Questions tagged [greek]
A Hellenic language principally spoken in Greece.
151
questions
2
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1answer
85 views
Greek: differences between words marked as αρχαιοπρεπής, λόγιος or παλαιότερα
In my dictionary some words are marked with αρχαιοπρεπής (dated, archaic), λόγιος (learned form) and παλαιότερα (more ancient use). What are the differences, if any, between these terms, and what is ...
4
votes
1answer
693 views
Why Did Koiné Greek Still Write Double Letters?
Languages develop double consonants and other quirks for different reasons -- English' double consonants were originally developed because the consonants were doubled in speech, like Latin, and that ...
5
votes
2answers
195 views
How do we get from Greek τρόπος to French trouver?
The French verb trouver (to find/think) can trace its ancestry back to the Greek word τρόπος, which means a turn, manner, style, or figure of speech. Is there any logic to this seemingly disconnected ...
4
votes
1answer
142 views
“yotta” in Greek and Armenian
The Armenian word for seven is "yotta", which sounds suspiciously similar to the Greek prefix for a factor of one septillion (though AIUI it comes from the ancient Greek word for eight, not seven). Is ...
2
votes
3answers
155 views
Evolution in number of words from Greek to Latin to modern languages
I once read somewhere that Greek used, say, three or four words to express an idea; Latin used five or six words to express the same idea; and nowadays we use eight to ten words to express the same ...
-1
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1answer
254 views
Greek - Arabic language relation
Is there a valid, known link (academic source or even speculation) regarding the Greek and Arabic language, when it comes to syntactic- grammatical or morphological cohesion? I ve only come across ...
2
votes
1answer
312 views
Transliteration-transcription method for ancient Greek & Arabic
I am currently working on a paper that deals with a Psalm from the Septuagint known as the Violet fragment - LXX, Psalm 77.The particular verses i am interested in, are written in Greek uncials, ...
4
votes
1answer
665 views
Why Is It That Ancient Greek Reconstructed Pronunciation Is Always Used For Koine?
By the time of Koine greek, in general, it was much the same as today, but I always see the Ancient Greek pronunciation being taught, why is this? Is is it because most people learning koine in ...
4
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0answers
156 views
Reviewing the evidence of the spirantization of β (betacism) in Greek
Although I understand that it is impossible to assign a specific time to any sound change in Greek, I am curious about the spirantization of voiced stops, particularly of beta. I'll present the ...
10
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2answers
3k views
Why can “autarchy” be spelled with an “k” while other words not? [closed]
English has a set of words with "ch", coming — more or less directly — from the Greek language. They all have a /k/ sound.
character
charisma
psychology
choreography
archive
Just to name a few. All ...
1
vote
2answers
262 views
Why is there no Ancient Greek noun whose stem ends in an “i”-ending diphthong (like “-ai”)?
Ancient Greek nouns are cassified into three declensions, and we can say that this is largely based on the ending of the stem of the noun. If a noun's stem ends in -ā (or -ē in Attic when not after r, ...
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3answers
219 views
Greek words with initial “ia” instead of “a” [closed]
Greek verbs with initial #i+H4-
from Arnaud Fournet (May 2017)
*H4eH4- ‘to heal, guard’:
(1)Hurrian a-tt- ‘to guard, protect’
(2) Greek ἰάομαι ‘to heal’ < *y-ā-
(3) The question : why "ia" instead ...
13
votes
1answer
3k views
Why does Greek “ναι” mean “yes” while it comes from a PIE root meaning “no”?
According to Wiktionary, the Greek word ναι comes from Ancient Greek ναί, which is a variation of νή, which comes from Proto-Indo-European ne, which means no.
Why can a word have the opposite ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Are syllable initial consonant clusters pronounced in Ancient Greek?
A number of loan words and New Latin words derived from Ancient Greek have word initial clusters of a plosive+nasal or dissimilar phonemes like /ps/ or /pt/. I cannot avoid aspirating or inserting a ...
6
votes
2answers
468 views
The accentual (Tone) system of Ancient Greek
This question is presented with the help of the sources from Wikipedia.
The Greek diacritics were introduced by Aristophanes of Byzantium, which became standard in the Middle Ages. My question is: ...
4
votes
3answers
905 views
How did the Greek aspirates become fricatives?
When I was studying (classical) Greek as an undergrad, we were told that φ θ χ, that is, the Greek aspirate consonants, have the following phonetic values: [f θ χ] and never it was told to us that ...
