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Month: July 2017
Is the word “pray(er)” different between Christians and Muslims in your language(s)?
I’m guessing rather than certain here, but Muslim Greek and Jewish Greek, as spoken by longstanding religious communities, did have distinct vocabulary about religious practices, and I’d have no reason to think prayer is an exception. The two Turkish terms given in Murat Öz’s answer are namaz and ibadet. As noted in Τι είναι το […]
How could Byzantine writers re-introduce the subscript iota and the breathings, which were long gone at the time?
From An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography : Thompson, Edward Maunde, Sir, (1912), pp. 61–62, My summary: The breathings and accents were invented by Aristophanes of Byzantium, ca 200 BC—when the breathings and accents were still being pronounced. It is believed that they were promoted for the teaching of literary Greek, precisely because they […]
Why do people think I’m a snob because I always speak in standard English?
This is Tony Mulqueen’s answer. I’m just being a little more abstract. There is a popular misconception that the primary purpose of language is to communicate. Language is a social phenomenon, practiced by social beings. And one of its primary functions is to demonstrate allegiance to the groups the speaker belongs to. If you speak […]
Why do Greeks break plates when dancing?
See: Konstantinos Konstantinides’ answer to Why do Greeks break plates? As pointed out in Valya Doncheva’s answer to Why do Greeks break plates when dancing?, there are old folk antecedents to the practice—and indeed, similar practices are not uncommon among people who get drunk in general, as witnessed with any rock group that ever trashed […]
Which is correct, “Describe who you are” or “Describe whom you are”?
I am going to refine Justin Franco‘s reasoning, while agreeing with his answer. Justin says that it’s “describe who you are”, because We wouldn’t answer “Who are you?” with “You are him.” We’d answer it with “You are he.” Oh really? the ruppes: Jesus, You are Him You are him by Margo You are him, […]
Where do the distinctive Greek names for chemical elements come from?
http://www.ptable.com/?lang=el My thanks to Konstantinos Konstantinides, Joseph Boyle, and Jorvon M. Carter, who have answered most of this; this answer is based on their work. My agenda, more cynically, was “which country did Greek copy, and where did it decide to do its own thing.” Languages did decide to do their own thing occasionally; the […]
Which languages use a bare dental click for a plain no? Did this originate from a single language and spread to others?
Dental clicks – Wikipedia Dental clicks may also be used para-linguistically. For example, English speakers use a plain dental click, usually written tsk or tut (and often reduplicated tsk-tsk or tut-tut; these spellings often lead to spelling pronunciations /tɪsk/ or /tʌt/), as an interjection to express commiseration, disapproval, irritation, or to call a small animal. […]
What is the Greek population in Melbourne?
The census data for 2016 has been released as of 27 June 2017, and is available in breakdowns from Census DataPacks. And the Australian Bureau of Statistics loves their Microsoft Excel. It isn’t immediately obvious from the zip file what’s going on, but with perseverance, it turns out that 162,103 people from the Greater Melbourne […]
Are there any books that are written in Ancient Greek?
If the question means, are there any contemporary books in Ancient Greek: not a lot, but a few: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Ancient Greek Edition): J.K. Rowling: 9781582348261: Amazon.com: Books Bruno Coitinho’s answer to What modern books have been translated to ancient languages?: Don Camillo, Sherlock Holmes Eleftherios V. Tserkezis’ answer to What […]
Why shouldn’t Greece’s regions have autonomy?
The fact that Greece modelled itself after France, as a strongly centralising state, is not a reason why there shouldn’t be autonomy. Autonomy can work financially, after all; the autonomy of the Val d’Aosta after WWII, forced on Italy by de Gaulle proposing to invade, was part of the reason the Valley did so well […]