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Day: August 13, 2017

What is the so-called Greek word Albania/Αλβανιά (derogatory word), and from what does it stem?

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Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

There’s a lot of subtle linguistic history going on here. The –ia suffix for names of countries did not get used much in the vernacular of 1800, but when it did, it was pronounced in the vernacular way, as –ja: the vernacular did not tolerate -e– or –i– as a separate syllable before another vowel, […]

What does the ancient Greek word ‘βρουχος’ mean?

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Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek

Like Riccardo Radici’s answer says: It is a variant of βροῦκος = locust (see: Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Βροῦκος) OP has expanded on his inquiry: Its a word in the Greek Septuagint. Ive seen it translated in 3 different ways: Caterpilar,grasshopper,or lightning. But I have no idea how they came with […]

Is there a tradition someplace in Greece, to give a special name to your last girl to get a male child?

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Posted in categories: Culture, Modern Greek

Ah, you know there is, OP. Greeks do have a tradition of omen-names they give kids, once they’re run out of grandparents to name their kids after—although with the drop of children per mother, and of traditional superstitions, they are probably no longer issued. Greeks did not like female births, because they cost them. Less […]

How would you translate “Ithaca-bound” (as in “sailing towards Ithaca”) into Ancient Greek (Homeric or Attic work)?

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Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics

Ἰθάκηνδε, which occurs five times in the Odyssey (1.88, 1.163, 11.361, 15.157, 16.322). Answered 2017-08-13 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/How-would-you-translate-Ithaca-bound-as-in-sailing-towards-Ithaca-into-Ancient-Greek-Homeric-or-Attic-work/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]

How did the Byzantine Empire named the Mediterranean Sea?

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Posted in categories: Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium confirms John Bard’s answer: As late as the 4th C., the Mediterranean continued to be an “inner sea,” totally surrounded by the territory of the Roman Empire. It was the only sea for Greeks, the esō thalassa [internal sea] (Aristotle) as opposed to the exō thalassa [external sea] or ocean; […]

English spelling is infamously irregular. Is it possible for it to branch into several categories (e.g., Germanic spelling, French spelling, Greek spelling, etc.)?

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Posted in categories: English, Linguistics

Yes indeed. Bear in mind in particular that Greek and Latin fall under the rules of Traditional English pronunciation of Latin. (Greek is almost always borrowed into English via Latin; but there are late exceptions like kudos, not †cydus.) Those rules are not the rules of French words in English. For example, final –e in […]

Do you, as a Greek, think that Brazilians cannot pronounce Greek correctly? See my comment.

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Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

Yiannis Tsiolis’ answer nails it: There are three “components” in to verbalising a language. One is the correct pronounsiaton of vowels and consonants, the other is the correct intonation but the most important is how well you know the language (vocabulary, grammar, syntax, catchphrases). Unless one can copy all three there is hardly a chance […]

At what point in time did the pronunciation of the Greek β change from “B” to “V”?

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Posted in categories: Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek

Looking at Sidney Allen’s Vox Graeca, we know that Plato (Cratylus 427a) describes both δ and τ as stops. The first unequivocal evidence is the differentiation between б and в in Cyrillic in the 9th century AD. It turns out though that at the same time, beta was being transliterated in Georgian as as ბ […]