Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] What language?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] What language?
  • Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 16:56:02 -0500

Peter Kirk wrote:
On 14/04/2007 21:22, Yohanan bin-Dawidh wrote:
Dear Harold,

Note that this cited text from Wikipedia refers to Koine Greek as
Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common or New Testament, and states that it is the
Greek dialect that arose within the Meditteranean, i.e. mainly Semitic
lands, where Semitic language was spoken, and thus a dialect of
Greek/Semitic language arose. This reminds of the perversions of Yiddish and
Ladino that my people speak, which are dialects of Hebrew mixed with other
languages. It is likewise reported that Koine while taking from Semitic
languages also carries Latin variants within. Basically, it is trash talk,
as testified to by those who spokeAttic Greek.

Yohanan, do you actually know any Koine Greek? Can you read it? Do you know what proportion of Semitic, or Latin, words are found in typical texts? Do you really have any evidence to suggest that it is a mixed language of the time you claim? It was indeed a mixture of Greek dialects, but not of Greek and Semitic, except for a rather small number of Semitic loan words. Yes, the intellectual snobs who still tried to speak Attic, rather like some people today who claim to speak Shakespearean English but don't, looked down on the common people who spoke a less literary dialect.

HH: Yes, the Koine Greek replaced Attic Greek. Koine Greek was standard Greek, not just street Greek but standard Greek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attic_Greek

Attic Greek persisted until the 4th century BCE, when it is replaced by its similar but more universal offspring, koine, or "the Common Dialect" (? ????? ?????????). The cultural dominance of the Athenian Empire and the later adoption of Attic Greek by king Philip II of Macedon (382-336 BCE), father of the conqueror Alexander the Great, were the two keys that ensured the eventual victory of Attic over other Greek dialects and the spread of its descendant, koine Greek, throughout Alexander's Hellenic empire. The rise of koine is conventionally marked by the accession in 285 BCE of (Greek-speaking) Ptolemy II, who ruled from Alexandria, Egypt and launched the "Alexandrian period", when the city of Alexandria and its expatriate Greek-medium scholars flourished.

HH: Here is a nice chart of the history of the Greek language, also from Wikipedia:

History of the
Greek language
(see also: Greek alphabet)
Proto-Greek (c. 2000 BC)
_____________________________

Mycenaean (c. 1600--1100 BC)
_____________________________

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

Koine Greek (from c. 300 BC)
_____________________________

Medieval Greek (c. A.D. 330--1453)
_____________________________

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

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page