however in PIE, the alpha was originally an o. Additionally, in the imperfect, the endings also have o ...
- 133
2
votes
1
answer
132
views
Source of Greek long alpha
I'm reading about the Greek first declension on wikipedia, which mentions that the origin of the first declension originally had long alpha, which then shifted to eta, except when after rho, iota, and ...
- 133
16
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why isn't there a letter for /b/ sound in Greek alphabet while they have the sound?
In Greek the letter B sounds /v/; for example we have Vanadium which is Βανάδιο in Greek which in turn is transliterated as Vanάdio in English.
But what about when we have a /b/ sound? For example, we ...
- 377
18
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why did the consonant clusters /ks/ and /ps/ merit their own designated letters in Ancient Greek?
Ancient Greek had many consonant clusters, like /pn/ in pneuma, /bd/ in bdellion, and /pt/ in pteron. But for some reason, /ks/ (ξ) and /ps/ (ψ) received special real estate in the 24-letter Greek ...
- 453
5
votes
0
answers
102
views
Do the "gibberish lines" in the Charition farce reflect a Dravidian language?
The Charition farce (P.Oxy. III, 413) is a Greek theatre play which tells the story of a girl, Χαριτίων Charitíōn, who is held captive in a coastal kingdom of India. The only manuscript of this ...
- 680
-2
votes
3
answers
174
views
Is it reasonable to connect the Old Persian/Avestan word for "garden" with the Greek word?
The Old Persian/Avestan word for "garden/orchard" is bustan/bostan. On the surface, this word looks very similar to the Greek term botane, which means the same thing (and is clearly the ...
2
votes
1
answer
141
views
Why does πεντάμορφη mean "beautiful"? [closed]
How does "five-formed / five-shaped", πεντάμορφη, mean "beautiful"?
Such that it's used as in translation of "Beauty and the Beast" movie titles, and accepted by Google ...
- 185
0
votes
1
answer
159
views
Is < eu > an element in Greek?
I am pondering the morphological structure of < therapeutic > and < pharmaceutical >. When looking at the Greek roots I can analyze the spelling with the exception of < eu >. I see ...
0
votes
1
answer
95
views
Does this way of organizing Greek consonants make sense?
I heard from a Greek learner who shared their way of organizing the Greek consonants in the following:
unvoiced less unvoiced voiced less voiced
kappa chi ...
- 837
4
votes
2
answers
196
views
How to understand the differences and similarities between the orders in Greek and Latin alphabets, for memorizing?
Letters in Greek alphabet are ordered similarly to those in Latin, but not exactly the same.
Is there any reason for the differences?
I ask the question for finding a way to understand and therefore ...
- 837
-1
votes
2
answers
93
views
Is eta in Ancient Greek transliterated as long e or h?
Is eta in Ancient Greek transliterated as long e (e.g. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/greeklatinroots2/chapter/%c2%a798-the-greek-alphabet/), or h (e.g. https://www.dictionary.com/e/greek-alphabet-...
- 837
0
votes
0
answers
105
views
Why are there so few Hellenic languages when there are so many Romance languages? [duplicate]
Both Greece and Rome had huge empires and Greek was even used to administer the Eastern Roman Empire. Christian scriptures are even primarily written in Greek.
So why are there so many Romance ...
- 109
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
Greek root in Latin: Greek ekleiptikos became Latin eclīpticus
How come it's lip and not leip? The English word eclipsis is derived from the Latin eclīpticus, of an eclipse, which is in turn from Greek ekleiptikos, from ekleipein, to fail to appear; Ancient Greek ...
- 356
1
vote
0
answers
54
views
Is there any evidence for PIE *deikW- ‘feast’ to Greek deîp-?
The interpretation of Linear B de-qo-no as ‘main dinner’ and po-ro-de-qo-no as ‘pre-dinner’ would only work if PIE *deikW- ‘feast’ > deîpnon. However, it is cognate with words with -p-:
*deip- >...
0
votes
1
answer
77
views
Are there any common Hebrew or Koine Greek markers for when a sentence is a summary of a previous thought?
Question pertains to the Hebrew Scriptures, and the Septuagint, so it may be more appropriate in a different SE. But, in case this is an acceptable place to ask:
Are there any ancient Hebrew or Koine ...
0
votes
1
answer
109
views
How did Shiloah (שילוח) become Siloam and Silwan?
What sorts of changes led the Biblical Hebrew name Shiloah (שילוח) to become Siloam (in Greek) and Silwan (in Arabic)? Has this been discussed anywhere?
EDITED I removed the word morphological from my ...
