Like the others said. There is a split between American accents and Commonwealth accents, with American often more archaic; the retention of r after vowels is the biggest shibboleth (and several British and Irish accents line up with America there). The Australian accent is pretty close to London English, though apparently there was a Midlands […]
The explanation behind this is tied up with the bizarre history of the Traditional English pronunciation of Latin. I didn’t find an explicit explanation of what happened with species, and in fact the rules in that Wikipedia page took me in a slightly different direction to where I hoped to go. But here goes. I […]
It’s very hard to know. Language change is a bunch of stuff that happens, and language does not always change in an optimal direction. Greek has certainly retained its equivalent words, proxtes and methavrio (and even one more day out: antiproxtes, antimethavrio), it’s not like the concept had become suddenly useless. The following is necessarily […]
For the same reason knight and knee (German Knecht, Knie) have a silent k (and used to have a c: Old English cnēo, cniht). English stopped allowing initial kn– in its words in the Middle Ages. Words imported into English from other languages tend to abide by the pronunciation constraints (phonotactics) of native English words. […]
As a lay term rather than a linguistic description (Vote #1 Clarissa Lohr: Clarissa Lohr’s answer to What is proper name of the sound when pushing air through nose?), I was racking my brains: I was sure English had a word, and couldn’t place it. Something to do with flared nostrils. And huffiness. Our fellow […]
http://www.letsreadgreek.co… That site has a review of 22 audio files, of which at least a couple are in reconstructed Koine. They’re what you’re after, rather than Erasmian or Modern Greek. That said, read the answers to: Is the modern pronunciation of Greek accurate for koine? What are the pros and cons of the Erasmian pronunciation? […]
Translation into English follows. Μιχαὴλ ὁ Μασιέλλος διδάκτωρ, ἀνήρ ἐστι σοφολογιώτατος ἅμα καὶ ἐναρετότατος. Ἄλλ’ ἄλλοι περὶ αὐτοῦ καλῶς ἔφησαν· τοῦτ’ ἐγῶ φαίην. Πῶς οὖν σοφολογιώτατος; Οὐ γε πυκνοὶ οἱ τῆς Κυόρας τρίβοι σοφολογιωτάτοις; Πάνυ γε. Ἀλλὰ τοιούτου εὔρους, οὕτω τε διδακτοφιλικῶς, οὐδαμῶς. Πῶς γ’ οὖν ἐναρετότατος; Οὐ δὴ ὀργίλος καὶ βωμολόχος; Πάνυ γε. Φαῦλα […]
Ah, that’s a famous ballad, integral to nation formation, and Herzfeld did right to focus on it. I do think you’re quoting my translation of it too! Nick Nicholas’ answer to Do modern Greek people feel that Istanbul/Constantinople belongs to them? Θρήνοι της Αλώσεως (29-05-1453). My translation into English. Σημαίνει ὁ Θεός, σημαίνει ἡ γῆς, […]
So, what’s the reflexive equivalent of non-binary (specific) or gender neutral (non-specific) they? They are different, btw: you use the former for someone non-binary, and the latter for generic non-gender referents. E.g. Sam (who is intersex) recused XXX from…, vs. The chairperson shall recuse XXX from… The former is much newer than the latter. Two […]
My favourite example is Hawaiian meli “honey” and Greek meli “honey”. I have even seen a historical linguistics textbook say that’s a coincidence (Trask’s, I think.) It’s not a coincidence. The honeybee is not native to Hawaii. Honey is referenced in the New Testament. The New Testament needed to be translated by missionaries into Hawaiian. […]