1
vote
1answer
188 views
Etymology/meaning of (Mount) Kyllene
My unabridged Liddell/Scott does not have any indication of what the name of the Greek Mount "Kyllene" means. Robert Graves in "The Greek Myths" says it means "Twisted Queen." I have seen where he ...
4
votes
1answer
259 views
Turkish kalem: from Anc. Greek or Tocharian?
Usually the Turkish word kalem 'pen' is shown in etym. dictionaries to derive from Arabic qalam, which in turn derives from Greek κάλαμος. However, I noticed that Tocharian languages have the term ...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
Can anyone recommend a good, free, and online Greek-to-English dictionary? [closed]
A translation service is not being requested in the question since they provide word-to-word mappings instead of word-to-meaning explanations. The dictionary may optionally render the Greek word with ...
4
votes
1answer
256 views
what about ophis Python==ahi Budhnya?
in short : is the equation ὄφις Πύθων == अहि बुध्न्य ahi budʰnya widely accepted by scholars ?
Python and Ahi Budhnya/Ahirbudhnya are both a famous serpent, the first one in the Greek mythology, the ...
5
votes
3answers
379 views
Etymology of Ancient Greek interrogative particle ἆρα
The Ancient Greek interrogative ἆρα is strikingly similar to modern Persian āyā.
Both words exclusively signal yes/no questions, and almost always begin the sentence. There is an accent on the first ...
3
votes
2answers
311 views
Why “agoraphobia” not “agorophobia”?
Greek compounds are usually made by combining the roots of two nouns and inserting a linking thematic vowel when it would result in a sequence of two consonants. The vowel is usually -o-, so we have e....
3
votes
1answer
106 views
Which dictionaries can be considered as the most complete for Modern Greek?
My mother tongue is French so I would prefer one in this language but I'm also interested in English ones, especially if they can be considered of much higher quality/completness.
I've heard of the ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Where did the Greek word diaballein got it's meaning from accusing and divide from? [closed]
διαβάλλειν (dia-ballein)
"Dia" means through (by the way of; or from one end or side of something to the other (across); or between) and "ballein" means throwing.
Now online there are two ...
0
votes
2answers
167 views
scansion of iambic trimeter in fragment of Euripides
I am trying to scan a line from a fragment of Euripides Erechtheus (cannot figure out how to write Greek characters here!):
- v - -| - - v v v| v- v v
os theon bomous patrida te rhuometha
...
7
votes
2answers
213 views
Reverse-etymology resources
Are there any resources which, given a Latin or Greek word, reference modern English words derived from the word? I find it much easier to remember a root when I know a word derived from it.
For a ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
Is there a strict set of rules retrieving syllables from Greek text?
I'm trying to process language corpus written in Greek and like to split words to syllables. I wonder if there is a programmatical way to do that with a strict set of rules, that can be followed to ...
0
votes
2answers
214 views
What is the etymology of ypologistís (Greek, computer)?
Is ypologistís (Greek for computer) derived from, or related to,
apologeisthai "to speak in one's defense," from apologos "an account,
story,"
(Etomonline)
I have now been informed by Janus ...
2
votes
1answer
933 views
How “fluent” do professional classicists get in reading Latin and Greek? How do they do it?
I've learned to an intermediate reading level Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Classical Arabic. As a foreign language teacher, I'm well aware of current SLA research and the focus on communication and ...
7
votes
2answers
145 views
When did the concept of constituent movement arise?
As far back as the mid 1700s, William Ward considered the following phrase in An Essay on Grammar applied to the English Language.
the flowers which a lady sitting on the seat in a garden views with ...
2
votes
1answer
394 views
Greek-Gothic Weekday Names in Bavarian
The weekdays in my native language (Bavarian) are very inconsistent and two of them apparently came to us from the Goths, who in turn have adopted them from Greek.
The two days in question are "Iada" (...
0
votes
1answer
468 views
How close is Ancient Greek to English or French or Spanish?
I.e.: What are the Linguistic Distances of Ancient Greek compared to 2000s English, French, and Spanish?
I know that each Indo-European language belongs to its own Language Family: Ancient Greek to ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a relationship between Arabic ka'b and Greek kybos?
This is a complete layman's question. Online etymology dictionary says about kaaba:
1734, Caaba, cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone, the most sacred site ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Are There Ancient Greek Words Descended From Sumerian?