4
votes
2
answers
188
views
Credible sources for Rho-Rotation?
A teacher of mine recently mentioned a phenomenon in linguistics called "rho-rotation". Across eons and languages if a r/rho sound was next to a vowel it tended to switch postitions and &...
- 43
0
votes
1
answer
186
views
Can I find an Ancient Greek parsing program that dissects words into their constituent phonemes from reconstructed Proto-Greek?
For example, suppose I enter "πράσσουσα" and it outputs πραάͳοντσα or even, πρααͳ-ο-ντ-σα (root, ablaut, participle marker, feminine). Or I put in πᾶς and it outputs πάαντ-ς (root, 3rdNS)...
- 31
0
votes
1
answer
131
views
Could lat. circus 'circle' (< gr. κίρκος) and κύκλος 'cycle' be related?
It is well established that the Latin word circus 'circle' is a loanword from Greek κίρκος kírkos 'circle, ring'. But it seems that κίρκος is of uncertain origin. One possibility is that κίρκος would ...
- 540
0
votes
1
answer
210
views
Origin of بطريق
I read here that the Arabic word بطريق (penguin) ultimately derives from Latin patricius (patrician), through Greek and Aramaic, but I couldn't find any explanation of how and why the shift in meaning ...
2
votes
0
answers
78
views
Why do Proto-germanic "-as" nouns have e-grade?
Why do Proto-germanic "-as" nouns have e-grade (don't have an ablaut like Ancient Greek τρέπ-ω τρόπ-ος, πέκ-ω πόκ-ος, λέχ-ομαι λόχ-ος, φέβ-ομαι φόβ-ος)?
2
votes
1
answer
157
views
Ioticism in Greek
Are there any good theories about what motivated the pervasive ioticism that developed between ancient Greek and modern Greek? Are there any other languages that went through analogous changes?
The ...
- 797
5
votes
1
answer
409
views
Phonological Development from PIE to Greek
I found the following phonological development (from PIE to Greek) patterns very interesting.
*kw>t / __ {e, i}
(e.g., *penkwe- > πέντε)
*gw>d / __ e
(*gwelbhu- > δελψύς)
*gwh>th / ...
- 125
1
vote
1
answer
206
views
Why do Ancient Greek words have "εί" from PIE "e"?
Why do Ancient Greek words have "εί" from PIE "e"?
Ancient Greek κείρω <- PIE *(s)ker-.
4
votes
1
answer
722
views
Where did the Greek consonant cluster "ps" come from
Where did the Greek consonant cluster "ps" come from? I tried finding resources to track down this fun-sounding consonant cluster but came with no information. I was thinking about a voicing ...
- 75
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Beta vs eszett character difference
How to write the Greek letter beta and the German letter eszett so that they look different enough?
I've seen variants of beta with the final arc ending on the vertical line and ones which have a ...
- 143
2
votes
2
answers
217
views
Does modern greek really nasalise intervowel γγ?
During my previous studies I was introduced to ancient Greek and, among other things, I learned that we believe double gamma γγ was pronounced like a prenasalised gamma, something like "ng", ...
- 123
1
vote
3
answers
204
views
Linear A morphology
Linear A's lexicon is undeciphered, but I assume we know some things about it's morphology and phonology. I've only found
this theory that the language of Linear A had a lot of prefixes. Where can I ...
- 19
13
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How did Greek loanwords with 'ae' come to be pronounced [i] in modern English?
There are a bunch of Greek loanwords in English that orthographically include the vowel sequence 'ae'. Examples include:
aegis
aether
aeon
The 'ae' vowel here is pronounced [i] in English, but at ...
- 249
-5
votes
1
answer
352
views
Does the root word mus- in Latin mean "thief"'? Mouse=thief, Moses=Extractor etc
I first got the idea of Latin mus- = mouse = thief from this list
My primary question here is whether someone can confirm this, because I have not found any direct words in Latin that indicates that ...
0
votes
1
answer
270
views
What is the difference in usage of the word "root" in PIE and its daughter languages?
Now I understand that the conceptions of "root" in PIE and its descendant languages don't fully overlap. However what is the exact difference between them? What confuses me is the ...
- 39
1
vote
1
answer
89
views
What is the name of Germanic n > m near f / Greek ν > μ near π transformation?
What is the name of Germanic n > m near f / Greek ν > μ near π transformation?
- 331
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Pronunciation of P in Latin, versus Ph in Greek
In Latin, it seems some sounds that are pronounced like an "F" in Greek, are pronounced like a "P", why is this?
