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Day: June 4, 2016
What kind of ancient Greek dialect is usually learnt?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BC%80%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%89#Ancient_Greek In refutation of Jose Pineda: You need Old Ionic (Epic) to understand Homer, and all of Greek literature is suffused with Homer. You need Ionic for Herodotus and Hippocrates, and the authors imitating them (more of them for Hippocrates, for Herodotus just Lucian in one work). You need Doric for the choruses of the […]
What is the origin of “Thermodon”, the river near which the mythological Amazons lived?
Well, there was also a Thermodon river in Boeotia, mentioned by Herodotus (Thermodon – Brill Reference). So it was a real river name, both in Boeotia and in Asia Minor: Terme River. This commentary on Lysias A Commentary on Lysias, Speeches 1-11 speculates that Therm-odon was picked as the location for the Amazons because Aristotle […]
What does the Greek word “kefi” mean?
What my peers said. Being upbeat and in a good mood, having fun. To do something with kefi means you’re smiling, you’re doing it with gusto, you’re having fun. To have kefi is to be in a good mood. Kefi is one of those Greek words that is routinely listed as “untranslatable”, because it has […]
What do you know about ethnically or linguistically Greek Muslims?
Well, I’ve already answered the related question What do you know about Greek speaking Muslims (e.g. those in Hamidiyah, Syria)? I was tempted to merge the two questions, but the focus on Al-Hamidiyah is useful, because they’ve been so prominent in Greek media. Outside of Al-Hamidiyah: I know that some Muslims in Greece that were […]
What do you know about Greek speaking Muslims (e.g. those in Hamidiyah, Syria)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hamidiyah Hello, Aziz, and thank you for A2A. I found out about Al-Hamidiyah a few years ago, and posted about my emotional reactions on my blog: opɯdʒɯlɯklɑr: Al-Hamidiyah. I know that the settlers of Al-Hamidiyah fled Crete after Crete gained autonomy, and Christian Cretans started reprisals against Muslim Cretans. (In fact, as I found on […]
Is the correct word “indigenousness” or “indigeneity”?
Indigineity sounds Latinate, so it is being accepted in those contexts where a Latinate word makes sense. Particularly when the emphasis is not so much on an individual attribute, but on a more abstract construct. Cf. Maleness and Masculinity. For example, if you want to talk about the factors that correlate with student performance in […]
Did the written word slow the evolution of language?
Yes. Not by the magic of the fact that it is in writing, but by the fact that it has helped immensely in establishing and propagating conservative versions of the language, based on written records, as the most prestigious versions, which are learned in education and emulated in formal registers. Given the time depth of […]
Ancient Greek: What pronunciation scheme do you use for 5th-4th century B.C.E. writings? Modern, reconstruction with pitch, Erasmian, etc. and why?
Ah, I see this is the question where all the cool people hang out! Νικόλαος Στεφάνῳ, Δημήτρᾳ, Μιχαήλ, Ἰωακείμ, Βενιαμείν, Ῥοβέρτῳ τε ἐρωτήσαντι, εὗ πράττειν. Related question, with rationales: What are the pros and cons of the Erasmian pronunciation? When I am on my own, I actually mutter Ancient Greek aloud to myself, to try […]