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Month: July 2016
In what situations would you use an article in English where you wouldn’t in Modern Greek? And vice-versa?
Rather than make up an answer, I googled and am posting from the first blog I found: Πότε δεν χρησιμοποιούμε το οριστικό άρθρο the Proper names in Modern Greek always take a definite article. It’s quite rare in English: rivers, families, plural countries. Nouns with generic reference take a definite article in Modern Greek and […]
What Is a Byzantine Catholic?
A follower of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. These churches are doctrinally Roman Catholic, but their ritual practice is a continuation of Eastern Christian practice (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East). Byzantine Catholic in particular refers to a follower of a church that is doctrinally Catholic, but whose ritual is […]
Does Italian administration in the Dodecanese prevent the expulsion of Muslim citizens, contrary to Crete?
Self-evidently yes. The population exchanges of 1923 dictated that all Muslims in Greece move to Turkey, with the exception of Thrace, and that all Greek Orthodox in Turkey move to Greece, with the exception of Istanbul, Imbros and Tenedos. In 1923, Crete was part of Greece—though the Muslims of Crete were already fleeing the island […]
Why doesn’t the verb take a third person singular form in past tense?
Brian is of course right, but I think he’s explained it a bit too quickly. Armed only with Old English grammar and Middle English from Wikipedia, behold the past tenses of verbs in action. I’m only going to pay attention to weak verbs, because that’s the pattern that has prevailed. Old English: Present ic hǣl-e […]
What is the Modern Greek equivalent of the English phrase “I know, right?”
Good question. The English phrase expresses acknowledgement of the interlocutor’s surprise at something the speaker has just said. The Greek idiomatic equivalent, I’d say, is Είδες; “See?” Updated 2016-07-18 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-the-Modern-Greek-equivalent-of-the-English-phrase-I-know-right/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
How is “o po po” written in Greek?
Ω πω πω. You will also see ωπωπω, and πω πω πω and πωπωπω are more frequent. They’re interjections, so their spacing has not been normalised. The initial ω is so spelled by analogy with ancient Greek ὦ “O!”, though it’s not strictly speaking the same thing. No idea why πω has an omega, maybe […]
How does the Modern Greek pronoun το modify verbs?
As a pronoun, το is the clitic accusative neuter third person pronoun, and it corresponds to “that” or “it”. So, ξέρω “I know”; το ξέρω “I know that”. Which means that, in the first instance, το is not modifying the meaning of a verb; it is completing it by providing an explicit object. You could […]
Can someone translate from Greek the phrase “apeasa vrohe ston dromo, ke agao then stathika, san poli stin agallia sou, irtha ke zastathika”?
I commend your taste in music, Anon, though not your transcription skills. stixoi.info: Το σακάκι μου κι αν στάζει, 1970. Lyrics: Akos Daskalopoulos. Music: Stavros Kouyoumtzis. Μ’ έπιασε βροχή στο δρόμο μα εγώ δε στάθηκασαν πουλί στην αγκαλιά σου ήρθα και ζεστάθηκα Κι αν με χτύπησε τ’ αγιάζι το σακάκι μου κι αν στάζεισου το […]
What are some of the names of the most important Ancient Greek newspapers?
Ah, Anon, Anon… A newspaper by any modern understanding of the concept presupposes widespread literacy, and, you know, paper. The Roman Acta Diurna were a daily gazette of government decisions published, Asterix style, in stone, and there may even have been equivalents in Greece for publishing what the assemblies had decided that day; but they […]
What are all the animal forms that Zeus took in Greek Mythology?
Lucian Dialogues of the Gods has Zeus speaking to Eros: The pranks you have played me! Satyr, bull, swan, eagle, shower of gold — I have been everything in my time; and I have you to thank for it. Those are the most famous ones Bull: Europa Swan: Leda Shower of gold: Danae Satyr: Antiope […]