For example, we have the Greek word Phoenicians, and this word ...
- 803
-4
votes
1
answer
144
views
Is the Greek ζ related to the Chinese 子?
I wonder whether there is any connections between the two letters. After all, they are both similar to the Phoenician Sade letter, and the Phoenicians were the dominant culture of the Mediterranean ...
0
votes
1
answer
161
views
Can Greek form other compound words like "Hyperborea"?
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans were a race of giants that lived in a sort of paradise, where the sun shone constantly and everyone was perfectly happy. The land was supposedly located so far to ...
- 1
-2
votes
1
answer
268
views
(Ancient Greek) Dogs and Emptiness, κύων and κενόω, related?
I've been curious about the concepts of emptiness and dogs. I have independently been exploring these and there seem to be some theological/philosophical convergence between Joshua and Caleb from the ...
- 107
-5
votes
1
answer
94
views
Did the Greek term 'κεραία' derive from the Ivri term 'Kera' ( כְרָעַ֨ )? [closed]
Did the Greek term 'κεραία' (keraia) derive from the Ivri term 'Kera' ( כְרָעַ֨ )?
- 143
9
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Did Eureka lose its H?
Archimedes famously proclaimed Eureka, I have found it, but should the word itself proclaim I have lost my H?
According to wiktionary and wikipedia, Eureka simply comes from the greek εὕρηκα, perfect ...
- 193
4
votes
1
answer
180
views
Why did Χ and Ψ have such different sounds in early Eastern and Western Greek?
Why did Χ and Ψ have such different sounds in early Eastern and Western Greek? Which sounds are older? If the Western, why were both Ξ and Χ created to denote [ks] (note that they both appear in the ...
- 109
1
vote
2
answers
238
views
What is the position of the subject in a Greek sentence, whose word order is VSO?
The following is a Greek sentence
Σε ποιόν φίλο νομίζεις ότι μιλάει ο άντρας;
To which friend think.2SG that speak.3SG the man
Its counterpart in ...
- 579
2
votes
0
answers
66
views
Some idea of PIE in the ancient world? [duplicate]
Did the ancient Greeks and Romans have the idea (at least partly) similar to the concept the Proto-Indoeuropean language?
Many among the elite spoke Greek fluently or at least learnt it intensively. ...
- 121
-1
votes
2
answers
262
views
Are the Paris's names "City of Light" and "Lutetia" connected?
Paris is called City of Light. I wonder whether this name could come from ancient name of the city Λευκοτεκία (Ptolemy).
Λευκος in Greek means light or white. And τεκ- root means "stone" (cognates ...
- 6,622
1
vote
1
answer
171
views
Resemblance Between Turkish Ablative and Locative, Ancient Greek Ablative, Allative
I was studying some Ancient Greek, and found out that the declination of some irregular nouns are very similar.
I started wondering if there is actually a language that is mother of Altaic languages ...
- 111
10
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Why do Spanish and Greek have such a similar phonology?
Is it just a matter of coincidence or did the two language influence each other in some way?
- 303
4
votes
3
answers
340
views
*h₁éḱwos > ἵππος, (Aeolian) ἴκκος
(in short) What's the epigraphical support to the Aeolian word ἴκκος ? I can't find it in the (very limited) data I can consult.
(full story) The history of the Greek word ἵππος ("horse") can be ...
- 1,997
2
votes
1
answer
118
views
Derivation of Greek οὐρά (backside) from PIE *h₁ers (flow)
I'm trying to understand how the Greek word for backside/rear could be derived from the PIE word for 'to flow'. There is a Sanskrit word arsati which means 'to pierce', so the meaning of the PIE root ...
- 123
3
votes
1
answer
444
views
What Languages have historically had Purification Movements? [closed]
Greek has been notorious for trying to purify the language. People tried to conserve the Attic Dialect which evolved to what is today called Katharevousa, which even means purified.
Historically, ...
4
votes
1
answer
469
views
Etymology of "Talo" (Finnish for "house"). Can it be a cognate of Thalamus?
The word Talo in Finnish means house. According to the wiktionary, it might be etymologically related to talas (boat-shelter).
I was wondering if the word might have a common etymology with Greek ...
- 703
1
vote
1
answer
566
views
Pre-Greek θάλασσα "thalassa" and Turkish talaz
Talaz is a word that means "wave, tornado" in Turkish dialects. dalga means "wave" in Turkish. You can use the following two links to look up the word's attestations throughout history:
https://www....
- 35
0
votes
1
answer
257
views
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language?
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language? If not, and if possible, about how much can we safely say there is?
- 119