Does the lexicon of Ancient Greek contain words believed to be of Sumerian origin? If so, can some estimate of their number be provided?
Thanks
5
votes
1answer
608 views
How are dead languages reconstructed?
I'm really interested in Biblical studies, so I've often wondered this about the languages in the Bible. Namely, Greek (Koine), Hebrew, and Aramaic.
I've tried looking into it, but I've never really ...
3
votes
3answers
17k views
What is the difference between Greek zōē and bios?
Ancient Greek has two words that are translated as life in English: zōē and bios. What is the difference between them? What are their cognates in other Indo-European languages?
1
vote
1answer
819 views
Is there any Sanskrit-Greek-Latin-English dictionary available?
Is there any Sanskrit-Greek-Latin-English dictionary [including online] available? I am so much interested in etymological study. I will be grateful for any help.
4
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0answers
83 views
metrical analysis software for ancient greek
Does anyone know any good metrical analysis software for ancient Greek? Which are the best ones and which are the most user friendly?
5
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2answers
436 views
Why does Greek have 'aorgesia' and 'aorist' rather than 'anorgesia' and 'anorist'?
The Ancient Greek words ἀοργησία aorgesia "a defect in the passion of anger" and ἀόριστος aoristos "without boundaries" both start with the "alpha privatum," the negative prefix cognate to English un- ...
2
votes
2answers
83 views
accusative being used to express an origin?
I read in Plutarch (Demosthenes.1) the phrase
ὑπάρξαι ‘τὰν πόλιν εὐδόκιμον‘ (~ to be born in ‘a famous city’).
(τὰν πόλιν εὐδόκιμον being a quote from (pseudo-?)Euripides' ode to Alcibiades, cf ...
1
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0answers
98 views
Literature on the reconstruction of proto-Greek
I usually find scattered proto-Greek word reconstructions, but I never came across literature that focus on the reconstruction of that language. Do you know of any?
8
votes
1answer
505 views
What is the approximate time of the loss of the intervocalic /s/ in Greek?
Teachers of Ancient Greek at my university have always been emphasising the importance of being aware of the loss of the intervocalic sigma in the language's history, because it helped to understand ...
4
votes
2answers
285 views
Calculating writing system efficiency with respect to reading ambiguity?
I have been thinking of developing a software tool that would make it possible to calculate the efficiency of a particular writing system (attested rather than hypothetical) for a particular language (...
2
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1answer
238 views
Which Ancient Greek term describes adjectives used passively?
A teacher claimed, but forgot, the Ancient Greek term that describes adjectives used passively, as used in the following sentence:
The weather has been in a most curious state here since ...
0
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1answer
1k views
How did the Greek 'tropos' evolve to the Latin 'tropus'?
Etymology [ of French 'trouver' ]
From Old French trover, truver,
from Vulgar Latin *tropāre, present active infinitive of *tropō,
from Latin tropus; confer trope.
Etymology [ of Latin '...
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1answer
125 views
How to learn more about contradictory or superfluous affixes efficiently?
Instead of questioning each word's prefixes, how can I learn more productively?
E.g. I was researching the etymology of the French verb 'accabler':
[I quoted Wiktionary in French; the English ...
1
vote
1answer
963 views
scansion of a iambic trimeter
I'm stuck with the scansion of the second of the following lines I read in Euripides' Bacchae :
441 κἀγὼ δι᾽ αἰδοῦς εἶπον : Ὦ ξέν᾽, οὐχ ἑκὼν
442 ἄγω σε Πενθέως δ᾽ ὅς μ᾽ ἔπεμψ᾽ ἐπιστολαῖς.
(...
-2
votes
1answer
260 views
How did '-ikos' evolve into '-ic'?
-ics [<--]
in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.) it represents a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with -...
1
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2answers
643 views
How does the Greek 'legein' relate to PIE *leg 'to collect'?
ENTRY: leg-
DEFINITION: To collect; with derivatives meaning “to speak.” Oldest form *le-, becoming *leg- in centum languages.
[...]
3. lexicon, logion, –logue, –logy; alexia, analects, ...
2
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1answer
81 views
How did 'litotes' evolve from 'plain, simple'?
litotes (n.)
rhetorical figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its opposite, from Greek litotes, literally "plainness, simplicity," from litos "smooth, plain, small, ...
